What is Membership Management Software

Why Your Club Needs To Ditch The Pen And Paper In 2024

Do you ever feel like being part of a club is more work than fun? 

Like you're always bogged down by paperwork, handwritten notes, and endless spreadsheets? 

It can be exhausting and take up so much of your time that you forget why you joined the club in the first place. 

What if I told you there's a solution to all those time-consuming tasks? A way to simplify things so that you can get back to enjoying your club and sharing your passion with others.

I'm sure your club is fantastic, and it is a privilege to be part of the wonderful community you've created. It's truly special to share your passion with others and experience the joy that comes with it. 

Having the right tools and resources is crucial in making sure that managing your club never feels like a burden. It can make a significant difference in restoring a healthy balance between managing and enjoying your club.

In this article you will learn:

• What is a membership management system
• What features to look for, including:
  • Access to member numbers and data
  • Easy joining
  • Custom member information
  • Custom emails and notifications
  • Track how members interact
  • Engagement tracker
  • Accounting made easy
  • Your website
  • Automatic membership renewals 
• What membership management software costs

The Solution 

So, what is this magical solution? Online membership management systems.

 

I know that’s a bit of a mouthful, but I didn’t name it, so don’t blame me.

A membership management system is a digital system that organises everything your club needs. 

It can replace those filing cabinets, Excel spreadsheets, and piles of envelopes.

There are a variety of options when it comes to choosing your membership management system. I’m sure you are already doing a ton of research into the different systems and where they differ. You should definitely keep doing that, the more you know about this the better. 

I’d recommend checking out WildApricot, Join It, Membes, and us at Member Jungle.

Let’s cover the main things that you should be looking for in a good membership system. 

The following are all core things that any good membership management system should offer. WildApricot, Joinit, Membes and Member Jungle all offer these core things. 

When it comes to how these things work, I will be referring to how Member Jungle’s system works, as that is the one I am most familiar with. 

All the companies above will have their versions of these systems.

What Are The Features I should Be Looking For?

A membership management system makes every facet of your club easier to organise.

 

 

Member Jungle or any of our alternatives offer a variety of features that make running your club much easier.

Some of the features that you should look for in a good membership management system are as follows.

Access to Member Numbers and Data

A quick and simple way to see how many members you have and any information you have on your members.

Easy Joining

An easy way for new members to join your club and enter their details and take payment online. You should also have the ability to add new members manually.

Custom Member Information

The ability to set the details you want to collect from your members. Do you want their name and email address, or their mobile number, date of birth, and address as well? 

No matter what details you want, your new system should be customisable to collect that information.

Custom Emails and Notifications 

The ability to set up automatic emails and notifications. That can be personalised for your specific needs and style. You've spent a lot of time building your club culture. A management system should help enhance that, not take away from it.

Track How Members Interact 

Be able to see any events, purchases, emails, and invoices relating to a particular member. This way, you can gain a fuller understanding of how members are interacting with you and your club.

Ability to Track Member Engagement

Speaking of gaining a better understanding. Your membership system should have a way to track member engagement, so you can see what is and isn't popular with your members. Plus find out who your most devoted and active members are. 

If you'd like to learn more about the features that you should look for and how to use them, then check out the video below. 

Leigh, our Director of Membership and Marketing, runs through these features. Using a free Member Jungle trial site. 

 

 

Accounting Made Easy

 

Accounting for a club can be an unruly and time-consuming monster. One that eats time and joy and leaves big stinking piles of stress everywhere.

Manually entering all renewal payments and merchandise sales into your MYOB or Xero is a time-consuming process. No matter how amazing your club's accountant is, there is always room for human error.

With a digital system like Member Jungle, this is simple.

All transaction data is automatically logged in the system for you to access at any time. You can export your financial records from your Member Jungle site directly into your Xero or MYOB software any time you want. 

Just like that, you are saving insane amounts of time doing your club's finances. 

The dreaded accounting monster is no more. 

Your Website 

The final thing to consider is how any online management system works with your current website.

Your website is the first thing prospective members will see when looking into your club. Making sure it looks good and does all the things you need it to do should be a top priority. So finding a management system that is able to redesign and refresh your website is crucial. 

Member Jungle is able to make you a brand new website and accompanying app that will refresh your clubs online appearance. 

Automatic Membership Renewals

A quick look at the time it takes to renew memberships manually, and we can already see our problem. Let’s say you have 450 members; that’s 450 letters that need to be printed, put in 450 envelopes, and posted. 

You’re looking at about $1.15 per letter, times that by 450 and you’re looking at a very expensive process

Doing all this will take around five minutes per posted letter. That’s a total of 38 hours to send off your renewals. 

38 hours is the average working week in Australia. That’s a lot of time to spend simply sending out those initial letters.  We haven't even gotten into the rest of this process. 

Receiving renewal letters back, and entering the information into your database. Not to mention posting more renewal letters to all those who didn't return their first one. Then finally, posting out receipts and renewed memberships.  

Not to mention, the cost of all those pieces of paper and the man-hours involved. 

So, how can having a system that automates this save you time? 

We already know what this looks like doing it the manual way.  So, let’s talk about how this looks digitally with Member Jungle.

1. When it‘s time for your members to renew their membership, they will receive a digital reminder, via email. 
2. They can then renew and pay for their membership through the app or website that Member Jungle made for you. 
3. They will then receive a digital receipt of their payment. 
4. You will receive a digital notice of this renewal and receive a receipt of their payment. 
5. The system will automatically log that they have renewed their membership. All payment data is automatically stored in a secure central database. 
6. So, your treasurer won’t need to do any digging when it comes time to do the books. 

That’s all there is; there isn't anymore. 

Your piles of envelopes, mountains of printing, and all those work hours are gone. 

All that time you used to spend renewing memberships, that time’s yours again; now enjoy your club. 

Who Is Membership Management Software For?

Membership management software is for literally anyone who has members or organises a formal group. 

Car clubs, soccer clubs, knitting groups, pubs and clubs as well as formal associations can use membership management software.  

In fact, at Member Jungle we have helped all of these different groups and more with our software.

If you have to organise a large group of people to do basically anything, then a membership management system can help you. 

How Much Does A Membership Management System Cost? 

You’re probably thinking, well all these sounds great but can I even afford it? 

The answer is yes you almost definitely can. 

All the membership management providers we have talked about offer a range of prices that vary based on the needs of your group and how many members you want to manage. 

The cheapest of these is Join It’s Starter Package at only $43 AUD a month. This is a fairly bare bones package but depending on what you need to do this may be more than enough for your club. 

All the mentioned companies offer more expensive packages that come with a ton of extra amazing features. The most expensive of these is WildApricot’s Enterprise Package for approximately $628 AUD a month, but for that you are able to manage a wooping 15,000 members.  

Once again all the mentioned companies offer a variety of packages at a variety of prices, featuring a startling range of customisable features. 

So you are guaranteed to find the right one for you.

I will link to all the pricing pages below. 

All that is except Membes as they only offer custom pricing and usually only work with large associations. They will likely be the most expensive of the options here but complete customised implementations per customer.. 

If you want to enquire about their prices just go to their website contact them directly. 

• WildApricot’s Prices
• Join It’s Prices
• Member Jungle’s Prices
• Membes’ Contact Page

Your Next Step In Choosing A Membership Management Software 

No matter what management software you choose, make sure it can provide you with all the options that your club deserves. Using a digital membership management program will help you and your club greatly. 

If you want to run your club better and with less stress then you should look into it. 

This is something that can make a massive difference in your life and the life of your club, so do your research. 

I’m serious, do a lot of it and make sure your next move is a great one.  I'd highly recommend checking out systems like WildApricot, Join It, Membes, and Member Jungle.

Maybe start here with our honest comparison of WildApricot and Member Jungle. 

If you're ready to start enjoying your club again and say goodbye to endless paperwork, give an online membership system a try. 

Trust me, your club and your sanity will thank you.