Aptify is proud to support the Associations Forum National Conference 2016 (AFNC16) taking place July 4–5 in Melbourne, Australia, and the power of Learning Labs. One of our speakers, Jay McCormack from Three Degrees North, is presenting on how not-for-profits and associations can be more innovative with technology.

Learn more about the Learning Labs powered by Aptify on the AFNC16 Website, we’ll see you at the National Conference! 

Innovative Processing 

When I think about innovation typically the first thing to come to mind is how to simplify processes. How do you get members to do the task you want them to, when you want them to do it and not call you because they can’t figure it out?

At 3DN we think not only about what your website looks like but the impact on implementing a process online on the whole business. How the marketing process changes, the financial reconciliation process, everything! We call this full-circle marketing, but the name isn’t new.

What’s broken

Too often, we see organisations work hard to get a process online—like a membership renewal or event registration process, and seem to spend so much time, energy, and money getting the basics right that they never even get to the point of leveraging what they have. It’s not enough to just have membership renewals—you also need to have a way of getting people to the right page with the right information and making it so simple that they have no choice but to complete the process. And this is where the process breaks down. Got renewals on your website? Excellent. Now how does someone go about renewing? Clicking through various menus, logging in, asking for information you already know about them? That’s confusing for members, and it hurts your business.

Walk before you run

Having said the above, it’s important to make sure you have the right technology in place to be able to innovate and leverage these tools. You’ll need to have a great content management system that’s not dependent upon technical people to use. However, just as important is having a single source of the truth. Your membership information, usernames and passwords, pricing, renewal dates—everything about your member should only live in once place such as an association management system (AMS). The moment you’re running an overnight synchronisation, then the full circle concept breaks down.

Targeted offerings – simple processes 

For us, the solution is twofold:

• Targeted offerings
• Simplified processes

By sending a member an email with a link that identifies them and the transaction you want them to perform, you can bypass the confusing click, login, and forgotten password process.

By removing distraction and steps in the process, you can also remove barriers that members face by having to jump through shopping carts or multiple page processes to get their renewal done quickly.