Automation removes human error, ensures processes run on time and provides a consistent approach to workflow. What’s not to love?

One of the most common uses of automation in Dynamics 365 is in the field of marketing. Think of all the emails and SMS reminders we receive from the businesses and services with which we interact. These are mostly automated processes.

Save Time and Reduce Repetitive, Manual Tasks

Automation offers many opportunities for improving your operations. Moving to Dynamics 365 from anything paper based, or an older, less automated system will reap numerous benefits including:

• Reducing errors – humans are more prone to mistakes than automated systems.
• Automating staff tasks, following up reminders and tracking relevant data using dashboards.
• Improving approval processes that require manual intervention – a workflow can be used to notify an authoriser if something is waiting for them to approve and then remind them if it’s outstanding after a set amount of time.
• Identifying redundant, unnecessary processes and removing them.
• Improving the quality of service for your members.

Simply looking into how you might use automation gives you the opportunity to rethink and streamline your current systems and approach. Are there too many manual steps? Is too much paper involved?

When it comes to managing membership subscriptions, automation makes it easier for both the subscriber and the membership provider. Automation saves time and money so you can concentrate on retaining and increasing your membership.

Delivering Timely Subscription Reminders

It’s important to communicate effectively with subscribers to keep them on board and informed. Automation helps to do this in several ways:

• Renewal reminders when a membership or subscription nears its expiry date.
• Alerts for sending emails, e.g., when a renewal email has not been actioned and the expiry date is getting closer.
• Notification of payment timelines and lapsed payment notifications, e.g., direct debit auto- renewal or payment failure due to out-of-date or expired payment cards.

These reminders provide the perfect opportunity for users to collect stats about membership usage, along with all the contacts a member has had with the organisation over time.

Campaigns can be run from Dynamics 365 to target current and prospective members. Using a third-party tool such as ClickDimensions with an HTML email builder will enhance the campaign and provide useful metrics such as opens, clicks and even heat maps on the email itself.

Easy Payment Management

Paid membership services often involve various tiers, durations, perks and discounts. Automating the pricing for these elements can be very labour intensive if done manually. Building these pricing calculations into Dynamics 365 and making this information accessible via a portal or website is a good example of how automation can drive sales and save time for users. Other automated features within Dynamics 365 include:

• Invoicing
• Credit renewals and reviews
• Part-payment recalculation for direct debits
• Cancellation and retention dashboards

Another good example of pricing automation is when a member changes membership tiers. If they pay by direct debit, you can calculate the difference in subscription cost over the remaining direct debit payments and change the member status without spending time adjusting fees or generating additional invoices.

Keeping Your Membership Informed

Wouldn’t it be ideal if your members could renew their subscriptions, change their personal details and have exclusive access to membership benefits online 24/7? A Power Apps Portal allows them to do all these things and much more. Other benefits include:

Individual control of data/GDPR compliance.

Driving sales with access to member-specific offers and events.

Live views of application status and pending renewals.

Viewing and downloading invoices, thereby reducing paper usage, postage costs and time creating emails.

Providing members with links to relevant topics such as events and FAQs.

Let the System do the Work

Dynamics 365 and the Dataverse enable all your membership and finance data to exist in one system. By using Microsoft PowerApps you can seamlessly integrate data between existing systems. With this automated flow of data there is no need for double keying because errors are removed from incorrectly keyed data in the other systems. Automated data deduplication prevents users making mistakes or forgetting to search before adding members to a system in which they already exist.

Automation dispenses with repetitive manual tasks and frees up time for you to concentrate on the important things, such as developing membership relationships and improving your offering. Is it time you automated your operations?

Contact us for a free 1-hour consultation to discover how membership automation can help you.