2016: A Year in Review

Posted on December 20, 2016 in General

With the year coming to an end we wanted to recap all of the exciting things that happened in 2016. There were some smaller additions and large ones that we wouldn’t want you to miss! Before we dive into the review, here’s a quick did your know about Membee support services: On average, there was …

With the year coming to an end we wanted to recap all of the exciting things that happened in 2016. There were some smaller additions and large ones that we wouldn’t want you to miss!

Before we dive into the review, here’s a quick did your know about Membee support services:

On average, there was a major enhancement to Membee every 33 business days
7+ hours of learning videos in Membee’s “Help From the Hive” knowledge base
Detailed responses to an average of 15.28 support tickets per business day
Chat is becoming a popular way to get fast support
Member users rated their overall satisfaction at an astonishing 98% for 2016

Are you using Membee to it’s full potential? If not, don’t worry 2017 is a new year and YOUR year to make sure you are getting all that you can out of Membee. Whether it’s adding new Automations, using Promotions, creating more Events, or making your website responsive! Let Membee make your job easier, because, well, that’s what you’re paying for right?

Quarter 1: January – March

Since the revamped Latest Buzz blog launched in June 2016, some features and updates were not blogged about. Below are updates that were released in the First Quarter of 2016 you may have missed. Take a quick read through and make sure you’re 100% up-to-date and in-the-know!

The links will lead you to the Membee Help documents or past Release Notes.

Organization Type Ahead Field for Event Purchasers

This small enhancement packs a powerful punch. If you group your event participation by organization, then this feature insures event purchasers are attaching their event purchaser to their organization simply by typing a few characters of their organization’s name.

Added to the Purchaser Details you can now add the Organization Name
Click here to read more! (Membee login required)

Send Automated Invoice Reminders Prior to Due Date

Pre-billing membership renewal is smart. After all, if you bill for renewal early, you get paid early. Membee’s Invoice Reminder automation now supports sending a reminder before the actual renewal date.

Early bird reminders
Even if the invoice is not yet due you can still send a reminder.
Get members paying you faster
Click here to read more! (Membee login required)

Note to File on Status Change

Status is a powerful field. It separates members from non-members and typically splits members into your various membership levels. A change to Status is a significant event in the life of the membership. Whether you change a member’s Status yourself or Membee does it automatically for you, each change to a member’s Status is recorded.

A change in status is now recorded as a Note to File in Notes & To-Dos
Click here to read more! (Membee login required)

More Merge Fields in Membee Email Templates

Membee’s email templates play a large role in the overall communication with the member. As a result, the templates were strengthened to support more merge variables so you can share more information from the member’s record with them in the templates.

We’ve added some more merge fields to the email templates
Making it easier to add important member information you may need
Click here to read more! (Membee login required)

Save and Reuse Event Location

If you use the same location for many of your events, it can now be saved for quick entry for future events.

Click here to read more! (Membee login required)

Conditional Additional Items on Renewal Invoices

Membee’s Additional Items feature is a great way to “upsell” a member when they are renewing. If you offer different membership levels you specify which additional items a member can purchase when paying their membership renewal. A “Platinum” member would see different additional items (membership items, event items, or both) as compared to those presented to a “Bronze” member.

New options have been added to Additional Items options in the eBilling widget
Create conditions to determine which additional items are presented
Click here to read more! (Membee login required)

Manual Email Receipts from Payments Page

Hopefully the manual payments you need to process in Membee is dwindling as you use more of Membee’s features. The reality is that some manual payments will remain and Membee’s Payments page lets you send an email receipt to the purchaser in a single click when you are entering their payment.

Click here to read more! (Membee login required)

Quarter 2: April – June

From Quarter 2 and on all of the important Membee updates were detailed here in the Latest Buzz and posted about on Membee’s social media pages. The links will lead you to the blog posts if you want more info!

06/15/2016

Breaking News As Largest Membee User Group Convenes

Membee users got together at the annual User’s meeting to discuss new features, what’s to come, and ideas on how to improve
We had the biggest turnout yet at the 2016 User’s meeting.
Want to attend next year? Contact the group Chairperson, Kathy Newell, she is the Membership Service Coordinator at the Burlington Chamber of Commerce by day, and meeting planner extraordinaire by night.
Everyone from the “Hive” would love to see you there in 2017!
Click here to read more!

06/28/16

Highlighting Events Using Facebook & Your Website

Add an event feed to your website or Facebook page with the Event Feed widget
Much easier to set up than you might think
Easy way to keep members in the know without needing to manually update
Click here to read more!

Quarter 3: July – September

07/20/16

How to Use Membee for Free!

Membee introduces new referral program
Fill out a quick referral form at membee.com
You will receive a credit against your quarterly Membee subscription for every referred organization that signs up
There are perks for the referred organization as well, they will receive a free 2-hour training session worth $295 in value
- Vital for using Membee to its full potential
- Click here to read more!

09/12/16

Membee's Automations Deliver Results in Membership Renewal

Read this blog post to hear from an experienced user and how she uses Automations.
Post includes different screenshots and examples etc.
Client feature with Nicole Gibson from the Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade and how they utilize Membee’s Automations
Main perks Nicole mentioned;
- They're getting paid earlier
- There are less errors and workload for staff
Set up different Automations including; Invoice Reminders, Pre-Renewal Email, Renewal Billing, Cancellation, Pre-Event email, Post-Event email etc.
Click here to read more!

09/20/16

Card Vault Feature Offers More Ways for Members to Pay

Membee introduces Card Vault feature allowing users to store member’s credit card info.
This further simplifies the purchase transaction process.
By allowing the member to specify the use of their credit card for membership renewal, Membee can automatically debit the credit card on their renewal date.
This feature allows Organizations to offer monthly memberships
Attracting new members who prefer the month-to-month billing cycle
Click here to read more!

09/29/16

Instant Learning Resource Pages (ILRs) Added to All Major Sections

Membee’s support resources are massive which is good but it also presents a challenge when it comes to finding exactly what you’re looking for. After all, how can you find what you need when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for? That’s where Membee’s IRLs with the hand curated lists of relevant articles, overview movies, and direct access to the popular chat feature come in.

Just click “Help” in any major section of Membee to access that section’s ILR.

Quarter 4: October – December

10/03/16

Promotions Feature Pumps Up New Member Sales

Federation of BC Writers started using promotions and discovered major success
Go from 2 new members a month to 31
Bumped up event sales and converted 20% of non-members to full blown members
Use a Membee Promotion to provide a promo code based incentive to join in a new member sales campaign
Use a Membee Conditional Promotion to encourage non-members to join using a promo code if they purchase an event first
Click here to read more!

10/12/16

New & Redesigned Event Reports Make Event Management Easier

Event Reports redesigned to make managing your Event and attendees much easier
New Summary Report, redesigned Event Attendee Report, redesigned Event Purchaser Report, and a New Event Itinerary Report.
Screenshots showing users around the new reports
Click here to read more!

10/24/16

Target Event Buyers Where They Live…Their Smartphone

The Events widget now with a responsive design
Mobile internet usage has gone up 5x in 5 years from 0.5hrs a day to 2.8hrs
85% of people now expect a mobile site to be better than a desktop site
Click here to read more!

11/03/2016

Highlight Your Events with a Splash of Color

Color code your events calendar, making it easier to navigate
Head to Event Categories (Admin. > Events > Event Categories)
Follow the Georgian Bay Cancer Support Centre’s example with their awesome calendar
Click here to read more!

11/08/16

Card Vault Lowers Cancellation Rates & Cuts Costs

Cambridge Chamber of Commerce utilizes Card Vault
With Card Vault they’ve lowered cancellation rates, and cut annual banking costs
Shifting the focus from administration to improving sales and marketing
Click here to read more!

11/16/16

Innovative Payment Gateway Now Supported by Membee

Membee added Stripe to the list of supported payment gateways.
Easy to use and set-up with a simple payment structure
Stripe processes billions for Fortune 500 companies, and thousands of others.
Stripe supports Membee’s Card Vault allowing members to store credit card date, making future checkouts and automatic membership renewal a breeze.
Click here to read more!

11/30/16

New Members Can Join from Their Smartphone

New Member widget becomes responsive
New members can easily sign-up using a mobile device
Having a responsive design improves your website's search engine optimization
Click here to read more!

12/09/16

Get Paid Faster with Responsive Design Update to eBilling

eBilling widget becomes responsive
More convenient for members to make purchases and payments on the go
Responsive design is a necessity in 2017
Click here to read more!

Wishing You a Happy Holidays!

Thanks for being a part of Membee’s 2016, and we’re excited for all to come in 2017!

We at Membee Wish You A Happy Holiday & Magnificent New Year!

Looking Forward to 2017

Stay tuned for our next blog post in early January where we will be posting a run down of some new and exciting features coming to Membee in 2017!

Get Featured!

We at Membee love to hear your success stories and how you’ve implemented Membee into your organization!

If there’s a part of Membee that you love and want to talk about let us know! Contact our Communications Coordinator Megan Bennett @ meganb@membee.com or give her a call at 1-800-729-2962 ext. 415 and get your story in a blog post!

Your Site Not Responsive? We Can Help!

If your website is not yet using a responsive design and you’re ready for it to be, look no further!

You may or may not know that Membee provides complete website development services. We develop modern, responsive, and member friendly websites only for Membee clients. With a few hundred membership websites under our belt, we know exactly what makes an effective and appealing membership site.

We offer two fixed-priced website development packages that are built in the world’s most popular content management system – WordPress

If you’re interested in learning a little bit more shoot us an email at websites@membee.com