Membership management software (also known as an association management system) provides associations, clubs and other membership organizations with the functionality they require to provide their services to their members. Let’s walk through some of the essential features you should look for in membership management software.

However it’s important to remember that the perfect membership management system looks different for every organization out there. It is important to understand that the flexibility of your software is at a higher priority than any of these features.

CRM

CRM’s (Customer Relationship Management Software) are typically the bare minimum when it comes to taking organizations digital as they provide the ability to manage contacts and keep their information up to date in as simple a manner as possible. It is safe to say that a membership management solution that does not have this feature is considered incomplete. Without a proper member CRM, you could not personalize, customize, or automate any engagement activities you take with contacts.

Event Management

It’s a great way to get members involved, draw in new members, and also to establish ourselves as an important figure in your industry or community. The Super Admin can enter upcoming events; members can view it in list and calendar view and can also add the same to Google calendar and make online payments. Members get automatic discounts, priority registration, and special permissions when they register, and their attendance records are automatically stored in their member profiles. They can check the member directory for others who registered for the same events both before and after.

Community & Member Directory

This feature basically allows your members to ‘log in’ to your website or mobile and use widgets from the platform on the website that gives members access to a database of members for searching a specific member. Also it allows members to network digitally and remotely and fosters a sense of connectedness via 1-1 messaging in your organization especially with remote interactions becoming the new normal.

Email & Membership Notifications

Email campaigns are a big feature. Member engagement comes in a lot of forms, but with an email campaign strategy, direct messaging and marketing can be pivotal. Super admin user can receive emails when new member signs up or an existing renews. Members want to be kept in the loop, and emails are the most direct way to do so.

When members get close to the end of their membership, it’s important that the membership management system notifies the respective member of their upcoming membership expiry. It is always good to remind members to renew their memberships. This brings in the revenue and also keeps your membership numbers higher.

Payment Processing

Online payments are commonplace now, and manually tackling this ordeal only makes engagement and ROI goals harder to reach. This also opens up more opportunities for converting new members by giving multiple methods of payments (PayPal, Razorpay etc.), accepting differing credit card companies, and so on.

Analytics

Analytics are also one of the most basic and vital features for a membership management system. Any good SaaS model offers some level of analytics. The key component of analytics is not only taking in web traffic, and event traffic, but how you’re able to combine this data and make sense of it. It also offers data on new members on weekly/monthly basis, renewals within a month, revenue for a specific period etc. They are important in identifying bottlenecks in your organization so that you can take action to resolve them.

Mobile Apps

When it comes to membership-based organizations, engagement is the most defining role that the management needs to take on. Technology persists at every level of people’s lives nowadays, and that typically comes in the form of a smartphone in the pockets of every one of your members. This is where it’s crucial to introduce your organization’s own app so that members can stay engaged on the go.

Every feature or module of a robust and state of the art membership management system is like every part of a machine. That being said, there will always be some bells and whistles in terms of additional modules or features which can be incorporated in the software application in the future. If you’re looking to build a customized membership management application, reach out to us at AppleTech and see your idea transform into a solution.