Improve the client membership management
Enhance the membership area
IFERA, the International Family Enterprise Research Academy, is a non-profit organization established in 2001. They bring together family-run businesses, academics, and independent researchers.
IFERA is a subscription-based business. Members benefit from a unique network of collaboration and research exchange, along with access to exclusive events and valuable resources.
IFERA’s unique network organization is the only one in the world focusing on collaboration and exchange of research.
IFERA was experiencing issues managing subscriptions and renewals for their network members. Email reminders for renewals and payment were not sent, or sent to the wrong customers, which caused IFERA a substantial loss of revenue and poor customer experience.
Before contacting Mowgli, IFERA had tried resolving this challenge with their internal support team and independent contractors. Small improvements were achieved, but unfortunately the core issue remained.
Why Mowgli?
Before selecting Mowgli to handle this project, IFERA had evaluated other agencies. Because IFERA had already invested time and effort in the current website, one of the key requirements was to build a solution within the existing setup.
In their partner research, they found that most agencies offered to redesign the whole website and start from a blank canvas. The Mowgli team invested time to conduct an in-depth analysis of the WordPress setup and plugins in order to identify the root cause of the issue and offer an appropriate solution. We found that the use of a deprecated WordPress theme and several conflicting plugins were the main reason why the system didn’t function properly. From this analysis, Mowgli was able to offer a flexible solution that allowed IFERA to maintain their current website, at a price that didn’t exceed the announced budget.
This project was split into two major phases:
IFERA experienced a high customer drop-off rate in their subscription process, mainly because a wide volume of information was required from new subscribers.
To make the process smoother and increase the conversion rate, we have implemented a multi-step checkout. That’s a method that splits the checkout steps into multiple pages. This new approach keeps customers engaged throughout the subscription stages, and allows them to better understand how far they are along the process.
Another advantage of a step-by-step checkout is to collect customer data even if they abandon the cart. This enables IFERA to recontact them through nurturing campaigns and increase the chances of gaining new members.
IFERA was missing out on revenue from renewals, mainly because of a poor notification and payment system. To ensure every possible renewal was captured from existing customers, it was essential to make it as easy as possible to proceed to the payment.
For this phase, the first step was to fix and automate the renewal notifications system. We ensured that personalized email reminders were sent on time and to the right members without the need for any human action. As a second step, we also implemented a simplified online payment system for customers to settle their subscriptions more quickly and pain-free.
Total time for delivery: 30 days
After completion of this project, the checkout process and management of orders have significantly improved. They now have a reliable system and orders do not need to be double-checked by the IFERA team, which saves them precious time to focus on their core activities.
With the introduction of the automatic renewal system, IFERA has increased its renewal rate by at least 20%.
“The transition has been smooth and fast and the result has been a much-improved purchasing process and a much easier back end management.”
After a successful first project, IFERA asked Mowgli to adopt a consultative approach and generate proactive suggestions to improve the website UX. The IFERA support team was overwhelmed by an unusually large volume of tickets, mostly due to confusing navigation and the overly complex interface of the client membership area.
The main objective here was to simplify the membership area whilst making sure users were not confused by an entirely new design. Another challenge was to ensure the website was still up and running at all times during the project.
After examining the support tickets and website UI, we detected two main issues:
Once again, we parted the project into two complementary phases:
As a first step, we identified the major functions of the membership area focusing on two problems: How and why clients used this section of the website? How to make it more comfortable and clear to navigate?
We improved the UX design by minimizing the volume of information on screen, making calls to action more obvious, and improving the navigation and menu items. We redesigned the membership area and made sure the heavily used functions were easy to find and access.
To achieve this outcome, we used Elementor, an advanced WordPress add-on that let us create new pages without having to redesign the whole website.
While conducting this project, the Mowgli team has identified a number of additional issues linked to using a deprecated WordPress template and too many plug-ins. First, we made sure all updates were properly installed and got rid of unnecessary add-ons. This resolved a number of issues such as website speed and layout.
As a second step, we conducted a security audit on the website. Because IFERA manages customers’ personal information, it was essential to ensure all security measures were properly implemented in order to avoid data leaks and comply with regulations.
Finally, we improved and simplified the back-end administration features to make sure the IFERA team was able to update and maintain the website autonomously.
Total time for delivery: 45 days
The membership area is now easy to navigate and loads quickly. As a result, the number of customer support tickets had considerably dropped, allowing the IFERA support team to focus on matters that truly require their attention.
On the website administration side, the IFERA team has gained independence in managing and keeping their website up to date. They now have a more intuitive and flexible back end and gained flexibility on editing content autonomously.
“Time-saving is the biggest reward, together with not having to worry about the website every single day.”
