A third of the organisations surveyed by MemberWise rated the performance of their current Membership Management Solution as poor, scoring between one and four out of ten.
You would not expect a bakery to be able to bake bread without an oven, or a builder to make a house without a cement mixer- so why do we expect to meet member’s needs without the necessary tools?
Over 50% of the global population is now online (Statista, 2019) resulting in a surge of demand for services to be digital. As a member-led organisation, you want your members to have easy access to manage all elements of their membership, from renewing their membership, purchasing event tickets to networking with peers.
Many organisations are working with out-dated systems because it’s the way ‘it has always been’. By not updating your technology you are missing out on the multitude of benefits emerging tech has. Long term, “the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change”.
Master your member’s expectations online by defining your member engagement strategy.
Here are a few quick ideas to start with:
Provide a seamless member portal
The more difficult or time consuming it is for members to complete a task, the less likely they are to do so. A sophisticated member portal makes it easier for members to manage their membership with self-service functionality, which incidentally sees staff productivity increase as they’ll spend less time handling requests and resolving user issues. Members are less likely to email or phone your organisation to help them complete simple tasks. Their satisfaction is likely to increase whilst a modern platform makes it much easier for new members to join.
Complete efficient data analysis
If data-analysis is a labour-intensive and time-consuming task, you are missing out on the benefits of automation. Your member data is the most powerful tool accessible so your platform should provide detailed dashboards and reports in real-time.
Make sure data is secure
With strict GDPR, you need to ensure all of your data is safe. With legacy tools, such as Excel spreadsheets, you’re offering zero security, high chance of a data breach and you have no insight into your members’ preferences, as it can’t be tracked. Use a membership management solution that depends on the world’s no1 CRM tool, like Salesforce, which invests billions into data security and reporting to guarantee your data is treated like the gold it is.
Plan for training needs
Getting used to new software is a daunting task but modern technology is there to help you complete your jobs in a more efficient manner. Consider the resources you have access to for staff training, modern tech comes with a wealth of learning material, training sessions, and a variety of ways to access help when needed.
Ensure your membership management platform helps you achieve strategic goals
If your current system isn’t making it clear whether you are achieving your goals, it’s time it is replaced. Advanced CRM technology makes it easier to achieve a personalised experience for members by leveraging your data. You should be able to track member engagement, easily pull reports and navigate to different items seamlessly.
Understanding your members’ expectations and what current challenges they face is the basis for your digital strategy.
Explore member expectations and leveraging a roadmap in further detail at our session, on ‘Digital Strategies to Master Member Expectation’ at the MemberWise Digital Excellence 2019. If you’d like to find out more, please join us at 11:50 in the session track ‘Partner Showcase B’, room 7.