If you are considering an investment in a new membership management system, then it is well worth surveying your customers to understand more about the features they will really value. This gives you the chance to win and retain custom whilst providing new channels for monetising your offer, even as you reduce operational and administrative costs.

Self-Service

A key bonus to membership systems from the customer perspective is the chance to self-service an account. This could include features to update personal details, to opt in and out of regular communications, to contribute to a discussion forum or to buy a service or book on to an event. An account feature where the user’s payment details can be saved for future access tends to facilitate online purchasing and contribute to an uplift in sales. Online membership renewal options are also an obvious benefit, especially where automatic renewal is available.

Developing in a Planned Way

As the developing party, don’t attempt to develop a system with endless bells and whistles – you need to understand what the most important features are to your customers, and then roll them out in a planned and organised way. Consider doing this in a series of phases so that you can keep interest high by releasing fresh offers in regular bite-size chunks.

Choosing Your System

There are various off-the-shelf membership management systems as well as bespoke options on offer from providers such as www.satori-membership-management.co.uk/. Often an off-the-shelf solution will work for organisations with fairly standard requirements and where modules can be switched on and off according to needs. These tend to be less costly to develop than bespoke options and easier to maintain and also to service if they can be delivered and hosted via the cloud.

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A good starting point is to really understand your drivers for developing a new membership management system. Is it in response to a business challenge or opportunity, or is it simply something that you know will give you a competitive edge and help you to drive down internal administration costs and resource requirements? By really understanding your drivers and objectives, you can assess the right provider and system and ensure that you develop something that meets – and perhaps even exceeds – your customers’ expectations.

What features do you know your customers want in a membership management system?