All your member information is stored in your database or membership software (eg Wordpress), with the details of their payments, purchases etc. This means that if they've ever made a purchase on your site, then all transaction details can be found there. Now imagine doing this manually instead of having an integrated solution…
The main benefit of using the right type of CRM like Hubspot with your membership website is the ability to send automated email marketing campaigns. For example, if someone signs up for a short trial but doesn't convert and then cancels their account, you can create an auto-response email encouraging them to get in touch with you.
You could also keep sending them emails that encourage them to come back and start their subscription again or give advice on how they can extend their free trial period. You can go even further by putting together a drip campaign which sends out one 'nudge' email a day, reminding people what they've signed up for and why it's great!
Running Facebook ads or using Google Adwords? You can now use your CRM to send out the right message and convert more visitors from marketing channels. If you have 1,000 leads coming through a Facebook campaign, for example, then using segmentation within your CRM you could push all three email campaigns to people who entered their contact details on the last 10 days and finished their free trial before 30 days. Try getting that level of control using spreadsheets - it's near impossible!
If you're paying every month per admin for access to your membership website such as teachable then make sure they can log into the CRM with their own account as well (or at least be looking over someone's shoulder to see what's happening). The situation shouldn't be like the old days when all that data was stored in someone's head!
Using a CRM means you can automate most manual admin tasks so that they are done for you. You can even set it up so that every time someone makes a purchase, subscribes or cancels their membership subscription then an email goes out to relevant people automatically. Your admins will love this as they'll have less work to do (and if members opt into receiving these emails there is positive user experience involved too!)
Don't update spreadsheets manually, use a CRM to perform this task for you and save time. There is nothing more depressing than logging into a WordPress membership site and seeing an admin spending hours copying data and updating spreadsheets with tens or hundreds of new transactions.
If you're using your own (or someone else's) email marketing software then it can spell disaster if you make a mistake and my database gets flooded with emails the wrong people. Using integrations within your CRM means that if something goes wrong it'll simply bounce back as undeliverable instead of being delivered to thousands of members who are uninterested in receiving it!
CRMs often offer a wide range of tracking capabilities that enable you to see exactly how many people are clicking through from different sources and which ones are converting at what sort of rates. Not only this, but you can use their reporting features to identify trends in your traffic or purchases and focus more on those channels in the future - saving time and making better use of limited resources.
This may not apply 100% to membership websites (because there'll always be some people who need human assistance), but most sites will have a large number of self-managing members who can deal with their own account details without needing to speak to anyone. This improves customer service in the long-term as you're catering for everyone's individual needs, but also reduces ongoing support costs - hire fewer people and spend more time making your membership offering better!
A successful CRM should reduce or eliminate admin tasks such as logging into WordPress, updating transaction reports manually or entering new members' data by hand. Your entire website should run in the background so that it requires very little maintenance - similar to how Hubspot operates. Instead of having admins continually logging into your WordPress site, let the CRM do it for them and make sure that no transactions are overlooked.
What CRM system would you recommend to use with your membership website? Leave you suggestions below in the comment box!
