Membership Excel Template
Especially if you’re a new or upcoming cultural institution, it’s likely that you’re using a membership Excel template to manage your members and membership dues.
A membership Excel template is a form that allows you to track members, expiration dates, and membership dues, providing you with a database to store important information like your member’s name, address, length of membership, and contact information.
For new museums and other cultural organizations, this might seem like the easiest and best option. Excel is available to anyone, easy to use, and might help you save costs, at least initially.
The longer you use a membership Excel template and membership dues template, however, the more you’ll begin to see the limitations of Excel templates and how much they’re holding you back from expanding your resources.
Below are some of the most common reasons why it’s time for your organization to move beyond Excel templates and look toward smarter, more sophisticated software to help you store and manage your data.
Membership Excel Templates and Dues Can’t Integrate with Third Parties
If you’ve already setup your payment systems and have a steady flow of ticket sales and membership subscriptions, it’s likely that your institution is already using a number of separate ticketing and management programs.
You might be utilizing a ticketing software, emailing and contact information system, as well as programs for scheduling and donor management. The problem with an Excel membership template is that it isn’t compatible with any of these kinds of software. As a static form, Excel templates aren’t capable of making unified updates across all your programs and software, leaving you to do the heavy lifting with repetitive manual updates.
Not only is this time-consuming and tedious, it also leaves a lot of room for human error. Investing in a smart, comprehensive software that is integratable with several of your current ticketing, management, and payment systems will reduce errors, save time, and, in the long-run, allow you to scale with your growth.
Membership List Excel Templates Aren’t Organized or Automated
As more and more ticketing software, CRM applications, and management services are trending toward automation, it’s important to make sure your organization has the tools to benefit from innovations in technology.
Unfortunately, membership list Excel templates won’t provide you with any of the benefits or features of automation. CRM applications and POS tracking are updated automatically and across the board, relaying any updates to all the other aspects of your member management software. Changes in one system will cross over to your other programs.
Again, this requires you to manually organize, update, and edit your data across several isolated platforms.
Intelligent software will automatically organize membership lists, dues, and membership history in a simple, easy-to-navigate platform that’s congenial to long-term growth.
Online Payments are Limited with Membership Excel Templates
The more your institution grows and accrues members, the more likely you’re going to switch from at-the-door ticket sales to an online payment system. Online payments systems are easier to manage and track, helping to reduce the risk of losing a check in the mail or mismanaging a membership entry.
Switching to an online payment system, something that can’t be done with an Excel membership template, will help you reach a wider audience, streamline your ticket management process, and sell tickets and membership subscriptions at faster rates.
Self-Service Limitations with Excel Membership Templates
Part of your membership growth strategy will have to do with the efficacy of your technology to manage and track the data of your members. But how will you reach out to your members if they happen to move their address, get a new number, or change their email address?
With an Excel membership template, there’s no way for members and guests to update their information. Their emails and letters will go unread, and they might miss out on some great exhibits or events that they would have been interested in attending.
Having the technological means to allow your members to update their data through a self-service system or account will go a long way to maintaining accurate data and build returning members. With a smart member management software, you can minimize duplicate records, allow guests to update information on their own, and weed out unreliable contact information.
While Excel Membership Templates might seem like a good idea in the early stages of your institution, it’s important to understand the limitations of these forms and make the switch to comprehensive membership software.
ACME’s all-in-one ticketing and membership software will help you track member history with a number of features, including flexible APIs, cloud-based servers, reliable online payment systems, and customizable membership configurations.
Simplify your membership strategy and get your free demo of ACME today.