How can Microsoft Dynamics 365 support your Membership Organisation?
Membership Organisations come in many different forms, but when it comes to the challenges they face, many are trying to overcome the same common problems – acquiring and retaining members, finding new ways to engage with members, as well as consistently delivering relevant content via marketing campaigns. To respond to these challenges, Membership Organisations are having to adapt the way they work; To achieve this success, having the right software in place is essential.
Our Membership Management Software, built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, is a powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool for Membership Organisations, which can be tailored to suit the individual needs of each business. Whether you are an Association, Sports Club, Professional Body or Non-profit organisation; Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based, centralised solution that enables you to effectively manage data and provides a 360-degree overview of all member interactions.
Within this blog, we identify some of the challenges Membership Organisations are facing, highlight the features and benefits of Microsoft Dynamics 365, and identify the types of organisations that our solution is suited to…
Common challenges Membership Organisations face
For any Membership Organisation, your members are at the heart of what you do. However, maintaining their loyalty as well as attracting new members is a challenge that is faced across the sector. To retain members, organisations require an in-depth understanding of interactions with members to be able to adapt to current needs and anticipate future opportunities. There are three main challenges membership organisations face when it comes to member retention:
- Keeping members engaged – We know that consumers are less loyal than in the past, so organisations have to work harder to retain them. This can be a challenge if you cannot see the data you gather on clients to clearly understand them. Additionally, due to member expectations rising, there is an increased demand for exceptional standards of customer service, which can only be met if you truly understand your audience.
- Member enquires are not getting followed up – Organisations who rely on manual business processes are more likely to miss member enquires due to this ineffective way of working. On top of this, potential opportunities to grow your member base are falling through the cracks.
- Poor integrations with current systems – Membership Organisations are often using multiple systems which are poorly integrated with each other. As a result, data gets lost or miscommunicated and time is wasted amending errors.
The features and benefits of Dynamics 365 for Membership Organisations
Dynamics 365 is a powerful solution that provides the key to successful member management. As a cloud-based solution, Dynamics 365 centralises all your member information, provides an in-depth insight into all interactions and inform decision-making across the business. But the capabilities within Dynamics 365 don’t end there…
Recruit new members
- Create compelling reasons to join – With Dynamics 365 and the enhanced insight into your audience, you will be able to consistently deliver targeted content to nurture prospective members and highlight the reasons to join your organisation.
- Leverage marketing functionality to connect with members – Dynamics 365 has options for basic marketing functionality or more substantial features (such as email marketing automation and integration with social channels) dependant on the needs of your organisation. Leveraging this functionality increases your reach to both current and prospective members.
- Stay engaged with new members – Dynamics 365 provides the tools to manage and progress new members through the onboarding process. By using interactive dashboards, your sales team is able to report on their member pipeline and use the relationship insights to ensure timely follow-ups can be actioned.
- Provide a seamless sign-up process – You can provide access to members so they can sign up, update details, preferences and make required payments when it suits them through self-service portals; This saves staff admin time and gives the customer access when they need it.
Retain existing members
- Automated renewal reminders – Deliver automated reminders to members when their membership is due for renewal. This reduces pressure on the renewals team and new offers can be personalised based on information within the system, increasing retention rates.
- Deliver relevant content – Members can update their interests and preferences via a self-service portal, so you’re able to personalise marketing material and include appropriate events or content they might be interested in.
- Resolve member issues quickly – Through Dynamics 365, you can manage and track your queries and complaints by logging tickets and assigning them to team members.
Gain deeper insights
- Identify common reasons for non-renewals/cancellations – Track and monitor all member lifecycles and identify common reasons for not renewing memberships, making more informed decisions in future. Also, spot members at risk of cancelling and intervene before this happens.
- Understand your members – Gain an understanding of your members and any interactions between them and your organisation, by tracking all correspondence in the CRM system.
- Discover new opportunities – Use member data stored within Dynamics 365 to identify add-on services that may be of interest to your members based on their preferences and interactions.
- Spot trends – Gain deeper insight into your members to help you shape the content and provide services that suit them. Easy-to-use, configurable dashboards within Dynamics 365 enable you to segment data in various ways, such as ‘member type’, enabling you to gain full insight into your member portfolio.
Access anywhere, any time
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 enhances team collaboration and allows your employees to work more efficiently, by enabling multiple users to access information anywhere, any time from a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop.
A system to support growth
- Implementing a CRM solution that will grow with you, is essential for a Membership Organisation; our solution is built on Dynamics 365, which is fully customisable and can adapt to your changing needs as you scale. The system can also be tailored to suit your individual requirements and as a result supports the way you work, as opposed to having to fit your processes around a rigid system.
Discounted licenses for non-profit organisations
- Non-profit organisations can be eligible to receive discounted Microsoft licensing and pricing (see more on eligibility here). This gives you access to the same subscriptions at a reduced cost with prices starting from £1.51 per user per month (price correct as of April 2021).
Integrations with other software
- As a Microsoft product, Dynamics 365 integrates seamlessly with the other products from the Microsoft eco-system such as Microsoft 365 Office apps (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, etc), the Power Platform (Power BI, Power Automate and Power Apps) and other Dynamics 365 applications (Business Central, Finance and Operation, Retail, etc). For other business software outside of the Microsoft eco-system, Dynamics 365 can also be integrated thanks to its open API.
Full Case Study: Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI)
The Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) is the UK’s leading automotive trade body, representing franchised car and commercial vehicle dealers, independent garages, bodyshops, motorcycle dealers, petrol retailers, auction houses, and cherished number plate dealers, who provide sales and services to motorists and businesses across the UK. RMI consists of 8 sub-associations, which each operate in a slightly different way. Until now, all associations were working with an archaic, on-premise membership database. Pragmatiq was engaged to design, develop and implement a cloud-based system built on Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Read the full case study
CLICK HERE TO READTypes of Membership Organisations our software can support
Associations
- Business Associations
- Professional Associations
- Political Associations
- Royal Charted Associations
- Governing Bodies
- Institutions
- Societies
Non-Profit
- Foundations and Charities
- Business Organisations
- Chambers of Commerce
- Churches
- Community Centres
- Networking Groups
- Social Clubs
Sports Clubs
- Gymnastic Clubs
- Football Clubs
- Rugby Clubs
- Swimming Clubs
- Tennis Clubs
- Running Clubs
- Climbing Centres
Enthusiast Clubs
- Car Clubs
- Motorcycle Clubs
- Motorsport Clubs
- Dance Clubs
- Yacht and Sailing Clubs
- Gardening Clubs
- Owners Clubs
Get in touch
If you would like more information about Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Membership Organisations, please contact us. Fill out the contact form below and a member of our team will be in touch shortly, or if you’d prefer, email us at info@pragmatiq.co.uk or call us on 01908 038110.
