Matrix Group International

Month: June 2018

  • The Checkbox War is Over: How to Pick a New AMS Partner

    The Checkbox War is Over: How to Pick a New AMS Partner

    checklist on clipboard graphicI was talking to my friend Ben Muscolino at Benel Solutions. Ben’s company does netFORUM implementations and other AMS integrations. Matrix Group has several clients in common and we love working with Benel Solutions.

    Anyway, we were talking association management software (AMS) companies, how the space is pretty crowded, and how difficult it is for associations to choose between vendors. At some point, Ben quipped, “well, the checkbox war is over, so how do clients choose their platform?”

    The checkbox war is over.

    I think Ben is absolutely right. The AMS market has reached such maturity that nearly all the platforms (MatrixMaxx from Matrix Group included) are able to check off the boxes in the RFPs that we receive. Yep, we let associations manage individual and company-based memberships, meetings, tradeshows, publication sales, digital downloads, sponsorships, subscriptions, fundraising, yada, yada.

    So how on earth does an association pick a platform? I think the answer is you don’t. You pick a partner instead.

    A partner that can help you:

    • Rethink your member experience
    • Work well with the other vendors in your digital universe
    • Guide your business process transformation
    • Get creative with your budget and needs

    Is YOUR AMS partner doing all this for you?

     

  • Does Your Website Need Web Push Notifications?

    Does Your Website Need Web Push Notifications?

    alert bell on desktop computerLet’s face it. As marketers, we’re always wondering how to reach more people, get more opens and clicks, drive traffic, and get more conversions.

    Mobile apps have been terrific at generating visits and conversions because of their ability to send push notifications to users. We’ve all gotten used to the notifications on our phone, as well as the numbers next to apps that tell us we’ve got announcements to read.

    What if you don’t have a mobile app? You can now use web push notifications to send reminders and announcements! How does it work?

    • Websites that have web push notifications ask you for permission to send you notifications when you visit the site. You can either accept or block notifications.
    • If you accept notifications, you’ll get little messages that pop-up in your browser when a new article, video or product has been posted AND notification has been enabled for that update.
    • You’ll get the notifications no matter what website you’re currently visiting at the time the notification goes out.

    To see web push notifications in action, visit www.fmi.org or my blog at TheMatrixFiles.net. If this is the first time you’ve visited the site, you’ll see a red bell icon in the bottom right corner. If you click it, you’ll be given the option to subscribe to browser notifications. It’s that easy!

    If you subscribe to notifications on my blog, you’ll get a reminder whenever we publish a new post, regardless of what site you’re surfing at the time. It’s remarkably effective and yet surprisingly not annoying. If you use Google Calendar, you can enable notifications via your browser so that Google can send you reminders about upcoming meetings.

    I see more websites employing web push notifications for these reasons:

    • They represent another way to get people to convert and give you permission to send them updates.
    • Web push notifications are easy to opt in to because they don’t require an email or contact information, just a click.
    • Subscribing and unsubscribing is very easy.
    • The notifications services can give you good analytics about number of subscribers, delivery and clicks.
    Here’s the bad news about web push notifications: they are not currently supported in IE or iOS. They are supported in Chrome, Safari and Firefox, so a good percentage of the web is covered. Apple has announced the web push notification support is in development and the same thing is likely happening at Microsoft with IE and Edge.

    Adding web push notifications to your site is inexpensive and easy to do. Contact my team if you want more info. I hope you’ll consider this valuable tool for reaching your target audiences.