Import or not? What are the trade-offs?
Importing your members' information makes life easier for them to get started with WebCollect, but there are trade-offs (your time, out of date information etc), so here's a summary of some off those trade-offs to help you decide.
No Import
You can send the members straight to your organisation's subscriptions page on WebCollect. From there they can buy their subscriptions, add family/group members and fill out any relevant forms.
Advantages: Minimal work for you, as no import required. You will know that the members' information will be fully uptodate (addresses, phone numbers etc)
Disadvantages:
- More work for members (so not a good idea if your organisation has a lot of computer-shy members).
- Members may not know/remember which subscription(s) they have, not get round to it.
- If you have configured the WebCollect membership approval process, then the members will be sent through the approval process (as the system has no way of knowing they are existing members).
- If you have configured pro-rata pricing for your subscription products, then members who renew during the pro-rata pricing period, will be charged the pro-rata price, instead of the full renewal price, because the system has no way of knowing that they are not new members.
Member Only Import
Click here for details on how to import your member data.
You can send out an invitational email, including each person's login details. If you send them straight to your organisation's subscriptions page on WebCollect, they can then buy their subscriptions and fill out any relevant forms.
Advantages: Members don't need to create a WebCollect account, add their personal details or family/group members. All the members are in the database, so you can see easily who has/has not renewed their subscription. If you have a membership approval process, existing members will not be asked to re-apply for membership (although they will be asked to complete any membership form you have configured).
Disadvantages: Some work for you to tidy up your membership data - for organisations that have group membership, you may need to re-organise your data so it is in the right format to upload into WebCollect (e.g. if you have spouses and children listed on the same row as your principal member). Members may not know/remember which subscription(s) they have, buy the wrong one etc. Not so good if your membership contact details are a little out of date - members may not spot that it needs updating when they renew.
Member and Subscriptions Import
You import everything (members, membership form data, current subscriptions, subscription forms). You then send out the WebCollect subscription renewal reminder email, which includes each person's login details, a list of their current subscriptions and a link for them to click on, which takes them directly through the renewal process.
Click here for details on how to import your member data, and click here for details on the subscription import.
Advantages: Really simple for the members - almost everything is done for them except the payment piece, and any form questions you have created that you don't currently have data for. Members can still add/remove/change subscriptions during the renewal process if they want to make changes. We don't charge any extra for the full import, so why not take advantage of our generosity and make life as simple for your members as possible.
Disadvantages: More work for you to tidy up your membership data. Our data structure is quite rigid, and it won't accept the data if there are any issues with the format. This is because we want to be able to create great features that will do clever things for you, and we can't do that if we let in data that's not in the right format.
So, for example, if you have an email addresses listed more than once, or dates in the wrong format, the import won't be accepted. It's not uncommon, even with really well-kept tidy spreadsheets, for it to require a few goes to get the data in. Don't worry - we can help you sort out the issues, but be prepared to spend a bit of time getting it right.
