Membership management software: the all-in-one solution

Running a membership organisation is a challenge at the best of times.

As the size of your membership base grows, so too does the complexity of managing members and maximising engagement.

Whether you’re a professional association, a charity or a nonprofit, administrative duties can get in the way of connecting your members to their interests and your shared mission.

But it needn’t be this way.

Membership management software enables you to focus on your core activities while routine and menial tasks are automatically taken care of. The software system acts as a database, gathering and circulating information to market towards specific membership groups, whilst allowing those groups to connect with you.

It’s designed to assist organisations in managing, storing and accessing membership information like contact details or payment information – but its uses go far beyond this.

More advanced versions have the ability to track membership and predict areas of growth, enabling you to focus on creating value instead of simply maintaining it.

Let’s dive into it.

Must-have features

Like all pieces of bespoke software, membership management systems vary in features and functionality.

In order to streamline member-related tasks efficiently, you need to be aware of features that are absolutely essential for managing members and maximising engagement.

With the right tools at your disposal, you can ensure that current members remain engaged and prospective members view you as an enticing proposition.

Here’s a list of features that we consider to be must-have:

  • Comprehensive membership profiles: as the name would suggest, members are at the heart of your membership management system. Your CRM needs to be capable of managing all member information and keeping this up to date.
  • Secure payment processing: your membership will most likely come at a price; you may even have tiered prices. You’ll need an encrypted payment gateway that’s easy to use and reassures your members that their details are protected.
  • Automated communication: whether you want to remind your members about renewal or registering for events, to engage and retain your members long-term, you’ll need to communicate with them regularly.
  • Analytics tools: from analysing sales to tracking event attendance, insights gleaned from analytics will let you know what’s working and what isn’t, helping you refine existing strategies and implement more robust ones in future.
  • Event management: to demonstrate value to your members you’ll want to give them access to online or in-person events. It’s important that you can offer easy registration, as well as track attendance and provide personalised discounts (thanks to that membership profile you know all about).

Streamline administrative processes

Time is money, so being able to save time will help you deliver a greater return on investment.

The administrative processes that go into managing a membership-based organisation can be extremely time consuming. If those processes involve switching between various systems to complete a task, what should be simple quickly escalates.

One of the main benefits of membership management software is its ability to eliminate such repetitive tasks.

With access to an all-in-one system that fulfils all of your organisation’s needs, your team won’t have to jump from system to system anymore.

Beyond the simplified access to valuable information, you can start to offload some of your team’s workload by automating certain tasks. For example, instead of manually reaching out to members to remind them of renewal, you can automate this process and allow your team to focus their energy where it’s most needed.

Leveraging the power of automation will free up resources for your organisation to work more efficiently and productively, enabling your team to deliver greater value to your members.

Uncover insights into member behaviour

Your relationship with your members needs to be more than merely transactional. Although money will be exchanged for things like event admission or renewal fees, they need to understand the inherent value they can derive from their membership.

For you to gain their trust and benefit from increased loyalty, you need to demonstrate that you understand their needs and what drives their behaviour.

You need to demonstrate the intangibles – way more than just ‘x received in return for x spent’.

Any decent membership management software will give you access to a coveted bounty of member data that helps you form a bigger picture of what motivates your members, what they want, what they need – and usually, when they need it.

By tracking metrics like email opens, portal logins and event interactions, you can begin to understand how members are engaging and what you can do to engage them further.

But why is it important to monitor engagement and encourage member participation?

Active membership engagement is a core driving force behind your organisation’s ambitions to grow and increase revenue. Membership management software puts these insights within reach, allowing you to act on them with greater effectiveness.

Be agile and responsive to change

One of the main stumbling blocks that membership organisations encounter is how to consistently add value rather than just maintain it.

When a member has made the decision to sign up or renew with your organisation, they expect the red carpet to be rolled out in return. Yes, they want convenience and exclusivity, but they expect you to adapt to their evolving wants and needs too.

It’s not a bonus anymore – it’s a given in their minds.

With a whole host of integrated tools, membership management software can empower your organisation to be more responsive to the changing needs of your members.

Directories are a central pillar to any membership-driven organisation, but suboptimal software means they can quickly become unmanageable.

Rather than manually inputting reams and reams of member data and undertaking the excruciating task updating this data, this software does all of the heavy lifting for you. By selecting the information you’d like to be accessible in the directory, this process can be completed in a matter of minutes, with ongoing management and updates done automatically.

When data is readily available and lengthy administrative processes are automated, organisations are equipped with the tools they need to scale at pace and capitalise on new trends to achieve growth.

The implementation of this software will ensure that your organisation is consistently attracting, converting and retaining members, today and in the years to come.

Is your legacy system holding you back?

6B knows that having the right software in place is crucial to helping membership-based organisations manage members, maximise engagement and identify viable opportunities for growth.

Speak to one of our experts today so we can help you find the right software solution that meets the needs of your team and your members.

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