What Are Programs? (One Join Page For Everything You Offer)

This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co.

A Program gathers your maps, directories, and event series onto one page, and decides what someone has to do before they can see each piece. Think of it like a season pass: somebody joins Riverbend Sips once, and the tasting map, the member-deals directory, and the tasting-events calendar all open together, on their phone and their laptop, without signing up three separate times.

Programs replace the old one-off "paywall" and "email gate" tools. Instead of locking each map on its own, you set access up once and point as much content at it as you like.

The Pieces

The join page. Every program gets its own shareable page (at a /p/your-program web address) with your cover photo, logo, description, a "What's Inside" list, and the join button. This one link is what goes on posters, QR codes, newsletters, and social — you never have to share anything else.
Levels. A level is a way in — an email, a password, or a payment — plus the items it opens. A program can have several, and they aren't ranked: each one opens exactly what you've put on it, and nothing else. See Levels: Free, Email, and Paid On One Program.
What's included. Add maps, directories, and event groups, plus simple Link, Info, and Member Benefit cards (a coupon code, a "how to claim" note, a link to a members-only form). Tick the levels that open each item; an item on no level is open to everyone. Drag to set the order they appear on the join page.
Your audience, automatically. Everyone who joins lands in your contacts and in the program's own audience, ready to message. A paid member who later cancels keeps their contact card — they just lose access to the members items.
Registration questions. Ask for more than an email (a name, a favorite drink, a business name) and the answers save onto that person's contact.

The Ways In

Each level you add asks for one thing:

Free — nothing is locked. Any item you don't put on a level is open to anyone with the link, and a program with no levels at all is just a tidy page gathering a map, a directory, and a calendar together. You can still show a join button purely to collect emails.
Email — people type their email and the items on that level open. First-timers confirm with a quick one-time code we email them, which also signs them in, so they're recognized on their next device.
Password — a password you share however you like, good for printed passports and in-person events. Each password level has its own, so you can run more than one — a "Vendors" password and a "Board" password on the same program. A password level can't share a program with an email level, though: pick one.
Paid — people pay to get in. A paid level can be sold more than one way: monthly beside yearly, or different rates for different kinds of member. See Several Ways To Pay For One Level.

Mix them however you like. A downtown association might leave a walking map open, put its deals list on an Email level, and put the shop-local guide on a paid level. If paying members should get the deals list too, tick it on both levels — a level opens what's on it, so the paid level doesn't include the email one automatically.

Good To Know

Joining once is enough. Whatever someone unlocks, they have everywhere — the map, the directory, the calendar, and the calendar embedded on your own website.
One level per person. Somebody who joined at the email level can still join the paid one from the join page. Somebody already paying who wants a different paid level cancels first, then joins again — so nobody ends up paying twice.
You see everything. As the owner you bypass every level, which is why a program can look wide open to you and locked to a visitor. Check it in a private browser window.
Nothing goes live until you publish. A draft program is visible only to your team.
Levels don't have to be public. A founding rate or a legacy price can be left off the join page and reached only by its own link. See Keeping A Level Or Price Off The Join Page.

When To Use One

A membership you charge for, monthly or yearly, or at different rates for individuals and businesses.
An email list you're growing, where a taste is public and the good stuff needs an address.
A season of events plus the map and directory that go with them, on one link.
A vendor or board packet that only the right people should see.