Running an association or organization with a membership base can be a lot of work. However, keeping your priorities right and ensuring a healthy relationship needs good management and organization on all levels. The lifeblood of any association is its membership dues and payments -- either once off-payments or monthly subscriptions. Do not allow this most important aspect to be forgotten or mismanaged. You need to ensure that you successfully collect your dues in orderly and timely manner. Without that, the hard work and effort, that has been put in on behalf of the associations for it members, will be lost.

So let us take a look at  how you are collecting those dues or payments:

It seems so simple in theory, but it is so complicated in execution. Many associations are struggling to keep on top of it -- without using a overly complicated system.

Also, you have to remember your members are extremely busy, and sometimes the thought of renewing their membership simply slips out of their mind or is put off. If you put any barrier in place to slow down or interrupt this process it will increase the chances of your association not getting paid in a timely manner.

The days of sending checks or going into your bank to wire money is gone. Online banking is the new trend, and it has made people’s lives a lot easier!. Not everyone has a checkbook, but everyone has either a credit or debit card. So make use of this.

This being said, here is one way in which you can streamline and simplify your collection process for both you and your members:

Let us bring your members online and get them paying through your website. By simply adding a quick click such as “Pay Now or “Pay Dues” on your landing or membership pages on your website can be the easiest, inexpensive, and the most effective way to streamline the payment process. Convenience is essential in today’s busy world we live in. The easier it is for people to pay their membership dues, the more likely they are going to do so. And simply, the easiest way for people is to pay online! You can also customize this process to stay on top of the game, and easily track who has and has not paid to date. To learn more about how we can help you with this, click here.

On your invoices or reminder emails, it is recommendable to include a link to your website and encourage your members to pay their dues or fees through the online process. Your members can either opt for a one off-payment or even make the process easier by enrolling in recurring payments. So they can pay and move on! Obviously this convenience comes with a cost  like any online payment platform, but that does not mean you have to pay over the odds on those costs. Payscape has some of the best online processing rates especially compared to companies like PayPal.

Another worry you or some of your clients might have is online security. This is something that concerns us all as consumers. As a business owner, it’s even more important. By accepting online payments, you take the responsibility for protecting your customers’ data, and managing it securely -- and that can be a costly burden. But you can make it easy on yourself by using a PCI-compliant payment solution, which Payscape is. PCI-compliance refers to the rules and regulations that govern data protection. Not every online payment solution is PCI-compliant, but the best ones are! We will walk you through the steps to ensure you reach PCI-compliance, and that you and your members are protected.

Head over to Payscape Payment Gateway to learn more about how we can help your organization to collect payments easier than ever!