Many of my clients run membership websites offering content and resources to members. I’ve recently migrated several of these sites from Restrict Content Pro (RCP) to Paid Memberships Pro (PMP). Not because PMP is perfect, but because RCP hasn’t been meaningfully developed in years. PMP, on the other hand, is alive—regular updates, good documentation, and a better ecosystem/community. It’s a move for long-term viability.
Migrations Are Rarely Painless
We were dealing with:
- Thousands of users
- Group memberships
- Third-party integrations
- Different database schemas
- Front-end UI shifts
- Admin UI terminology changes
- Legacy expectations baked into muscle memory
I ran full migrations on staging sites. Then I ran them again. And again. Countless tests to make sure everything lined up before flipping the switch.
Most of it worked. Some of it didn’t.
The Cost of Better
Once live, I started noticing “J curve” symptoms.
- Admins struggled with PMP’s new terminology (e.g. “levels” instead of “membership levels,” “discount codes” instead of “coupons”)
- Some pages broke due to hardcoded RCP shortcodes
- A few users complained
In short: it looked like we’d taken a step backward.
But this is the J curve in action:
You dip before you climb.
The only reason we even can improve the system is because we ditched the dead weight. RCP’s slow decay was invisible until it wasn’t. PMP gave us a path forward, but there’s friction in any transition.
The J curve isn’t just a tech thing, it happens everywhere
You see it in:
Changing software → confusion and slowdowns before long-term efficiency
Switching your diet → energy crashes for a week before it levels up
Cutting expenses → uncomfortable early, freeing later
Starting a new fitness routine → soreness and no visible progress until one day it clicks
Hiring a new team member → more work at first while they ramp up
Short-term pain. Long-term gain.
What to Do About It
If you’re making a change that’s supposed to improve things, don’t expect immediate results. Expect confusion, and probably frustration.
But expect it. Plan for it. And communicate that it’s the J curve.
