Best Membership Management Software for Businesses in 2023

What is Membership Management software?

Membership management software or membership software is a database for hosting member contact details, payment due dates, interactions, and relevant interests. The purpose of the software is to simplify business management tasks and communication for membership-based organizations. 

The functionality of a membership management software can vary significantly from product to product. Some are built for small organizations, with modules that have a simple design and are easy to use. 

On the other hand, others are geared towards large organizations. Such tools come with more technical capabilities to support committees, awards, events, and education.

Key Features of Membership Management Software

Let us try and understand the main features of membership software. 

1. Organization Landing Page or Portal

Bringing in new people to your club or organization can be a challenge. This is the reason why most membership software offer tools to create an online portal or landing page. 

This landing page can be an independent listing or a feature embedded into your website. You can easily showcase details about your organization like your name, location, membership criteria, and purpose. Moreover, you can also choose to list out upcoming events, activities, and talks. 

Landing pages help you build a strong online presence and become more visible to potential members. It also makes it easier for your current members to share information with their network. This, in turn, can encourage more referrals. 

2. Membership Applications

While it is great to have new members, having them means a lot of administrative tasks and paperwork. However, a membership database software can make this process more comfortable with an integrated membership application feature. 

These membership application tools are usually a form or a series of forms that collect details from potential members. This information is fed into a database for you to review and carry out your process further. 

From here, you can choose to accept/reject a membership application and progress it through the payment stage. Integrated member application tools make it easier to manage referrals from existing members and manage new applications. 

Moreover, it simplifies the onboarding process for both you and the new member. Thus, providing a smooth and seamless experience. 

3. Payment and Renewals Management

Once you have recruited new members, you will need to make the process of collecting membership dues as simple as possible. Interestingly, membership management systems come with built-in payment tools. 

Most membership software allows you to bill members directly. Thus, eliminating the need to use another system for your payment processing. This also helps you save time and cut down administrative tasks of recruiting new members. 

You can also choose to embed a self-service payment gateway within your website or online portal. This will help members easily sign up and make payments. Built-in payment features are also useful for managing membership renewals too. 

These tools can send renewal reminders to members and encourage them to sign up for another year. Furthermore, you can also set up your system to automatically collect membership fees on the renewal date. This will help you stay on track with your finances. 

4. Membership Database 

A central membership database is a must-have to grow and sustain a group or organization. Moreover, it gives you a place to store all your data. Thus, making it easier to keep everything up to date and accessible.

Many clubs or organizations rely on a spreadsheet or customer relationship management (CRM) systems to help with member management. If you decide to use membership software with a database, you will be able to link member records to payment systems and easily send emails to your members. 

Such databases record data such as names, membership levels, communication preferences, and renewal dates. Moreover, you can also create custom fields that will help you capture details relevant to your association. 

Furthermore, with all member data in one place, you can quickly make decisions and analyze information. This, in turn, will help you plan events, marketing activities, and membership drives and allow members to update their details. Not only will this give your members greater control over their data, but it will also help you save time. 

5. Email and Communications

The best clubs and organizations make an effort to stay in touch with their members. Interestingly, this process becomes easier with membership software as it comes with emails and mass communication tools.  

As compared to having separate software or manually sending emails to your database, this tool offers a more streamlined approach to communications. Moreover, you can even set up a member list covering separate groups or communicating with your whole database. 

It will also help you keep track of emails between you and your members. Thus, providing you a useful way to track members’ past interactions and make their experience enjoyable. 

Many membership organizations use emails to communicate with their members and also promote events. Moreover, if you already have an email marketing system, you can easily integrate it with your membership software. 

6. Event Ticketing

If your association or group hosts a lot of events, you will be familiar with event planning challenges. However, membership management software can make it a lot simpler with its integrated event ticketing systems. 

Several membership management systems allow you to create event listings and even manage event registrations. Moreover, with these tools, you can take ticket bookings and handle payments directly. This will help you save on fees and even reduce the hassle of using multiple tools to get your work done. 

7. Member Portal and Profiles

One of the key aspects of membership software is the ability to create member portals and profiles. 

An online portal with member profiles gives your members a place to store and update their details and preferences. They can choose to create a profile or have one set up automatically when they join. 

Moreover, profiles can be customized as per your organization’s needs. As members update their details, this information is then fed back into your database in real-time. 

Moreover, membership management solutions also allow you to create a membership directory or online community. This can be of great benefit to your members. They can use this opportunity to promote the organization and make new connections with fellow members. 

Benefits of Membership Management Software

1. All-in-one access to your organization's data

A membership management software will help you create a unified system that meets your organization's administrative needs and your members' needs. 

When you think from an administrative standpoint, storing your member’s registration, dues, and invoices, and event registration in one place makes all your documents more readily accessible. Moreover, with a cloud-based system, your staff will be able to access most of the organization’s data at any time, anywhere. 

Similarly, your members will be able to take greater ownership over their data and gain greater access to what you have to offer. For instance, non-profits will be able to simplify the process of event registration for their members and provide it on their online platform. 

Furthermore, members can independently update their contact information and even pay their dues. Thus, reducing the amount of work needed from your staff to update records. 

2. Reduce Time Spent on Administrative Processes

The workflow and administrative processes behind a membership-based organization can be time-consuming. Moreover, it can be tougher to manage these if these processes require you to use multiple programs. This is where membership management software can simplify your team’s job.

Having an all-in-one system will help your team save the team as they need not jump from one program to another to complete tasks. Not only will membership tools provide simplified access to valuable information, but they will also offer you the benefits of automation. 

A key area where automation can help is registration and membership renewals. If your members are signing up and renewing their memberships on paper, you can entirely automate the whole process by taking it online. 

Similarly, your membership system can automate reminders for membership renewals. With automation at your disposal, your team will be able to work on core business issues.

3. Boost Event Registration & Attendance

A membership database software can also function as an event registration software. The provision for event registration on your site makes it easier for your members to view and register events. Moreover, it also makes it easier to raise awareness of the upcoming events. 

You can also allow your members to register via emails for upcoming events. Furthermore, they can even receive reminders for events they have shown interest in. Event reminders will also increase your members’ chances of attending events. 

4. Advanced Reporting & Analytics 

Whether your company is a non-profit or trying to reach that upcoming quarterly goal, you’re always looking out for ways to make your organization even better. However, to make the required improvements, you’ll need to analyze your organization's status over time. 

While making data-driven decisions is ideal, generating and analyzing reports is challenging and time-consuming. Moreover, when you create reports in spreadsheets, there is a chance that those reports and analysis will result in poor decisions for your organization. 

However, your subscription management software can generate reports and do analysis for you. For example, your software can produce accurate reports on event registrations vs. attendance. Moreover, the data you receive will be free of inaccuracies. 

5. Receive A Return On Your Investment

Streamlining your administrative processes will help you organize your business processes and make better reports. Subsequently, it will help your team save time and money. 

Additionally, your software should improve what your organization has to offer. This, in turn, can drive an increase in event registration to membership registration. Whether your organization is non-profit or for-profit, an increase in members implies you will have more money to work with.

A tool that helps save time and increase engagement with customers is worth investing in.

Things to Consider While buying Membership Management Software

1. Budget Size

Any solution to choose to build yourself is going to be expensive upfront. It can even go up to tens of thousands of dollars. However, if you are working on a smaller budget, you need to discuss prices with several vendors. You must look for software that well fits your budget and offers the best features. 

2. Board Turnover

Every time you introduce a new admin or board member to your membership management system, they will need training and time to learn about your system. If you have a high board turnover, you’ll be introducing new people to your system frequently. 

Even if you choose to build, ensure that your system has a full training manual and on-call support from the developers if a new admin needs help. 

You must consider buying a membership management software that offers adequate support so that you can set up your processes accordingly. 

3. Integration with Other Systems

Membership management software are all-in-one systems that come with their database, payments, website, event, and email platforms. Thus, they need not to be integrated with separate systems. Still, some vendors offer integration with other systems. So, to make a choice, you need to have ample clarity on your business needs.  

4. Long Term Reliability

Another aspect you need to consider is how long you need a membership management solution. Since the software can quickly become obsolete in today’s world, what works for your organization today, may no longer be required in the next five years. 

To meet the rising customer demands, standards, and marketing competition, membership management software providers are constantly updating, fixing, and improving their software to be the best on the market. Choose a software that provides the best plans and is cost-effective. 

Market Trends in Membership Management Software

Here are a few trends that impact and will continue to show the world of membership management. 

1. Digital Marketing  

The use of online paid digital marketing has increased over the years. 20% of membership associations reported digital marketing was one of the mediums that helped them, onboard new members. Interestingly, some client associations are now producing thousands of new members with digital ads each year. 

2. Tracking and Analysis

In the coming years, associations will see improvements in their ability to use and benefit from marketing data. Fewer organizations face difficulty in tracking and analysis. Moreover, 57% of associations believe that data-driven marketing is essential for better serving and growing membership. 

3. Texting (SMS) Communications 

The use of texting as a marketing channel is expanding and is a great way to communicate instantly with members. Texting provides associations a much higher open rate than email and a cost-effective channel of communication.