How to choose your membership tech stack
No CTO? No problem. You just need to prioritize the problems you want to solve with the right tech stack, says Emma Carew Grovum.
Takeaways
Understand the four key must-haves in a membership tech stack: Analytics, payments, CRM, CMS
APIs allow data to talk from one software system to another. These are crucial to string all these components together. Make sure that an open API point exists in each of your tools.
There’s no special formula to calculate a budget for a tech stack. Any money that you're spending should be going toward making it easier for you to grow.
Categorize tools as must-haves, nice-to-haves, and trade-offs. Prioritization matters.
Context
Figuring out how to piece the tech bits together is a challenge for small newsrooms and media startups, especially when you don’t have an in-house CTO.
After working as a journalist for a decade, U.S.-based media consultant Emma Carew Grovum launched her media consultancy Kimbap Media to solve problems at the intersection of digital storytelling, tech implementation, and audience engagement.
At Splice Beta, Emma shared her tips to creating a well-run membership tech stack.
Key considerations
Value of your staff’s time. In a small newsroom, be mindful of the value of your staff’s time. Ask what happens if you get a hundred new members, or what happens if that key staff is sick or out on vacation?
How will it all connect? You need a strategy that ensures all the components of your stack will speak to each other and transfer data seamlessly. Open APIs are important.
What if I inherited a mess? When you are in situations where somebody else was the starter or the founder and you can't get out of a contract, it's great to bring in outside help.
Meet the membership tech stack
Remember the four key must-haves to a membership stack:
A way to give them something (CMS)
A way to take their money (Payment)
A way to count your members (Analytics)
A way to contact them (CRM/ESP)
CMS (Content Management System) tools like WordPress, Squarespace, and Drupal to publish your website content where your future members will encounter the brand.
ESP (Email Service Provider) tools like Sailthru, MailChimp, and Constant Contact to manage the email relationship with your customers and deliver content.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools like Sugar, Salesforce, Wild Apricot to keep track of all of your members, contacts and acts as the single source of truth.
Payment processing tools like Stripe, Paypal, Square, and Braintree so you can charge for your service.
Analytics tools like Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, and Chartbeat to keep track of who is coming to your site.
Social media management tools like Buffer, HootSuite and Sprout Social to coordinate and schedule your social media posts. Help potential members find you.
“If a vendor does not offer you previous clients and the media, and the membership space, that's a red flag. If a vendor won't demonstrate a feature that you're asking about, that's another red flag.” — Emma Carew Grovum
How to pick a vendor
This is really difficult because no one teaches you how to do this when you are a journalist.
The number one thing you are looking for is an open API across the board. Focus on competitive research by googling 'vendor name' and 'competitors'.
Make sure you get a clear proof of concept and demonstration.
Think about the projected cost analysis.
Check the roadmap.
Check their security features.
If you need a new vendor, ask around your network for recommendations. When hiring contractors, own your documentation.
Additional tips for small newsrooms
Look at parallel businesses that are similar to membership to find other ways to solve problems.
For a small organization with less than 15 people, it's so important that everyone has access to the documentation, the contacts and communication about how the tool works.
How to transition between vendors is really important. Journalism schools don't teach you how to migrate your data.