5 Ways our online community area helps personalise the member experience

Creating personalised online experiences for members is a challenge for many membership organisations. In the MemberWise report Digital Excellence 2017 less than half of respondents had achieved any online personalisation for their members.

With our membership software and integrated online community area you can create engaging and personalised member experiences. You can segment your members based on for example member category, location, and special interests.

A personalised online experience helps building the relationship with your members, resulting in greater engagement and retention. Here are five ways our software helps you do just that.

1. Personalised online content

When a member joins your online community they can join with a certain role - for example Student or Director. Depending on your settings members can either self-select into a role by signing up for a specific member tier, or you as an admin can assign them the appropriate role.

Roles allow members to see aspects of the platform that are relevant to them, such as content and events. For example, Students might see articles about how to prepare for job interviews, whereas Directors might have access to masterclass events.

You can create events that are only available to members with a certain role, for example Director

2. Member groups

You can create groups for members in a certain location or with a certain role. Groups are spaces to discuss and share content related to a common interest. For example, your Student members can exchange tips ahead of an exam in their dedicated group.

The software can send automated email digests when there has been new activity in your groups. The email digests can take place for each new post, or with any frequency you like, for example daily.

Our clients find that the email digests work as an excellent prompt for members to log in and engage with the community area.

Groups are dedicated discussion areas for members with a common interest

3. Personalised emails

Automated emails always address members by their first name. The automated emails include for example group digests, booking confirmations, and signup welcome letters. As an admin you can also personalise the text and visual elements of your automated emails.

You can send email campaigns to handpicked individual members, or to a group of recipients that you select using a range of filters. Popular filters include roles, locations, and skills. This means that your email communications will always stay relevant.

Our emailing functionality is based on Mandrill by Mailchimp. This means that you will have a tried and tested emailing platform with email design options for further personalisation.

You can personalise emails with merge tags and HTML

4. Selecting communication preferences

Members can opt in and out from the communications you offer depending on their preferences. For example, Director members might want to receive your quarterly journal but not daily email digests from all groups they belong to.

Allowing your members to set the rules for how you communicate with them helps to build trust and shape their ideal member experience.

5. Selecting payment preferences

Last but not least, members can decide how they prefer to pay their membership subscription. You can let your members select payment method, frequency, and currency.

Members can choose to pay by card or direct debit. We partner with Stripe for card payments and GoCardless for direct debits. Stripe offers a seamless payment experience and also have very favourable transaction fees. GoCardless pride themselves on the simplicity they offer both administrators and members.

Members can choose to pay their subscription with any frequency, for example on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis.

Your members can pay in their local currency, and it will be received in your default currency. For example, we have clients in the UK who receive payments in US dollars. These payments have been paid online in local currencies from around the world.

All features we offer can be configured to suit your membership organisation - Get in touch with our team today to explore what the ideal personalised online experience will look like for your members.

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