How Association Management Software Can Help You

Facebook X Pinterest LinkedIn

Nowadays, managing a large organization or association is challenging, most especially if you’re still doing manual tasks since doing so can be time-consuming. Since you’re manually doing these types of tasks, it means that you have less time to connect and keep members active. You need association management software that can help you achieve your goals by helping you automate manual and repetitive tasks.

Association management software is a powerful digital tool that helps professional associations manage membership functions online.

Find out how this tool can help you grow your business and strengthen your web presence by reading this comprehensive guide

Member Profile Management

From setting up new members and registering event pages online, you can use association software featuring a public member directory. It’ll improve not just the appearance of your website, but also its functionality when managing member profiles.

An association management software is a great tool to manage memberships in a stress-free way. It eliminates manually entering all data for your membership database because members can always log on using their credentials to update their profiles.

How to Choose Association Management Software?

Here are the important things you have to ensure when choosing an association software:

Choose an association software that updates profiles automatically whenever membership dues are paid.
Select one that you can easily use to search, filter, sort, and group all members, as well as set administrative privileges.
A good association software can instantly process online fees, payments, and donations.
You have the ability to manage and control the contact database. So, searching, filtering, and updating are all made faster and easier with association software.
A detailed and intuitive member portal is available for members to use, allowing them to check their accounts via their smartphones, tablets, or any internet-capable device.

Increase Membership Rate

Every association aims to entice more people to join and become full-pledge members. Whether you have a homeowner, alumni, healthcare, law, politics, or business association, you can use association management software to stay on top of your outreach and communication strategies.

While Excel spreadsheets can be used to track event attendance, dues, certifications, and other activities, it’s not enough if your membership has doubled in number. You’ll need the advanced features of association management software to track these things and focus more on making your association more inviting for qualified and potential members.

Best Features of Association Management Software

Here are the best features:

Customized New Member Registration:

It’s important to choose one that enables you to create customizable membership or event online registration forms.

Cloud-Based Member Database:

With cloud technology used by association management software, all member data, including payment data, event registration, and email, is securely stored in a cloud-based database.

Dependable and Easy-to-use Website Builder:

By using this software, you can make your website more efficient and appealing. You can also create events pages, a blog, or ‘for members only’ pages using mobile-friendly and professional-looking templates. Choosing a user-friendly association management software allows you to add easily, edit, or remove pages by dragging and dropping different website elements.

Membership Renewals:

Members can renew their membership or upgrade it anytime. Renewing membership shouldn’t be a hassle for members. So, you can use association management software for automatic renewals and a member can tick a box if this option is preferred.

Better Member Communication

One of the best ways to overcome the fear of startups is investing in the best mode of communication using advanced technologies, which includes considering the use of association management software.

In every organization, it’s important to have varying communication channels. People have busy schedules and hectic lifestyles nowadays, so constantly reminding your members to join events or participate in surveys or elections is important.

It’s a good thing that the software can help make member-to-member and member-to-management communications seamless. You can integrate or add association management software with your existing communication channels to reach more members.

How Association Management Software Improve Communication?

Below are the advantages of using the software for improved communications:

It allows you to set a schedule and automate sending of emails, invoices, event promotions, and member reminders. Also, you can easily filter and group contacts.
A good association management software provides a wide range of professionally designed email and newsletter templates.
You can create marketing communications, including email marketing, easily and fast with an automated software solution.
An association management software keeps your member directory automatically updated every time a new member is added; it sends an automatic notification to chapter leaders and concerned members.

Online Store Management

Associations can raise funds and profit by selling products and offering services. If your association or organization is selling merchandise or products, it’s a good idea to use association management software to help you manage your online store.

Online Store Management Features

Check out these online store management features and benefits:

Members can buy products or avail services via your online store or booking online.
Members can share your listings via social media channels, like Facebook or Instagram, and encourage qualified people to become members, too.
Association heads can broadcast promotions or great deals online or postpaid ads within the website or externally.
Sales teams can perform sales inventory a lot easier and faster using an association management software, eliminating manual work. Get to view available stocks, number of orders, order status, and latest price changes online.
Different flexible payment options are made available for your customers, including credit and debit cards, Paypal, and Stripe.
Your sales team can analyze buyer shopping behaviors for improved marketing strategies.

Fundraising Management

Associations can give back to the community by holding fundraising events. Whether you’re planning to conduct an outreach program, environment project, or donation drive, association management software can help you achieve your fundraising goals.

You can encourage your members to give donations using the software. A donate button can be added to your website as well as a donation meter to let your members know how much you’ve collected. It’s an easy and transparent way of welcoming donations for a good cause.

Fundraising Benefits of Association Management Software

Here’s how it can help you with fundraising:

Create a donation form using a ready-to-use template and send it to members via email with the form attached.
Set a fundraising event with inclusive start and end dates for members to know the timeframe they have so they can give their donations.
Include photos and videos of the beneficiaries and a detailed plan on how to use the donations.
Enable members to give their donations in different ways, such as through their credit or debit cards, Paypal, and other flexible payment options.
For transparency, use the donation meter to know how much the association collected.
Provide updates online in real-time using an association management software.

Website Management

The reputation of an organization is crucial to entice new members. While your association is a highly respected organization, having a slow or poorly designed website is a turn-off for those who don’t know much about your association. That’s why establishing a strong web presence is important. With the help of association management software, you can have a strong web presence.

Every association should look professional to entice more members. You can accomplish this goal with the help of reliable association management software. So, how can an association management software help your website?

How Association Management Software Will Improve Your Website?

Here’s how an association management software can improve your website:

An association management software helps you create a consistent feel and look for member directories.
Create a blog section for your association website, allowing non-members to read general topics and members to access white papers and articles.
Create event calendars for all association chapters. Each member can click on the event dates depending on the chapter location.
Because data is stored in the cloud, data processing is faster – your website loading time won’t be sluggish. This is an essential factor that’s considered by potential and loyal members.

Event Management

Events are very important, most especially for professional associations. When planning an event, it’s important to integrate your association membership database into a third-party event management software for successful outcomes.

When an event planning management tool exists within an association management software, members can be segmented. In this way, you can target members using the most effective invitations. Also, you can encourage members to register through a platform that they already know and participate actively in panels, different classes, and networking events.

Event Management Benefits

Here are the things that an association management software can help you when it comes to event management:

Empower local association chapters to easily plan events within the system.
Apply member discounts automatically and authorize early registration permissions when members logged into their membership profiles.
Eliminate the need to manually migrate attendance data into your current system after the event.

Election Management

Most associations elect leaders yearly, and of course, not all members are always available to cast votes. Elections represent democracy, fairness, and stability for any organization, so this process should be seamless as much as possible. It’s a good thing that association management software can help you manage elections.

Association management software usually has a voting feature, allowing you to manage elections. If you want to manage association elections for your homeowners’ group, medical association, or teacher union, having a one-stop-shop voting management system can be integrated into an association management software solution.

Election Management Software Capabilities

Here are some of the election management software capabilities of an association management software:

Voters or members of the association can cast their votes anywhere using their website credentials. Members don’t need to be physically present to cast their votes, giving them election empowerment even if they’re abroad or sick at home.
For transparency, votes are automatically calculated and the results can be delivered in real-time.
The start and end date and time of voting can be set when running an online election.

Tracking and Reporting

Tracking and reporting are important in managing an organization. If you want to encourage active participation in events, elections, and other activities, you should know how the members are doing.

Every association should create a report quarterly or annually. Using dependable association management software allows you to readily access data based on desired specific dates. Because everything is stored in the cloud, you won’t have issues with missing or inaccurate data for reporting purposes.

Tracking and Reporting Benefits

Here are the tracking and reporting benefits of an association management software:

Using an association management software allows you to access membership summaries, analytics, and financial reports almost instantaneously.
If your employees in various departments also need to check the statistics or report, they can easily do it through drag-and-drop without asking for help from IT.
You can access and view relevant information without exporting data using costly third-party reporting software. It can also determine the dates your members last logged-in and participated in the organization’s events.

Application Management

Associations need to hire employees from time to time, most especially for a big organization. If you need a steady stream of volunteers, staff members, or consultancy services, you can use association management software to improve your job board.