The Best Membership Management Software

What Is Membership Management Software?

Membership management software (MMS) helps organizations (associations, clubs, communities, nonprofits, and other membership-based businesses) attract and retain members, automate and simplify billing, and create member events and resources. Also known as association management software, these cloud-based systems also contain customer relationship management (CRM) software, which centralizes and streamlines communication.

Membership software has customizable, flexible systems for group/family memberships, different levels of memberships, document sharing, and more. And members can use their individual portals to upgrade/downgrade their memberships, refer new members, sign up for events, and communicate with their organization and its members. Organizations can set up online billing systems for easy payment and dues collection.

Features of Membership Management Software

• Member Directory: Store, view, and edit detailed lists of current, past, and prospective members. Add and remove members, update their membership status, change contact information, change their category or add them to a new chapter. Customizable tools let associations organize and label their members in a wide variety of ways.
• Event Management: Manage every part of the event through MMS. Advertise the event, sell tickets, sell sponsorships, facilitate communication between organizers and attendees, post schedules, reserve rooms, and more.
• Online Billing: Facilitate secure, online payments through a variety of payment methods, like credit cards, bank transfers, PayPal, and more. Members can set up different payment plans, automatic renewals, receive discounts, and more.
• Referral Tracking: Members can send referral links to prospective members with information and application forms. Track rewards for successful referrals, and give promotions to people being referred.
• Member Portal: Each member will have their own page through the service. They can modify their membership, communicate with other members and the organization/different chapters, cancel their membership, renew their membership, sign up for events, see and post jobs, and more. The portal will hold past actions and payment information for easy auditing.
• Email Marketing and Lead Generation: Collect leads through referrals, online applications, email inquiries, and more. And then the MMS will compile those
• Reports and Analytics: Generate reports on finances, enrollment, engagement, event attendance and more. Project into the future to help make decisions for spending and revenue goals. Show the value of your organization through returns on investment from members.
• Payment Processing: Let members, sponsors, vendors, and more pay online. Securely accept different types of payments, send invoices, alert people to upcoming/overdue payments, set up payment plans, and more.
• Job Boards: Administrators can aggregate and advertise job openings specific to their field or association/trade. And job seekers can view and apply for high-quality positions within their industries.
• Online Membership Application: Allow prospective members to apply online, as opposed to communicating with a staff member. This lets people apply when it is most convenient, and it collects information and leads for member organizations with little manpower.
• Event Apps: Members can download apps for organizations and specific events, which helps with event registration and better member engagement at events. Attendees can build their schedules, share contact information, and more.

Benefits of Membership Management Software

Membership management software automates administrative work, freeing up time and resources for members. And MMS helps organizations create detailed reports and analysis, leading to better decision making. It also helps users by giving them more visibility and autonomy over their membership, payments, membership history, and more. And by using a centralized communication tool, members can more effectively communicate and share information with their association and fellow members.

Recruit and Retain Members

Membership management software can embed applications and inquiries into associations' websites, and this information will be stored and organized in a recruitment tool. Any promotions, marketing tools, and communications can be sent to individuals and groups from a centralized tool.

And then once users have signed up, they can manage their memberships on their own. Association administrators will have easy tools to communicate with members, attend organization events, receive licenses and accreditations, and provide other services to members. Members can set up auto-payments and upgrade/downgrade their memberships, leading to higher satisfaction.

Manage Events and Personal Development Programs

Conferences and networking events are important for organizations and their members, and member management software can help gauge interest, sell tickets. MMS also offers mobile apps event attendees, which will save their tickets and credentials, give them information about their individual schedules, and will provide general information about the event.

Personal and professional development tools can be shared with members through their individual portals. And members can more easily meet, communicate, and collaborate with each other.

High Visibility of Enrollment and Budgets

Member data is stored in a central location, and any updates are automatically registered across the entire platform. Administrators can see enrollment and financial trends across various timelines, and they can project future enrollment and budgets into the future. This information helps organizations plan strategies for raising money, producing development materials, planning events, and more.

Pricing of Membership Management Software

Membership management software starts at $19/month to $275/month. The exact pricing for membership management software scales upward and downward depending on enrollment, features, users, and more. Some offer set monthly pricing, while others give customized quotes for enterprise-level organizations.

Other fees and charges are added by some membership management solutions. Some will charge service fees for transactions made through their software. And some will charge for training, implementation, and integration. Others will charge to add more storage, member profiles, and other add-ons.

Membership management software can offer discounts, as well. Some MMS will give discounts for nonprofit organizations. And some will give volume discounts for organizations with multiple chapters, branches, or groups. Most MMS will offer free trials, as well. And there are some free membership management software.

Types of Organizations Using Membership Management Software

Clubs, gyms, professional organizations, social groups, chambers of commerce, and trade associations require systems to recruit, retain, manage, serve, and communicate with prospects, members, sponsors, and alumni. Most membership management software will address all of these needs for most organizations, but there are specialized software for particular groups. And some software will serve some groups better than others.

Trade Associations and Professional Associations

Trade and professional associations exist to advance the cause of their trades and the workers therein. Collecting dues from professionals helps industries advocate and lobby, host conferences and other events, and create professional development material. And members will have transparent access to where funds are being spent and ways to communicate with their professional associations.

It also makes it simpler for members to apply for, earn, pay for, and receive certifications and licenses through their trade groups. Members can communicate with their trade group representatives, but they can also communicate and network with other members from all over the world. This can lead to better problem solving and collaboration.

Sororities, Fraternities, and Alumni Associations

There are some member management software specifically for greek life at universities. They help with pledging, collecting dues, managing members, managing multiple chapters, tracking volunteer and charity events, fundraising, and alumni engagement.

These tools can be used by individual chapters and by the lead administrators of the organizations. Alumni can continue to engage with their organization throughout their lives, and they can create and sign up for various events. Specific job boards can be created and shared with members. And fundraising and philanthropy campaigns can be created and run through the membership management system.

Health and Fitness

With member management systems, gyms, studios, and fitness centers can offer different tiers of membership, with associated features and costs. And members can renew, update their memberships, refer others, and pay online. And organizations can track things like student or senior discounts, family pricing, and promotions.

These software systems can also track attendance, which helps project needs going forward. And they help recruit members with targeting emails, text messages, and phone calls.

Chambers of Commerce

With member management tools, chambers of commerce can more easily manage and benefit their members. Members can personally access available resources without contacting the chamber, or they can request resources through a centralized communication tool. And powerful tools can show return on investment for members, increasing retention and recruiting rates. Automate Tasks With Membership Management Software Automating tasks helps both organizations and their members. It helps cut costs for organizations, which can lead to cheaper dues payments or can be used on more services. Automating renewals, membership levels, payments, membership durations, and adds transparency, consistency, and member satisfaction.

Renewals

Members can log in to their accounts and renew their memberships on their own. They can set up one-time payments to do so, or they can set up automatic payments to make recurring renewals as simple as possible. From a single dashboard, users can set up different types of renewals for multiple chapters. And you can send notifications to members to remind them to renew or to alert them to an upcoming payment.

Flexible Membership Plans

Members can choose to adjust their membership levels, and that information will be automatically logged in to the member directory. The costs, features, and benefits of specific membership types/levels will then automatically be reflected in users' accounts.

Discounts, Promotions, and Holds

Organizations can offer things like discounts, promotions, holds/freezes, and other adjustments to memberships. Administrators can give out trial memberships, giving modified access to prospective users for predetermined periods of time. Or instead of completely canceling a membership, let members freeze or hold their accounts. Allow their information to be stored on your system and their accounts active, but freeze certain features, benefits, and charges. And built-in custom or pre-built promotions for certain users and organizations.

Billing

Membership management software has PCI-compliant online payment services to help process dues and non-dues payments. Payment services like PayPal, Authorize.net, and Stripe integrate with the membership management systems, which automates credit card and other types of payments. Some member management software can handle multiple currencies, as well, to aid international organizations.