You’re probably familiar with most of the default WordPress user roles. Those roles work perfectly for a blog, but if you plan to run a WooCommerce store, you’re going to need access to more options and the ability to set up your own roles.
If you want to be able to add new WooCommerce user roles, your best bet is to use a plugin. More importantly, it should be a plugin built with WooCommerce in mind, instead of a more general option. That’s where WooCommerce Wholesale Prices comes in.
In this article, we’ll show you how to use the WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin to add new user roles to your store. Let’s get right to it!
Why You Should Have Multiple WooCommerce User Roles
By default, WooCommerce adds two new user roles to WordPress when you activate the plugin. Those two roles are ‘customer’ and ‘shop manager’ (that’s you!):
Those two WooCommerce user roles provide a good foundation, but they’re not enough for a complex online store. That goes particularly once you add complex features such as coupons and wholesale discounts into the mix.
Imagine, for example, that you want to target wholesale customers and provide them with special prices. The best way to do that while still retaining original pricing would be to set up an additional WooCommerce customer role for those buyers.
There are a lot of ways you can set up new WordPress and WooCommerce user roles. If you’re a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of person, you can do it manually. However, there’s little reason to use that approach when you can opt for a plugin instead.
For the next section, we’ll show you how to add new user roles to your store using the WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin. It only takes a few minutes, and it’s a whole lot easier than messing with WordPress core files.
How To Add More WooCommerce User Roles
Adding new customer roles using the WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin is remarkably easy. The first thing you need to do is to install the plugin, of course:
You can follow along the tutorial using the free version of the plugin. Keep in mind that with that version, you can only have one additional WooCommerce user role, though.
If you want to set up multiple custom roles, you’ll need to use the plugin’s premium add-on. The full Wholesale Suite includes plenty of other useful features, such as lead capture and order forms for your store.
In any case, once you install the plugin, go to your dashboard and into the WooCommerce > Wholesale Roles tab:
Out of the box, the plugin comes with its own custom WooCommerce user role for you, called Wholesale Customer. As you can see, each role includes a name, a ‘key’, and a description.
The user role’s key and description are for internal identification purposes. That key should be a combination of characters that’s unique within your WordPress database and that enables you to quickly identify the role.
Let’s say, for example, you want to add a role for ‘advanced’ wholesale customers. You could set the name to Advanced Wholesale Customer, its key to advanced_wholesale_customer and any description you want:
Keep in mind that user role descriptions are optional. However, we recommend that you include them, particularly if you’re going to set up multiple WooCommerce user roles. That way, you’ll never forget what each role’s purpose is.
Since you already have a custom WooCommerce user role, though, you won’t be able to add any additional ones without using the premium version of the plugin.
What you can do is edit the default Wholesale Customer role to better suit your store’s needs. To do that, click on the Edit button under the role’s name:
Now, the plugin will enable you to edit that role’s name and its description. The role’s key however, can’t be changed:
You have full control over what type of roles you want to use for your WooCommerce site. If you run a subscription website, for example, you can create a role for premium members, and that’s just one idea.
Conclusion
The more WooCommerce user roles you add to your website, the more control you can have over discounts and different pricing tiers. If you have a lot of wholesale customers, for example, you’ll want to set up different user roles for different levels of ‘big’ fish. That way, you can give your best customers the best prices.
If you’re using the free version of the WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin, you can set up one additional customer role. With the premium version, you can create as many WooCommerce user roles as you want or need.
Do you have any questions about how to add new WooCommerce user roles to your store? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!
