A club membership application is a fillable document used by a club owner to collect details about people who want to join his/her club. The club owner reviews the information collected and decides if they want to permit the applicant to join. The membership application form also serves as a marketing tool for the club to attract more potential members.
EXAMPLE
The club owner may communicate the value for money members get for each available package.
Also, it is an effective avenue to foster brand awareness and drive trust among potential, new and existing members. The information you collect can help discover areas that you need to improve in within your club. Additionally, a club membership application form helps manage fees, donations, and dues paid to the club by aspiring and new members.
Free Templates
How to Create a Club Membership Application
Given the key uses of the club membership application discussed above, creating a good form that will make members prefer you over other clubs is very important.
Here are guidelines on how to create an excellent club membership application:
Collect personal information
Start with collecting the personal details of any individual interested in joining your club. The details should include first and last name, personal phone number, email address, and physical location . This way, you will be in a better position to personalize the member experience and facilitate communication on a personal level.
An applicant may feel paranoid about sharing sensitive details such as their sexual orientation. For this reason, it is advisable to deliberate on how you will handle their details, including who will view and who will not view specific details.
EXAMPLE
You can indicate that residential address will only be viewed by senior admins while name and phone number will be viewable by all members of the staff. This kind of assurance may help cultivate trust and confidence in a doubtful applicant.
Describe the application process
Vividly explain the process of joining your club based on the club’s mission and goals. Describe the induction process and the things that one must fulfill in order to be considered eligible. Be sure to explain everything in detail on the club membership application to give interested individuals ease. One of the things to highlight in this section include defining both mandatory and optional requirements.
EXAMPLE
If you have a boat club, you may require that every member must have a boat but set owning a beach house is an optional requirement.
Describe the whole process of induction from when the member shows interest to the time they will be considered actual members of the club. Discuss this section at length so that interested members can easily understand what they need to do to become members.
Include membership requirements, if any
Describe what one needs to fulfill in order to be considered a member of your club.
EXAMPLE
You could have a condition that any incoming member must be a citizen of the USA.
Indicate how much members need to contribute and the intervals for making club contributions. Proceed to describe the fines, if any, for failure to meet the designated obligations. If you have more sensitive requirements that require in-depth details, such as criminal history, explain that as well.
Your club membership qualification criteria should be detailed and preferably based on a legal framework and compliance protocol on the application. Be sure to remain friendly, welcoming, and subtly strict, depending on the nature and caliber of your club.
Include information about membership levels
Membership levels are important because they facilitate the allocation of resources and drive the division of privileges.
Remember
People like to customize what they are paying for, and they like to see value for their money. They are likely to look for alternative clubs if you cannot offer that.
Cover the following areas when describing your club membership levels on the application:
- Number of levels in your club
- The pricing for each level
- The key benefits associated with each level
After preparing the levels, tone your marketing strategies accordingly to ensure that you reach out to potential members for each level.
Share all membership benefits
This is where you need to show the applicant that they will get value for their money if they join your club. Your club membership application should highlight the benefits that club members will get for each level of membership. State the perks of networking and meeting new friends from a social and business perspective. Some of the common benefits associated with clubs are family fun, networking events, top-class dining, and gold playing. Keep in mind that the better the benefits, the more the reader will feel compelled to join your club.
Explain membership fees and payment options
Potential members need to know how much amount they are required to pay in order to be accepted and remain in your club. In this context, each level of membership should have an associated fee. State the initiation fee and indicate if it will be refundable or not when one decides to leave. Deliberate on the continuation fees and the intervals for settling it. This could be annual, bi-annual, or any other club-specific timeline. Providing a plan for additional charges as one may wish to spend is a good way to encourage involvement in your club expenses while avoiding meeting the corresponding expenses yourself.
Gather credit card or other payment details
Ask the members to disclose their credit card information for easy billing services. It is wise to enable multiple payment methods so that each member can choose the method that works best for them. Consider using the services of payment systems for clubs, so you never have to chase payments.
Provide a link to the FAQ page
After going through your presentation, potential members are likely to develop questions that you should provide answers to. Anticipate the questions based on your experience and go ahead to give answers. Keep in mind that a well-articulated FAQs page can improve your ranking on the SERPs and potentially reach out to more potential members. Also, a good FAQs page can save money related to customer service operations because people do not have to call to get various answers.
Add a call to action (CTA)
Since your presentation was a marketing campaign in its capacity, offer a call to action to entice the reader to register with your club. Use relatively strong prompts like ‘join us today’ and sign up’. Ensure that your CTA is persuasive and urging.
Share your contact details
Lastly, include your contact details, both phone, and email. This way, the members can get in touch with you if they need to seek any sort of clarification or for any other reason. The contact center should be active around the clock so you can manage to communicate with potential members from different demographics and hopefully sign them up after that.
Free Downloads
Tips to Make an Appealing Club Membership Application
Considering the intense competition from other clubs, you need to create an exceptional club membership application form.
Here are a few tips to give your form a competitive edge:
Use engaging visuals and images
Visuals and images hook the reader and make the form interesting to cover. In addition, they are easy to remember and absorb, causing the reader to pay closer attention to what you have to say.Be sure to utilize communication aids, both visual and written, that bring out your club’s culture and personality.
EXAMPLE
A super car owners club would call for usage of casual language and images while more formal language, colors and images would suffice for a doctors’ club.
Additionally, you may include your company logo to add a touch of professionalism and brand identity. If you have special positions, such as volunteer positions and special membership openings, make them stand out in the form. By adding unique graphics, you can successfully grab the attention of the reader.
Use brand colors and fonts
Remember that you want to create a good first impression when a visitor first sees your form. There is no better way to do this than by using the brand colors and fonts that are on your website and company as a whole. This way, you will express yourself as a consistent professional who conveys emotions that the reader may want to associate with.
Make it easy to find
Your form should be easily accessible when someone is visiting your site. To achieve this, add links and creative call to actions all over the pages that enjoy the most traffic. This way people can land on the form with ease. Provide join us today or join now hyperlinked buttons, and a shortcut on the menu tab to easily lead visitors to the application form. Keep in mind that a form that is hard to find could cause a visitor to turn away rather than search for it.
Make it easy to complete
Make your form easy to fill just as it is easy to read. The instructions and guidelines you provide should be brief and clear in order to give applicants a trouble-free experience. You may utilize online membership management platforms to streamline the application experience for potential members.
Be positive and concise
In the spirit of marketing your club, communicate in a brief and clear manner. Also, maintain a positive and welcoming tone throughout the club membership application form. This is a vital caution to take if your club utilizes strict qualification criteria. Sounding strict and unwelcoming in the tone of writing may cause a reader to lose interest in joining your club.
Final Words
A club membership application form is an important document that aims at marketing your club and collecting new member/applicant details. From packages and fee structures to payment methods, it displays various types of details about your club with a hope of hooking potential members.
Creating an effective form means balancing friendliness and professionalism so that potential members can see the value you offer. You need to combine different techniques such as visual aids, using templates, using brand colors, and others. Be sure to make your form easy to locate on your site or whichever platform you use for marketing your club.