Do you still process member applications via paper-based or PDF forms mailed or faxed to you? Can you afford to keep doing this?

Wild Apricot fully automates member application processes. A convenient online form provides for quick sign up - including online credit card payment.

You can fully customize the application form to collect the information you need for your membership records. Add specialty, company logo, pet name, hobby questions - whatever is relevant to your group.

Wild Apricot allows you to:

• add fields and specify which ones are optional vs. mandatory;
• rename or delete existing fields;
• define which fields to show on the member application form, which are used on the member profile page - and which are only available to administrators

Once the online form is filled out, the payment is processed securely online. Wild Apricot can send an automatic e-mail with confirmation and welcome.

You can setup the system to immediately let new members access member-only sections and other premium resources - or have the system notify you by email to manually review and approve each application.

With Wild Apricot's self serve membership management features your members can

• Join your organization
• Pay dues and renew
• Update contact details
• Register for the events online.

No technical knowledge is required from either your staff or members and you won't be inundated with faxes and emails piling up and falling between the cracks.

See more: Online Help - Member Application Form

Once a member application is submitted online, Wild Apricot can automatically send appropriate email message to your new member and/or to the account administrators.

Customize these messages for different membership levels - and in accordance with payment status (for example, online payments vs. mailed-in payments).

Different organizations have different procedures for processing member applications. Wild Apricot provides you with the flexibility to customize this process. Each membership level can be individually configured regarding processing of new membership applications as well as renewals:

• You can have the new members activated automatically upon successful online payment. System will send an activation email and allow immediate access to the online member services - no intervention from you required. (You can receive an automatic email notification for each new application - and/or look them up through your member dashboard).
• Or you can leave the new member applications in Pending status - to review them before finalizing and activating their membership.

See more: Member Application Workflow and Email Customization

Membership application is fully integrated with payment. Members pay member dues and fees online with a credit card - and money go directly to your own merchant account. Merchant accounts are provided for free by PayPal - a subsidiary of e-commerce leader, eBay, who offers some of the best credit card processing rates: currently around 2.9% plus 30 cents/transaction. (Wild Apricot does not charge any per-transaction fees).

The setup process (from establishing your own merchant account with PayPal to configuring it in Wild Apricot) is less than 15 minutes - and then you are ready to accept credit card payments for membership applications and renewals.

Security of each transaction is ensured by both Wild Apricot system and the secure PayPal payment page.

See more: Payments by Credit Cards and PayPal

Automatic Recurring Payments function in Wild Apricot allows you to charge a fixed amount of money on a regular schedule.

Renewal periods can be setup individually for each member level - monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually.

This function alone can reduce the membership administration time in your organization by many hours.

See more: Recurring Payments

With membership application and renewal process fully automated, Wild Apricot provides you with convenient tools to monitor and control this process, including:

• Automatic email notifications to administrators about new applications.
• Reporting on membership payments.
• Payment transactions log for easy reconciliation and export (for example, to import into your accounting system).
• Member database dashboard with up-to-date updated key metrics (for example, new members in the last 7 or 30 days by each membership level). Click on each dashboard number to drill down and view the detailed list of records.
• Powerful search capabilities in your member database (for example, to select a number of records with renewal due this month and email or export them into Microsoft Excel).