Jonathan Farrell, the lead developer on our Next Gen Club Membership system did a sneak peak at the National RRCA Convention yesterday in Chicago. As we had outlined in our 2023 Product Plans, the Club system we developed about 10 years ago is finally going thru a major upgrade.
The next gen system will roll out later this summer, but will contain many new and enhanced features and will make it simple for existing customers to migrate. One of the first things customers will see is a new modern and easier to use interface on their membership levels and better ways to create and edit their settings for time period, renewal, price, family memberships and more:
Here is a quick list of other features:
- New Website – the same V2 website builder we have rolled out for Tickets, Organizations and soon Races. Full drag and drop making it easy to build a beautiful club website. Bring your own domain and we will host it for free – MyClub.org.
- New Email – the same V2 email builder we have rolled out for Races, Tickets and Organizations. Again full drag and drop creating and editing, create templates for monthly newsletter, use the Image Gallery to upload and save and reuse photos across the website and your emails. And of course you can use it for free.
- New Store – using the new Store capabilities available in Tickets (and coming in Races) with a common Warehouse that can be shared between all events and membership system
- Updated Membership cross-sell for Races and Tickets and Store, enabling discounts for members, as well as an option to add on a membership purchase when signing up for an event
- Updated Membership purchase path and checkout
- Automated Renewals with saved credit card and automated flows for updating old credit cards
- Apple Wallet Membership Cards, along with ApplePay and GooglePay
- Updated Membership Reporting
- Improved Membership Imports
- Updated pro-rating of pricing when buying a one year membership that expires on Dec. 31 mid way during the year.
- Updated Questions using the new Questions capabilities in Tickets that is getting updated in Races as well.
- Updated Gender Options
- Updated Custom Membership Number Options
- Easy Membership Claiming and Reminders using the same approach we have in Tickets
- Membership Integration into the RaceDay Checkin App and the Ticket App.
There is obviously a lot to do, and as we usually do we will be rolling it out incrementally. As soon as the base of the new system is ready, we will have some Beta customers (we will announce enrollment at a later date) begin to use it. When we release the first version it should have at least equal capabilities with the existing system and we will incrementally add the features above.
The reception of the next gen system was very enthusiastic in Chicago from about 50 existing running clubs who use the system today. They are excited for the new system to come and were eager to help us with testing and feedback.
One of the reasons we are investing so heavily in this is because of our expanded market beyond just running clubs (to be honest, building a commercial quality membership system is costly and there are simply not that many running clubs). The new membership system is also being designed for typically nonprofit organizations like gardens, zoos, and museums who have a need to more effectively cross sell their Events, Donations and Membership. For example, when you are buying tickets to a garden, there is an offer to become a member and receive a discount on the ticket.
We look forward to rolling out our Next Gen Membership system later this year.