Relationships are at the core of all associations and chambers of commerce — and membership software makes it easier for them to build those relationships. It drives things like automated renewal campaigns, allows associations to easily send out invites to their next great event and helps them send their newsletters and other communications to their members.
Need to increase your revenue? Membership management software helps organizations maximize their income by optimizing event revenue and automating membership renewals. With all that data in one place, it also gives association leaders the analytics and insights they need to make informed decisions.
Without software solutions, association and chamber of commerce staff would end up doing dozens of hours of manual labor a week and much of what makes being a member of associations great wouldn’t be possible. It’s like that volunteer who organizes everyone’s favorite annual event: indispensable.
Membership software FAQ
What is membership software?
Membership management software is software that helps membership-based organizations like associations, trade associations, and chambers of commerce manage their membership databases, communicate with their membership and orchestrate things like membership renewals.
What are the top features to look for in membership software?
Great membership management software offers some core features that drive key benefits for associations. Here are some of the features your membership management software should provide.
- Membership databases: This is key because it’s where keep your membership records.
- Membership auto-renewals: No one wants to send out renewals manually. Auto-renewals ensures all your members are current – and nudges them when they aren’t.
- Membership reporting: Imagine the value you can get from detailed reports into your membership activity and status. It’s basically a gold mine of insights.
- Payment tracking: The ability to track payments via your membership software rather than manually makes your life so much easier.
- Event marketing: Plan events? Event marketing features are helpful in optimizing things like your event attendance and managing event sponsorships.
- Email marketing: Communicating with your membership is critical. Email marketing tools integrated with your membership management software help you do it more efficiently.
- Intuitive user interface: One of the biggest expenses with membership software is training. By choosing software with an easy-to0use interface you’ll cut down on how much you have to spend getting current and new staff up to speed.
What are the benefits of using membership management software?
Your association needs to manage your data somehow. Some solutions might seem cheaper like using an Excel document, for instance. But when you start to add up the staff time required to manually do many of the processes that membership software automate, it’s actually one of the costlier options.
Here are some key reasons to get dedicated software to manage and grow your membership program.
- Revenue maximization: If you’re not using dedicated association membership management software, you’re likely leaving money on the table. Your members might not renew on time (or at all) if they don’t get an auto-renewal notice. You could also miss out other sources of revenue like event revenue if your event registration process isn’t digitized and simple.
- Member engagement: Associations with membership management software are more easily able to communicate with their members. From being able to easily send an email to the ability to quickly look up a member’s phone number, you’ll stay in better touch with your membership – which will increase their engagement and loyalty.
- Labor savings: No one wants to manually add new members or import email addresses to your email program. Membership management software automates a lot of the manual labor of running a membership program. That’s a significant savings for associations.
- Valuable data: They say that data drives better decision making. Having data about your membership at your fingertips can help you better understand what’s working and what isn’t. You can leverage that to better engage and grow your membership.
- Integrations: Another benefit of membership software is that you can easily connect it with other common software solutions. By easily integrating your membership data with your other software solutions or tools, you’ll be able to accomplish more.
Top membership software options for any organization
Now that you’re considering the benefits of membership management software for associations, you’re likely wondering what the best membership software options are for your organization.
At Personify, we have a whole ecosystem of membership management software options targeted at different kinds of organizations. Each option is tailored to the needs of specific sectors.
MC Professional: Best membership software for associations and industry organizations
MemberClick Professional is the perfect membership platform for professional associations and industry organizations. It’s loved by professional organizations – over 3,000 organizations use it. That’s because it helps them easily stay in touch with members, optimize revenue, automate tasks, improve retention and more.
- Create a membership website for your members to visit
- Plan exciting in person or virtual events
- Communicate with members via email, campaigns, and automatic renewal reminders
- Build an online community with forums, jobs boards, polls, and more
- Handle financial processing and supporting
MC Trade: Best membership software for chambers and trade associations
Do you run a trade association or chamber of commerce? MemberClicks Trade is the perfect membership management software to help associations and chambers of commerce simplify their membership management. It’s loved by trade organizations because it helps them easily connect with members, create websites and blogs, manage their email marketing, automate their accounting, create personalized membership profiles to drive personalized experiences and more!
- Send personalized individual and group member communications
- Track membership history
- Leverage built-in reports to make data-driven decisions
- Collect dues automatically
- Integrate your finances with your accounting software
Wild Apricot: Best membership software for clubs, nonprofits and other organizations
The needs of clubs, non-profits, and other organizations can be different than those of associations. That’s why it’s key that they get a purpose-built platform. Wild Apricot is used by over 50,313 organizations. They love how Wild Apricot makes it easy to attract and retain members. From digitized membership forms to automated renewals, Wild Apricot offers features that drive value and member retention.
- Build member engagement by offering access to member-only web pages including forums and exclusive blogs
- Create searchable online directories
- Embed membership functions into your existing website such as event listings, directories and forms.
- Customize your membership applications
Next steps: Choosing a membership software
Now that you’re ready to choose a membership management platform or switch from your current platform, you’re likely wondering how to should go about finding the right option for you. Here are some tips!
Consider your needs:
Before you start looking at software take some time to understand how your organization would use a membership platform. Knowing what you’re looking for will help you narrow down your software options.
Compare features:
Now that you know what you are looking for, look at the features offered by different products on the market. Then, compare ones that have the features you need to see what other features they might have that could offer your organization value.
Request a demo:
You can read a million webpages talking about software but you won’t know what it’s actually like until you demo that software. Sign up for a demo so you can see it in action.
Ask around:
Once you’ve narrowed down your list to one or two options, ask people in your network who use that software about its strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t know anyone using the software you’re interested in, read through the case studies on the software provider’s website to learn how customers use it.
Learning more
When it comes to membership management software, choosing the right one with all the membership management tools and features you need is key to driving more value for your organization. From the ability to automate sending out renewals to features that make event management a breeze, your organization will be able to achieve more.
Want to learn more about membership software? We break down the features and benefits of MemberClick’s membership management options.
