Soapbox Engage Blog

As we've freely confessed over and over (and over and over and...), we're sweet on Saleforce. It provides an immensely powerful platform for managing all the relationships a nonprofit has with individuals and organizations.

If you're a membership organization, you're all about managing relationships. Here are the top fifteen reasons why membership organizations love the crush Soapbox Engage has on Salesforce:

1. Member-only portal with Salesforce integration

Let's hit the basics first, shall we? With Soapbox, you can offer visitors the opportunity to register for a website user account to access a password protected area of your site. That user account is automatically associated with an existing Contact in Salesforce - or creates a new Contact, if no matching account exists. If you wish to lock down access, you can restrict the registration process to only those who have matching Contacts in Salesforce. That's power and flexibility to meet a variety of membership models.

2. Customizable membership application forms with Salesforce integration

Create custom membership application forms that fit your membership process and have those applications posted directly to Salesforce so staff can easily review and take action. Application forms can accept the uploading of documents, including image files if you wish to request a logo or photo from the applicant that can be included in (spoiler alert!) a searchable member directory. And, if your application changes, you have the ability to modify it in Salesforce and Soapbox without writing a lick of code.

3. Online dues payments with real time Salesforce integration

Membership organizations can use our Soapbox Donations tool to accept online dues payments. Those member dues payments are posted to Salesforce in real time and automatically associated with the logged in member - making it possible to update member status right when someone pays online without a staff person needing to make one click and with tools that ensure data integrity.

4. Review and edit Contact and Organization information

You don't need to keep all of that good information about your members from them. Allow logged in users to review as much or as little of their Contact and associated Organization record in your Salesforce instance as you wish - and let them update as much or as little of that Salesforce information directly through your website.

5. Review membership status and expiration date

Let everyone know where they stand. Display the current membership status and expiration date for a membership so members can always be kept up to date - and provide a simple and quick method for members to pay their dues, if their membership is almost expired.

6. Review dues payment history

Don't let history be a mystery. Allow logged in users review the individual Dues records associated with their Organization, providing them as much or as little data from those Dues records as you wish.

7. Allow multiple Contacts to access an Organization record or dues payment history

The more the merrier, we say! Allow one Organization to have multiple logins for multiple Contacts so more than one person can review Organization information, membership status, and dues payment history.

8. Access member-only events or member-only tickets

Membership can have its privileges. Extend the benefits of membership to events your organization manages by offering member-only events, special pricing for members, or member-only VIP ticket options.

9. Block access for expired memberships

Don't allow any freeloaders! Automatically restrict login access to the site, if a membership becomes expired, and give them a helpful, courteous message that it's time to pay up.

10. Promote or demote memberships

One size doesn't necessarily fit all. Automatically promote or demote members based on criteria concocted in Salesforce to provide more or less access to the website based on their membership level.

11. Searchable member directories - updated in real time and complete with social media integration

Spread the love. Share the data. And get social. Create searchable member directories for any site visitor to access that pull directly from your Salesforce data - the same data a member can update with a few clicks, if they notice that something is out of date. That data can include downloadable documents, organizational logos, profile pictures, and much more. And the design of the directory and its profiles can be so insanely customized that folks won't believe it's coming from a Salesforce instance.

What's more, you can get social with your members profiles. Do they have a Twitter account that they gave you the handle for? Choose to dynamically display their latest tweets and allow visitors to follow them from their profile on your site.

12. Searchable member directories across a network of sites - updated in real time

Your site, their affiliate site  - it doesn't matter. With Soapbox Engage, the same searchable member directory service can be rolled out across an entire network of sites - all with access to the same Salesforce data in real time. And that network of sites doesn't need to be using the same platform. Got a mix of WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, GeoCities, and other systems powering your affiliate sites? No worries.

13. Member-only data in member directories

Got data that's on a need to know basis? If you've got Salesforce stuff that only members should see in those searchable directories, you can restrict it so only logged in users can view it - on a directory-by-directory basis or even field-by-field.

14. Track last login for a Contact and target messages based on activity

Stay in the know with who is hopping online. Soapbox saves the last login of a web user directly to their Contact record in Salesforce, making it easy for you to target messaging to users to encourage adoption of your web portal or reward active users.

15. Power and flexibility that grows with you

Both Salesforce and Soapbox Engage allow for a great deal of flexibility to go along with the power they offer. That flexibility allows for a system that can grow and develop with your organization and membership model as it changes over time.

Feeling the love? Want to chat about possibilities for your membership organization?

Hit us up! We're all about sharing the love and making you more efficient and effective through technology. You can also check out the full list of apps in the Soapbox Engage suite and see success stories from great organizations using them.

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