Transitioning from Wix Forums to Wix Groups: A New Era of Community Building
As Wix phases out its Forum app in favor of the more modern Wix Groups, health and wellness businesses have a unique opportunity to revamp their community-building strategies. This transition isn’t just a necessary update; it’s an opportunity to create a more dynamic and engaging space for your audience. Honestly, while change isn’t always fun, we’re genuinely excited about this one.
In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of Wix Groups to explain why we’re so excited, guide you through the migration process, and address common questions that we’ve gotten from our clients to help you make the most of this upgrade.
Why Wix Groups Is the Way Forward
Wix Groups offers a more modern and dynamic platform to foster engaged communities surrounding your business—especially invaluable for health and wellness brands seeking to build loyalty and connections. Unlike traditional forums, Wix Groups better supports real-time interaction, multimedia sharing, and flexible privacy options, creating an online space where members can connect meaningfully with one another and with you.
Enhanced Features for Dynamic Community Engagement with Wix Groups
Interactive Discussion Boards and Private Messaging: Wix Groups transforms static posts into lively, real-time conversations through discussion threads where members can comment, reply, and actively participate. Private messaging further fosters deeper connections, allowing members to chat privately and build relationships without admin intervention.
Customizable Community Spaces: Whether you choose to personalize an existing template or create a completely custom environment, Wix Groups offers flexible tools to build groups that resonate with your members’ interests. You can customize everything, from appearance to rules and settings, to ensure your community reflects your brand and makes your members feel right at home.
Versatile Content Sharing and Multimedia: To keep your community lively, Wix Groups supports a wide range of content types. Members can share formatted text posts, photos, galleries, videos (uploaded or embedded), external links, PDFs, documents, and admins can even host live streams via Wix Live.
Event Management and Announcements: As a group owner, you can post updates, promote exclusive virtual or in-person events, pin important posts, and more, all in line with your plan to generate excitement around your brand. These activities help reinforce community bonds, increase participation, and keep members actively involved.
Streamlined Member Management: When new members join, you can welcome them through the Groups Feed—a real-time stream highlighting fresh content. You can also create membership questions during the join process to gather insights about new members upfront, ensuring your community’s growth aligns with your goals. As an admin, you set the permissions and rules—ensuring each member accesses the right content.
Real-Time Engagement: The Groups Feed showcases fresh content, keeping members engaged with the latest updates. Dynamic discussion threads and private messaging enable members to form personal connections, and together, these features create a multi-layered community that balances public interaction with deeper, individual engagement—mimicking social media, but in a way that’s focused entirely on your brand.
How to Transition from Wix Forums to Wix Groups
The Wix Forum app will be discontinued on March 1, 2026, and all its data will be deleted. Moving to Wix Groups ensures your community remains live. Don’t worry—it’s not too complicated, and our WP Wellness team is here to guide you. Whether you want a hands-on approach or just some expert advice, we’ve got you covered!
Choosing the Right Plan
To leverage Wix Groups’ full potential, you’ll need a supported premium plan:
- Free Plan: Does not include Wix Groups features.
- Light Plan: May lack some advanced capabilities.
- Core, Business, and Business Elite Plans: Offer comprehensive features suitable for active communities.
- Enterprise Plans: Designed for larger organizations with specialized needs.
Making the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide
Good news! While change is rarely easy, Wix’s automated migration process makes this transition relatively easy and efficient. Before you begin, note that post-migration expenses vary depending on your chosen plan and any additional features you select. If you’d like our assistance during or after the transition, WP Wellness is available to help ensure your community’s success.
Here’s how to migrate:
1) Move Your Forum Content
- Log in to your Wix dashboard.
- Navigate to the Forum section.
- Click the “Move Forum to Wix Groups” banner.
- Confirm and initiate the migration—Wix will automatically import your posts, comments, reactions, and categories, preserving your community’s history.
2) Update and Customize Your Site
- Ensure Wix Groups is added via the Wix App Market.
- Use the Wix Editor to customize your group pages—adjust layout, colors, branding, and settings.
- Publish your changes to go live with your new community features.
3) Manage Your Members
- Existing forum members will be automatically assigned to their respective groups.
- Members with private profiles will receive invitations to join their matched groups.
- You can also manually add members through the Wix Dashboard for complete control.
Understanding Access, Roles, and Privacy in Wix Groups
Managing a community effectively requires a clear understanding of access levels and privacy controls. Wix Groups provides flexible options to tailor member experiences—whether you want a fully open group or a private, exclusive community. It’s essential to handle personal and health-related data responsibly, which is why Wix offers privacy settings, GDPR compliance tools, and options for private and secret groups, all of which are controlled by administrators. WP Wellness can guide you in setting up these features to protect your members’ data and ensure your community is secure.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the different roles and group privacy options available to help you manage and grow your community:
Community Management & Individual Permission Levels
- Admins: Manage groups, moderate content, assign roles and permissions, and send announcements.
- Members: Post, comment, participate in polls, RSVP to events, send messages to other members, and update their profiles.
- Public Visitors: View public content and request to join private groups, depending on settings.
Group-level Privacy & Security Options
- Public Groups: Open and accessible to everyone.
- Private Groups: Require approval to join, offering exclusivity and a sense of community.
- Secret Groups: Hidden from search and only accessible via invitation, providing maximum privacy.
Ready to streamline your transition?
Contact WP Wellness today to maximize the benefits of Wix Groups and turn this change into an opportunity to create a highly valuable community for your business.
FAQs: Addressing Common Client Concerns
Here are answers to the questions our clients have asked about the move to Wix Groups:
Q: How can we monitor and engage with discussion boards effectively?
A: While community discussions can be highly beneficial to your business, it’s essential to monitor interactions to ensure they align with community guidelines and that you have clearly communicated these guidelines to members. WP Wellness can assist with setting moderation tools, establishing clear guidelines, and actively participating to foster positive, supportive conversations.
Q: Can members chat directly with each other?
A: Yes! Wix Groups offers a “Direct Messaging” feature that allows members to communicate privately.
Q: How do Wix Groups differ from Forums?
A: Wix Groups emphasizes interaction and real-time engagement, featuring member feeds, profiles, events, and multimedia sharing. They are mobile-friendly and provide instant notifications, offering a more dynamic and modern experience akin to social media.
Q: Are there privacy concerns with Wix Groups?
A: Wix takes privacy seriously. You can set privacy levels for each group, require admin approval for membership, and create secret groups. The platform also supports GDPR compliance to safeguard your community’s data.
Q: Can we customize the look and feel of our Wix Groups?
A: Absolutely! Wix offers extensive customization options—choose from pre-designed templates, tweak colors, fonts, and layouts, and incorporate your branding to ensure consistency with your website.
Q: Is there a member limit in Wix Groups?
A: Wix Groups can accommodate a large number of members. Exact limits depend on your plan, so it’s best to check with Wix support for specific details.
WP Wellness 🤝 Wix
Navigating this transition doesn’t have to be overwhelming. At WP Wellness, we specialize in all things Wix. We’re ready to help your business migrate smoothly to Wix Groups (if you’re using forums) or do a completely new implementation if you’re just beginning your online community.
From setting up Wix Groups and developing engagement strategies to ensuring privacy compliance, we’ve got you covered.
