What to Look for in Website Builders for Membership Organizations
Are you a nonprofit or cultural institution looking to build a website or integrate a ticketing/membership management solution? Look no further. Below we’re going to cover what to look for in a software as service (SaaS) integration or website for membership organizations.
What is a Membership Website?
A membership website is basically a members-only gateway that contains unique content for your membership subscribers. It usually requires a password login and is used by businesses, nonprofits, cultural institutions, clubs, associations, and more.
Membership websites are a great way to improve the user experience for your members, create a central location for members to engage with your organization, and encourage people in your community to sign up to get the added perks. A few things that a membership website might contain is:
- Access to your community forums.
- Updates on any new discounts, benefits, or upcoming membership events.
- Exclusive members-only content, like videos, blog posts, and learning resources.
- Donation pages.
- Photos of previous events.
Subscription vs membership website
There are two types of membership gateways: the subscription model and membership model. While the two are similar, there are some important differences.
Subscription websites ask for recurring monthly fees from their customers. Rather than signing up to become a member, you’re simply paying a monetary value to gain access to exclusive subscriber-only content.
Memberships, on the other hand, have a much wider scope for entry. If you have volunteers or life-long donors, you probably want those individuals to have access to your membership website. With a membership website, you can have a number of ways to gain entry beyond a monthly subscription fee.
Best Features for Your Membership Needs
Note that there aren’t any one-size fits all approaches to creating your membership website. Different organizations have different focuses, events, and areas of expertise. With that said, there are a few things that pretty much every membership website needs in order to run efficiently.
How to Choose the Right Membership Website Builder for You
While you’ll want your website to cater to what you do best–whether that’s videos, podcasts, educational resources, community service, or something else–you want to consider the following factors to ensure the best user experience for your members.
- Ease of use
- The best membership websites are simple, sleek, and easy to navigate. You don’t want members to get confused on your website when they’re looking for information, trying to make a donation, or securing their tickets for the next event.
- Cost
- Membership website builders range from zero dollars to over $10,000 a year. For international or large-scale organizations/institutions, you’ll have more needs with scaling your website and getting it secure. But remember that your membership website is an investment that can drive revenue and sell tickets, so the cheapest option is not always the best option.
- Online ticketing and membership management
- If you already have a website, you might want to consider integrating a ticketing solution. Online ticketing platforms, like ACME, open you up to a world of flexibility and customization. You can choose the out-of-the-box ticketing e-commerce integration, or take advantage of open APIs to create a totally unique experience to your members and visitors.
- Membership management
- Along with your ticketing platform, you want to make sure your website has a robust backend to help your staff manage memberships and member programs with ease. ACME connects you with the best in breed CRMs to help you grow and create a powerful network of systems. Through our open APIS, you can connect to leading industry tools like Raiser’s Edge and Salesforce to seamlessly grow your programs.
- Event management
- If you run a lot of donations, charity events, or unique museum/zoo experiences, you’ll want to take advantage of ACME’s event-based management system. You can increase visitor admissions by customizing your event set up, membership sale options for events, venue resources, and more.
- Member-exclusive content
- Grow your membership base by giving them access to exclusive content like community forums, educational resources, discounts for events, members-only meet ups, job boards, and more. Members should have their own unique profiles where they can interact with the community and track their activity.
Choose ACME to Grow Members
ACME was designed for cultural institutions and nonprofits. Our cloud-based technology covers everything from event management, online donations, a point of sale that your customers and staff will love, online and in-house ticketing, membership management, and more.
If you’re looking to build a robust membership website, request a demo today to see how we can help.