4 Red Flags to Watch for When Buying Any Online Service For Your Membership Organisation
When evaluating any organisational software purchasing decision, recognising online service red flags is critical to protecting your club's investment. Key warning signs include a lack of pricing transparency, a demonstrated gap in software development updates, and the long-term risk associated with a system buyout. Always prioritise vendors that offer free trials and avoid restrictive lock-in contracts to ensure your chosen online service remains modern, secure, and fits your organisation's long-term needs.
I have been working for Member Jungle for nearly three years, and in that time, I have spent a whole lot of time checking out various systems. From other membership management systems to email marketing tools, to social media schedulers, and so, so many more. Over this time, I have developed a nearly subconscious list of red flags I look for when evaluating systems to see if they are worth recommending to customers.
So I thought I’d talk about those red flags today. Don’t get me wrong, these are nothing too serious, just little things I see when evaluating different systems that often give me pause, as they might indicate a less-than-ideal product.
None of these are 100% indicative of a system or product being bad; they are just indicators that you might need to look a bit closer to make sure there are no issues. Also, if your organisation does any of these practices, take this as your cue to stop doing them. So without any further ado, let’s dive in.
1. Unclear Pricing Information
Something that registers as a red flag to me, or at very least a deeply annoying flag, is either no pricing information on their website or minimal, confusing pricing.
The first thing anyone does when checking out a new digital service is check how much it actually costs. There’s no point falling in love with a system's offerings if it costs a stupid amount of money. As such, few things are more frustrating than a website that refuses to give you prices, has deeply confusing prices, or hides its prices behind you having to give them your details.
It might not be the reddest of flags, but it’s not a great sign if an online service isn’t willing to give you all the pricing information you could possibly need upfront.
What To Do If A System You’re Looking At Doesn’t Have Clear Pricing?
If a service you're looking at doesn't have clear, obvious pricing, you must do extra digging. Look closely at the fine print for details on implementation fees, essential add-ons, or potential hidden transaction fees, ensuring there are no nasty surprises down the line.
What To Do If Your Membership Organisation Doesn’t Have Clear Pricing?
If you are just now realising that your organisation doesn't have clear, accessible pricing on its website, you should make a note to fix it immediately. Potential members need to see exactly what your membership costs, including any possible fees or tiered options. If they cannot easily find this information, they might think you are hiding something and will likely look at other clubs, costing you potential members.
2. Lack Of Ongoing Development
A major red flag to look out for is when an online system hasn’t received significant updates in a long time. Every great online service can only stay great if it is continuously updated and modernised; if a system stops growing and improving, it dies. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you’re looking at something as simple as an email server or something as crucial as an antivirus software; you need to ensure that the product is still being regularly developed and updated.
Every service should have details of all its recent updates somewhere on its website. This may take a bit of finding, but if you are considering investing your organisation's time and money into something, it is absolutely worth taking the time to check this.
This article isn’t really about Member Jungle, but for the sake of transparency, you can see details on all of our updates here: Member Jungle Product Releases.
What To Do If A Service You Are Looking At Doesn’t Appear To Have Been Updated In A Long Time?
If a service doesn’t appear to be updated regularly, it’s important to investigate further. Check their website for recent updates, look for user reviews on social media or Google, and if they provide a mobile app, check the app store to see if it is regularly updated. If you can’t find solid proof that the system is continuously being improved, it's best to avoid it. Don't spend your hard-earned money on a system that may fall behind in quality and standards.
What To Do If Your System Hasn’t Been Updated In A Long Time?
This one doesn’t overly apply to you, assuming that someone in your organisation hasn’t built your website themselves, this is really about the system you are using to run your organisation.
If that underlying system isn’t regularly updated by the service you are using, it may be worth switching to one that does.
3. A Buyout Of A Great System
One red flag I look out for is when a system is bought out by a large corporation. While this doesn’t necessarily guarantee problems, I have often noticed that after a buyout, the new owners may reduce staff and cut funding for critical updates, expecting the product to function the same on a smaller budget.
This situation is particularly sad for the original company, as they have to watch the system they built and love stagnate and gradually become obsolete over time. For users, it poses a long-term risk of investing in a platform that may eventually fall behind industry standards.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, Mailchimp was acquired by Intuit in 2021 and continues to receive consistent software updates, maintaining its status as a high-quality email marketing service to this day.
What To Do If A System You’re Looking At Has Been Bought Out?
Again, a buyout is not a death sentence for a system, as I said, there are definitely great systems out there that have been acquired by large corporations and stayed great. Just take some extra time to read reviews, check if those reviews were written before or after the buyout and check to see if the system is still being updated. It’s also important to check reviews and see what customers are saying about the product post buy out.
4. Lock-In Contracts & A Lack Of Free Trials
Another red flag is when a system doesn’t offer a free trial or a free version. Free trials are crucial because they allow your organisation to test the system's functionality and ensure it's not overly technical for your volunteers. If a company believes that their system is quality and that people will like it, they are more likely to let people test it for free.
The other part of this red flag is if the system only offers lock-in contracts. Even if a system is perfect today, things can change and having the flexibility to cancel if you need to is really important.
What To Do If A System Lacks A Free Trial?
There’s not a whole lot you can do if a system doesn’t offer free trials or cancel anytime contracts. Your options really are to take a risk and jump in, and if you do so, try to do as much research as possible before making that decision. Otherwise, all you can really do is look for a different company that offers free trials and no lock-in contracts.
What To Do If Your Membership Organisation Doesn't Offer Trials?
As a club or association, you don’t really need to offer free trials or no lock-in contracts. However, you could consider adding a shorter membership option. Most membership organisations have one-year memberships, but having a shorter one or three-month membership may allow you to get more new members through the door as they aren’t having to commit to such a long period of membership.
Where To From Here?
So, those are four red flags I look out for when reviewing a product or service to decide whether it’s worth using for myself or recommending in an article. Again, none of these things mean a system will be bad, but they are all warning signs that you may need to look at it a bit more closely before deciding to go with it.
To see a few systems that I have recommended in the past, have a look at The 3 Best AI Tools To Take Meeting Minutes.
If you want to know more about how Member Jungle ensures its system stays up to date and cutting-edge, check out Choose a Membership System That Won't Become Obsolete.