By The Protech Team

An association management software (AMS) implementation is a huge win for your staff. It requires collaboration, communication and patience, and it can be a real team-building experience for your employees. But successfully going live with a new AMS is a fruitless effort if the software’s not helping to grow your membership.

So, how do you grow your membership using your AMS? First, it takes a strong member experience strategy, one that meets the goals and objectives set by your leadership and board. Then, the AMS comes in. Your AMS is what helps you execute this strategy, nurturing member engagement and consequently, promoting association growth.

To achieve these goals, an association must focus on two things: enhancing member services and optimizing your AMS.

Focus on Member Services

It’s easiest to measure the success of an AMS and your return on investment by the operational efficiencies your association gains. You might ask yourself these questions:

• “How much time are we saving because the new system can process data faster?”
• “How much money are we saving because of these new efficiencies?”

The thing is, these questions won’t give you a full picture of your ROI.

A successful AMS project is determined in part by your members, not solely by your staff. In conjunction with the two questions above, try asking yourself three more questions to get a better sense of your AMS’ overall success.

• “Has it been easier to foster member relationships through our new system?”
• “Is the online shopping and event registration process simpler with our new system?”
• “Does our team have access to the tools needed to deliver the desired member experience?”

Sure, a new system is going to pay huge dividends after implementation, but whether or not the AMS helped you grow your membership is a far greater measure of success.

Evolve Your System

Now that your association has implemented its AMS and you’ve turned your focus back on member services, what’s next? AMS optimization.

Unfortunately, optimization is another version of change, and while it’s worth it in the long run, many people are resistant to change — 38 percent of managers, in fact.

Try not to resist the evolution of your AMS, because the real benefits of the system are realized through incremental improvements with the long-term goal of providing a better member experience.

At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to grow your membership. You need a strategy focused on delivering exceptional member services that gives your members what they want, how they want it and makes it easy.

Aligning your systems with your desired overall member experience strategy will deliver value to your members and sustain that value throughout their member journey.

Need help developing that member experience strategy? Download the free e-book, “Association Experts Share the Hidden Truths to Member Engagement,” to learn how six associations engage with members.