Managing your annual membership renewal is not a job most businesses relish. The time commitment and staff burden often puts many small businesses into shutdown, while making even a few small mistakes can mean a huge fall-out rate. For these reasons and many more, UK organisations and companies are now mostly making this an online task. Let’s look at how investing in an online membership renewal system can deliver real benefits.
Getting the timing right
Most small businesses and membership organisations start their annual membership renewal process one or two months before the payment is due. Any more time spent on this process would be ludicrous; however, most members don’t renew on the first prompt.
Studies show that most members require a minimum of two prompts, with some only renewing after the third. Sending these out manually as emails is time-consuming, while updating a database to see who has responded is a lot of work. This means that with a one-month window, many people simply do not renew.
A dedicated page
If you use a system from a provider such as https://www.ofec.co.uk/web-and-software-development-services/membership-management-systems.aspx, you can create a dedicated membership renewal URL link to give to your members. Rather than asking members to renew and leaving them to find their way around online or having to call you, they can self-complete. With a dedicated page, members can also bookmark it for future reference; for example, if they intend to renew but then exit the process because their credit card is in the other room, they can come back to it later.
Managing and using up-to-date data
Membership management systems only work when the data they use is correct and available to use across all channels. If it belongs to just one administrator who guards it with their life, it doesn’t matter how well cared for your database is. Offering online customer account logins to members means they can see when their renewals are due themselves. If your database can’t communicate with this system, it is time to retire it.
Always say thank you
While a thank you is always nice, what it really achieves is confirmation. Having an automatic ‘thanking’ system means your members know their membership has been renewed, which is reassuring and creates a more trusting relationship.
