A closed community limits access to content to members accepted by an admin. Managing applications is therefore key to how this type of community works.
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure you have:
- A team available (internal or external) to regularly process applications
- A configured Visitor Landing Page (homepage and application page)
- A registration form with configured Custom Fields to collect the information needed to qualify applicants
The landing page and the registration form are configured with Skeepers, before launch.
It is possible to switch from an open community to a closed community after launch, but this requires a manual technical migration. This operation must be validated with Skeepers.
How it works
In a closed community, any non-accepted user lands on the custom landing page (which you can view in Configuration > Visitor Landing Page). They cannot access the community content until their application has been accepted by an admin.
The registration flow is therefore different from an open community. Here is the applicant journey:
- The applicant receives an invitation email or accesses the community link
- They land on the landing page and click to register
- They fill out the registration form
- Their profile appears in the applicant list in the back office (under Settings > Platform applications)
This setup is particularly suited to influencer communities, but can be used for any type of community to control access and member quality.
Processing applications
In Settings > Platform applications, you can use the following tabs:
Here, you will see the list of all applications that need to be processed. For each applicant, you will have access to the following information:
- General information (Id, username, email address, application date)
- Performance on linked social networks (Instagram and/or TikTok and/or YouTube)
- Answers to the custom fields in the registration form (for example: What motivates you to join our community?)
You can perform the following actions in the Actions column:
Decline an applicant: they will receive an email informing them of your decision. Their application will be deleted and they will not be able to apply again for 3 years.
Place an applicant on the waiting list: they will receive an email informing them of this decision. They can still access the landing page, edit their information, or delete their application.
Accept an applicant: they will receive an email informing them of their approval. They will then be able to access the community and its content immediately.
In your waiting list, you will see all applications that have been placed on hold.
You will have access to the same information, but only for applicants who went through this first screening and were placed on the waiting list.
You can perform the following actions in the Actions column:
Denial lasts for a set period of time. If an applicant might potentially meet your criteria in the future, we recommend choosing the waiting list over denial.
In the Incomplete tab, you will see all incomplete applications.
You will have access to the same information, but only for applicants who have not finished completing their application. They can edit their application and add the required information.
You can only perform this action in the Actions column:
Managing applications in bulk
If you use external tools (a CRM for example) to qualify your applicants, or if you want to save time, you can perform bulk actions.
Using an external tool
To make it easier to qualify applicants with an external tool, you can:
- Export the list of applicants from the back office by clicking Download CSV
- Analyse or sort profiles using your external tools
- Consolidate your decisions in a CSV file containing an ID column (community user identifier)
- Import your CSV file by clicking Import list. You will need to choose the corresponding status for the users you are importing: waiting list, declined, or accepted.
You must create a separate CSV file per status (waiting list, declined, accepted).
During import, the following users are ignored:
- Users not registered on the community
- Members already accepted
- Applicants already declined
Bulk actions without an external tool
You can check Select all to apply the same action to all applicants in the To review tab. This can be useful if you have already accepted the applications that meet your criteria and want to decline all remaining applications.