Your Member Portal: Strategically Deliver Member Value

The Member Portal is the nerve center of your membership ecosystem. It is the single most important online destination for your members—the place where they go to extract the value they paid for, manage their relationship with your organization, and connect with their peers.

A well-configured Portal is not just a collection of links; it is a strategic self-service platform that simplifies the member journey, dramatically reduces administrative workload, and drives member retention. This guide will walk you through how to strategically configure your Member Portal to maximize these crucial benefits, targeting organizational efficiency and delivering member value.

Before You Configure: Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself

A successful Member Portal strategy starts with clarifying your goals and auditing your existing offerings. Use these questions to set your focus before you begin configuring:

Branding & First Impressions

• How will the Portal reflect our organization's brand? Is the logo, banner, colour scheme, and tone consistent with our brand?
• How will we use the Portal to reinforce our brand identity and create a sense of exclusivity and belonging immediately upon login?

Purpose & Offerings

• What are the key exclusive benefits we want to offer in the Portal? (e.g., Member-Exclusive Directory/Directory content, Job Board, Member Benefits from partner organizations, Committees & Workspaces for peer-to-peer communication, Online Store, Courses, and/or Continued Education Credits.)
• What is the single most important outcome? (e.g., Member self-service, content consumption, community building, or revenue?)
• Do we want to offer a non-member portal that allows non-members to manage their invoices, event registrations, and other transactions without receiving the full suite of member benefits?

Access & Experience

• How will we use personalization to maximize value? Remember, the Portal is automatically customized to the person logging in based on various permission settings—how will you use this strategic advantage? Who receives what information/benefits?
• What is the one task members most frequently contact staff about? (This should be the first thing your Portal is configured to solve via self-service.)
• Who is responsible for auditing and updating the Portal's content and links annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or even daily?

1. The Engine of Efficiency: Driving Self-Service and Reducing Staff Load

The most immediate strategic win of a well-designed Member Portal is administrative efficiency. By enabling members to complete core tasks themselves, you free up your staff to focus on higher-value activities.

The Strategy: Configure the Portal to be a 24/7 self-service resource. If a member has to call or email for a common task, your Portal is not fully optimized.

Your Member Portal empowers members to manage their own vital information:

• Members can manage their own contact information and directory listings. This ensures data accuracy without requiring staff intervention.
• Members can manage their billing information and invoices. This streamlines payments and reduces administrative time spent chasing receivables.
• Members can manage their event registrations and access certificates and CEU credits. This simplifies event attendance and supports professional development compliance.

Additional Tip

Leverage the 'Inquiries' module to streamline incoming questions. Instead of directing members to a general support email, use the Portal to guide them to an Inquiries Form for specific, trackable topics. This ensures requests go to the right person immediately, who can have answers to commonly asked questions pre-written, saving triage time and improving resolution speed.

2. The Retention Platform: Centralizing Member Value

The Portal should be the place where a member's value is constantly reinforced, making membership feel indispensable.

The Strategy: Strategically organize exclusive content and features to demonstrate the clear distinction between a member and a non-member experience, justifying the cost of membership.

The Power of Personalization: Member vs. Non-Member

Your Member Portal is automatically personalized to the person logging in based on various permission settings. Utilize this to provide highly relevant content based on their Membership Category (Tier), Contact or Organization Demographics, Committees, and Custom Lists. This ensures that the experience feels tailored and high-value.

You can also use the Non-Member Portal to provide people or organizations who are not (yet) members of your association the ability to manage things like event registrations and invoices on their own - without needing to contact your administrative team. Once you've given them access to a very basic, watered-down version of the portal, you can use this space to promote further engagement with - and membership in - your association.

The table below highlights the key strategic differences between the Member- and Non-Member Portals:

Additional Tip

Integrate the 'Member Benefits' module in the Portal. This module centralizes and showcases all the exclusive discounts, deals, and partnerships offered by partner organizations or businesses as part of membership. Strategically highlighting these savings reinforces the ROI of membership every time the member logs in.

3. The Activation Hub: Guiding the Member Journey

The Portal is crucial for guiding a new member's initial experience and for continuously prompting current members to take the next step (e.g., registering, renewing, volunteering).

The Strategy: Design the Portal dashboard with clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs) that simplify the member experience, from onboarding to Portal navigation to renewal.

Simplify the Onboarding Process

The first 90 days are critical for retention. Use the Portal's dashboard space to display onboarding content for new members:

• Welcome Message: Include a brief welcome message that links directly to the top 3 actions a new member should take.
• Walkthrough Video: A short video that walks a member through the Portal's key features is highly effective. You can suggest creating this video internally or by contacting your Account Manager (via email or booking a "demo") to have our team create one for you.

4. The Revenue Center: Driving Growth and Profit

A strategically configured Member Portal is more than an expense-saving tool—it is an engine for generating revenue by promoting paid activities and offers to an engaged, logged-in audience. 

The Strategy: Dedicate prime dashboard real estate to revenue-generating features, using personalization to ensure the right offers are seen by the right people at the right time. 

• Promoting Events and Courses: Use custom dashboard panels and alerts to advertise paid events, continuing education courses, and certification programs. Target these promotions based on the member's demographics, interests, or membership tier to maximize conversion.
• Boosting E-Commerce Sales: Feature prominent links and rotating product showcases for your Online Store. This can include merchandise, publications, digital content, or even sponsorship opportunities.
• Driving Upgrades and Renewals: Leverage automated messaging and custom badges (e.g., "Time to Renew!" or "Upgrade to Premium") to prompt action. Use the non-member portal to prominently feature an enticing "Join Now" link that details the benefits they are currently missing.
• Selling Add-Ons: Promote additional paid services, such as enhanced Directory listings, job board postings, or optional subscriptions, directly on the member's personalized dashboard.

Additional Tip

Leverage the "Welcome Message" or use the automated and/or custom badges feature to draw attention to high-priority Calls-to-Action. For example, a "upcoming renewal" or "outstanding payment" badge can be configured to automatically appear. Or you might want to create a custom badge for a store item, future event, fundraiser or to communicate other important information to support your engagement goals.

Final Thought

Your Member Portal is the control panel for your membership. By intentionally configuring it to prioritize self-service, personalized access, and clear calls-to-action, you will create an efficient system that dramatically improves the member experience while giving your administrative team the gift of time.

Now it's time to take the next step. 

If you're reading this before your "Member Portal" onboarding meeting, begin by answering the questions in the "Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself" section and prepare a list of questions for your onboarding coach.

If you've already configured your portal, begin by auditing your current Portal against the "Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself" section and check out the related "how-to" articles available in our Knowledge Base to start your strategic configuration. And, if you still have questions, connect with our customer success team.