Associations - how we increase revenue

Here's how Engage Citizens can help your association bring in more money.  Most associations have three streams of revenue:

• Membership dues
• Event registrations
• Sales of goods, documents, information

Memlink makes it easier for you to delivery each of those three, and easier for your customers to buy.  Let's look at some examples.

Membership

Memlink makes it easy for clients to join your association.  There are no forms to fill out and fax, or cheques to write; everything is handled in a few minutes online.

With Memlink, you are free to sell full year memberships, no matter when your members join.  If you previously had a fixed year-end for memberships, your customers will no longer delay their membership to get the most coverage time for a registration - they'll get a full year no matter when they join.  You won't lose sales through procrastination.

Event Marketing

Memlink gives you the tools to run easy and effective email marketing campaigns.  Because Memlink keeps your membership information in the same database as your event information, you can create emails that speak directly to your potential registrants.  You can even set automatic promotional mailouts that require no action on your part, so you never miss the chance to market your event.

It's easy to set up a mailing list, so that non-members who are interested in your association can receive communications from you.  This builds your marketing list, and gives you leads to grow your membership.

You can tailor your promotional emails to various groups, for example:

• All members who have not signed up for an event
• All members who signed up for a previous event
• All mailing list recipients who are not members

You can send customized emails to each group, or the same email to everyone.  Whichever you choose, you can personalize the email by including "mail merge" fields that include the recipient's name or address, or specific information about the event.

Online Store

Memlink gives you great flexibility in setting up an online store.  You can take orders for material goods, while offering multiple delivery types, if you like.  You can ask for product-specific options when ordering (such as sizes or colours for clothing).  You can set different price levels for different member types, or date ranges.
You may also sell online documents, and give your customers immediate download access to their purchases, automatically.

Accounts Receivable

Many associations find collections an expensive and time-consuming task, and consequently lose revenue to overdue or bad debt.  With Memlink, your customers pay immediately with a credit card, and you have the money deposited directly to your account.  (You can also let your customer can also pay by cash or cheque, at your option.)  Receipts are mailed out automatically.  And of course, we take care of all the back-end credit card transaction details.

Building repeat business

Repeat business and referrals are the least expensive form of revenue, and the way to grow both is through increased customer confidence.
Memlink makes your customers happy to deal with you.  Receipts and tickets are issued immediately.  Mistakes or changes are handled quickly and easily, and refunds are issued back to the customer's credit card. 

Customer know they are taken care of with a Memlink transaction, and will have the confidence to come back or refer their colleagues.