Posted on Dec 12,2016
Most organizations are powered by member dues or donations. Your members or donors are busy people so it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are some who haven’t paid yet.
Don't wait
NOW is a great time to remind them, don’t wait until next year hoping that they pay both next year and this year. Emphasize that your association needs their support.
Target your reminder
Using your member management system it should be easy to identify how many, and who, haven’t paid yet. It should also be easy to send an email reminder out to just those people who haven’t paid – this way you don’t bother your paid members.
Personalize the message
If your email solution allows you to add member contact info, as well as the last year that dues / donations were made, then include this as well.
Send a second reminder 2 weeks later
Remember how I said people are busy, they are … don’t expect to get everyone to pay after the first email. Lots of people will read it, say yes I must do that and then their intention gets lost in the whirlwind of other stuff they are dealing with. It is vital that in 2 or 3 weeks you send out a second reminder. You will find that you get almost as many people paying after the second reminder that you did with the first!
Create an annual template
Since this email reminder will be an annual task make sure you save the email as a template to be re-used next year – your member management solution should allow this.
Automate the $ and records
If your member and finance solutions are integrated a PayPal link is added to the email reminder that your member can click on which takes them directly to the PayPal page AND after they have paid, the membership record can be updated to show they paid, a finance record created and the member sent out a receipt from your association thanking them, all automatically!