Why Your Club or Association Needs Digital Membership Cards

Digital membership cards offer numerous advantages for any club or association. These modern solutions provide enhanced convenience for members, simplify event check-ins, and strengthen your organisation's branding. Beyond the operational benefits, digital cards also offer significant cost savings compared to traditional plastic alternatives. Explore how adopting digital membership cards can streamline member management and elevate the member experience.

Let me tell you a story that might sound familiar. We have two men, both admins, for their member organisations.

The first man, let's call him Stephen. Stephen is spending his Saturday morning checking members into an event. He's at the entrance with a clipboard, manually ticking off each arrival. Members line up, flash their plastic cards, he scours his list to confirm their ticket purchase, then they enter. It's not a quick process, but it's mostly working.

Unfortunately, several people have forgotten or lost their membership cards, slowing the sluggish line. Worse, some cards are so old and battered you'd have an easier time deciphering ancient hieroglyphs than their member numbers. Overall, Stephen's having a rough morning. The long and slow queue makes for a less-than-ideal start to everyone's day.

Now, there's the other man I mentioned, let's call him Cool Stephen (subtle, I know). Cool Stephen is also checking members into an event this Saturday. The key difference? He's not using a pen, paper, or clipboard. He's just using his phone.

Members walk up, display their digital membership cards on their phones, and he scans them with the built-in scanner in his Member Jungle app. The system automatically verifies the member and their ticket purchase, and marks them as attending. The process takes less than two seconds per person, and they're in. No digital cards are ever lost or damaged, because that's simply not an issue.

Cool Stephen is having a very easy morning. At most, the line to get into the event is two or three people deep at any given time, and it moves fast. Everyone's getting in quickly and in a great mood.

My point is that digital membership cards are just better than old-fashioned plastic ones, in every way. The truth is that plastic cards are a relic in today’s digital world. And not a cool relic with some style that makes them intriguing despite their relative redundancy, like a film camera or a record, but an annoying, inconvenient relic, like an overhead projector or the monarchy. 

I know that might sound harsh, but you shouldn’t be using plastic membership cards any more than you should be using floppy disks. 

So today, let’s not talk about the benefits of digital membership cards or why your club needs them. I’m taking that as assumed knowledge. You can read about those here: 

• The Ultimate Guide To Digital Membership Cards For Your Club
• Does My Club Need Digital Membership Cards?

Today, let’s instead talk about Member Jungle’s digital membership cards, their features and why they are the right options for your club or association. 

What Features Do Member Jungle’s Digital Membership Cards Have?

Member Jungle’s digital membership cards are highly customisable, making organising your members, events, event check-in, and discounts a whole lot easier. 
 

Member Jungle’s Digital Membership Cards Are Convenient For You and Your Members

The first and most obvious advantage of digital membership cards is their convenience. They are always on your smartphone, cannot be lost, damaged, or stolen, and they’ll never take up extra room in your wallet or purse. You don’t need to get them remade, reprinted or posted to members. As soon as members join or update their details or renew, their digital membership cards will automatically be created or updated. 

They can be accessed from the customisable Member Jungle app and added to both Google and Apple Wallets. 

Member Jungle’s Digital Membership Cards Are Better Branding For Your Club Or Association

Member Jungle’s Digital membership cards are better for your club's branding than plastic ones, for a few reasons

Firstly, offering slick, convenient digital cards instantly makes your organisation look modern and up-to-date. This is incredibly important for attracting a younger demographic, which should definitely be on your radar.

Secondly, the branding on Member Jungle's digital membership cards can be updated or tweaked without having to worry about getting all of your cards reprinted and distributed to members.  Want to give your cards a quick facelift? Or perhaps a festive seasonal look for Christmas? You can do that easily and for free. There's no need to pay for cards to be reprinted and mailed; it's a five-minute job.

Which brings me to my next point: they'll save you a lot of money.

Member Jungle’s Digital Membership Cards Will Save Your Membership Organisation Money

There's no getting around it; old-fashioned plastic cards are a significant drain on your budget. Think about it, you're paying for design, printing, and postage just to get them to you, then more to distribute them to your members. The costs keep piling up whenever membership expiry dates shift, new people sign up, or those old plastic cards inevitably get lost or damaged, forcing the whole cycle to repeat.

I actually ran the numbers for this last year (you can find the full breakdown here). For an organisation with only 500 members, you could easily be spending around $3,270 annually just on plastic membership cards. You could get Member Jungle's entire membership management system, including digital membership cards, for about $1,000 less per year for that same number of members.

Of course, prices will vary depending on the quality and volume of plastic cards you order. But in almost all scenarios, those physical cards are going to be a far more expensive option, long before you even consider the ongoing need for new batches and reprints.

Member Jungle’s Digital Membership Cards Make Event Check-Ins Easy

As I mentioned at the start, Member Jungle’s digital membership cards make event check-in easy. That's because they're fully integrated with our membership management system and mobile app.

Long story short, you can set up and manage your event entirely within Member Jungle, sell tickets directly through your site, and take online payments. Then, when members arrive, simply use the Member Jungle mobile app to scan their digital membership cards. Because the cards, the mobile app, and the event system are all parts of the same Member Jungle ecosystem, every component knows what the others are doing. Member tickets are instantly verified, attendance is logged automatically, and the whole process is just, easy.

For more details on how this works, give Easy Member Check-In Software For Your Club a peep. 

Digital Membership Cards That Work

Member Jungle's digital membership cards make proving membership easy for your members. Whether they're checking in for events or snagging discounts from businesses you've teamed up with, it's all super smooth and straightforward.

Plus, you can customise these cards to match your organisation's vibe and branding, so you always look professional and put together. Most importantly, our customers love them.

How To Find Out More About Member Jungle’s Digital Membership Cards

For more information on Member Jungle’s digital membership cards, how they work, what they cost and how they be customised, please check out The Ultimate Guide To Digital Membership Cards For Your Club