Benefit Tracking - Getting Started

This article walks through the full implementation in order: Create Benefit Items, Create Benefit Packages, Tie Benefit Packages to Membership (if applicable), Assign Benefits (including Adjust Membership Benefits), and Communicate Benefit Usage to Contacts. Two important optional steps to consider: Set Up Event Benefits (Optional) (for setting up event benefits, benefit discounts, and tying benefits to events) and How to Track Benefit Tracking and Reports (for tracking and reports).

Step-by-Step Instructions

Create Benefit Items

Before building benefit packages, create the benefit items to be included in those packages. For example, benefits for a particular membership include registration for the golf tournament, one banner ad, and use of the conference room. You create each of these benefit items, then bundle them together in a benefit package.

1. Go to Memberships, Benefits section, click All Benefit Items.
2. Click the Add Benefit Item button.
   
3. Provide a Name for the benefit item. The name will be displayed on reports and member-facing information. Best practice is to use a name that clearly points out what the benefit item is for. For example: if this benefit should go toward a golf registration, include the name of the event.
4. Provide a Description of the benefit item (optional). Currently visible only internally.
5. Choose the Benefit Type. There are two options:
   
   • Event registration — choose this for an event discount. Two further fields appear:
     • Discount (required): select a discount of type Benefit Tracking to indicate the discount amount (free, 50% off, etc.) that will be applied when someone uses this benefit item.
     • Allow Use By: this selection only applies to benefits that are owned by an office/business.
       • Primary/Selected Individuals: select if only the primary contact/agent, plus any individuals you nominate, should be allowed to get the benefit.
         • You can also select additional contacts that can use event benefits per business in addition to the primary contact. Associations with benefit users that have a lot of members may require more than the primary contact to be able to register for events and use the benefits. To select additional contacts that can use event benefits, click the person icon in the Benefit Tracking section of the contact record to add Additional Benefit Users.
           
       • All Individuals of the Business: select if this event discount should be used by all individuals/agents of a business/office.
   • Custom — select Custom when you will define the details of the benefit item to exactly what you want. Your staff will manually track and record the use and usage details.
6. Enter the Value of the benefit item. This is the monetary value of this benefit item. This is an internal field only and is visible on internal reports.
7. (Optional) Choose a Category for this benefit item to display under in reports. It provides an easy way to filter the Benefit Item History or Benefit Usage Reports. See Categories for further instructions on creating your categories.
8. To make this benefit item available for benefit packages, verify that the Is Active checkbox is enabled. If you no longer wish to assign the benefit item, clear this checkbox.
9. Click Done.

Create Benefit Packages

Benefit packages allow you to group together a set of benefit items. You will then assign these packages to membership types so that your members are assigned benefits based on their membership. We recommend that you create a benefit package each year. You can easily do so by using the copy function.

1. Go to Memberships, Benefits section, click All Benefit Packages. A list of all previously created benefit packages is displayed.
   
2. Click the Add Benefit Package button.
3. On the Add Benefit Package screen:
   • Provide a Name for the benefit package. If you are creating benefit packages for specific membership types, you may wish to use the same name as the membership type. The name will display internally only.
   • Provide a Description of the benefit package (this is only visible internally).
   • Set the Enrollment Dates range. Enrollment dates are looked at when a membership is approved and renewed.
     • For newly approved memberships: When a membership is approved, packages tied to that membership type that have a date range that includes the membership start date will be assigned.
       • Example: Champion Enrollment Dates are 1/1/2023 - 12/31/2023. If my membership has a start date of 7/13/2023, the Champion package will be assigned when the membership is approved.
     • For renewed memberships: When a membership is renewed, packages tied to that membership type that have a date range that includes the start date of the renewal will be assigned.
       • Example:
         • Growth 2023 Enrollment Dates are 1/1/2023 - 12/31/2023.
         • Growth 2024 Enrollment Dates are 1/1/2024 - 12/31/2024.
         • Your benefit package will be based on the day of renewal. The next time you renew your memberships, the system will look for benefits that have Enrollment Dates during your date of renewal.
   • Update the Quantity of each benefit item to be included in this package.
     
4. Click Done.

You can create as many packages as needed to suit your membership tier structure. A copy option is available in the Actions column to help you efficiently build out your packages.

Flexible Expiration of Benefit Tracking

1. On the contact’s Overview tab, scroll to the Benefit Tracking section.
2. Click the plus icon in the Benefit Tracking section heading.
3. On the Add Benefit Items screen, go to the Benefit Expiration field.
4. Choose Expires with Membership. Instead of having to set your own expiration date, the system inherits the expiration of the membership you select in the Membership field. Choose Set my own if you would rather specify the date yourself.
   

Assign Benefit Packages to Membership Types or Membership Type Levels

By assigning benefit packages to membership types or levels, you ensure that your members are automatically given their benefits.

Assign to Membership Types

1. Go to Memberships, click Settings and select Membership Types.
2. For the desired membership, click the quantity or the <No Benefit Packages> link in the Benefit Packages column.
   
3. On the Associate Benefit Package screen, click the checkbox for the package(s) you want to assign to this membership.
   
4. Click Done.

Assign to Membership Levels

When working with levels, you can assign individual benefits, benefit packages, or both. Perhaps you create a base package, then add additional benefit items based on levels.

1. Go to Memberships, click Settings and select Membership Types.
2. For the desired membership, click the quantity link in the Levels column.
   
3. On the Edit Membership Levels screen, click the <No Benefit Packages> link in the Benefit Packages column of the level you want to change.
   
4. On the Associate Benefit Package screen, choose the package(s) that you wish to add to this level.
   
5. Click Done. Repeat the steps above for each level.

You can see which packages are assigned to which membership types: go to Memberships, Benefits section, click All Benefit Packages, then click the numbered link in the Membership Types column. Going forward, any newly activated memberships will automatically be assigned the appropriate package.

Assign Benefits to Existing Members

Now that you have tied benefits to a membership type, any new or renewing members will automatically be assigned the benefits. To retroactively assign benefits to existing members:

1. Go to Memberships, Benefits section, click Assignments.
2. On the Assignments page, you can filter to specific membership types (along with a variety of additional options). Once you have filtered the contacts, click the select-all checkbox in the grid header. A blue action bar will appear at the bottom of the screen.
3. Click Assign Packages on the blue action bar.
   
4. On the Assign Packages screen, check the package(s) you wish to assign.
5. Click Done.

Adjust Membership Benefits

At times, you may wish to adjust the benefits remaining for a contact. For example, perhaps an event has been canceled and you wish to give a benefit back. These adjustments can either be made one benefit at a time or in bulk.

Adjust Benefits Individually

1. On the contact’s Overview tab, scroll to the Benefit Tracking section. This section provides you with an at-a-glance view of the contact’s benefits usage, with a Used and a Remaining count for each benefit item.
   
2. Find the benefit item you want to change, and click the adjust icon at the end of its row.
3. On the Adjust Remaining Benefit Items screen, the benefit and its Current Amount are shown. Enter the New Amount.
4. Enter an Adjustment Description. IMPORTANT: the description is part of what can be sent to the member to itemize how their benefits gave them advertising exposure, networking opportunities, and other money-saving advantages.
   
5. Click Done.

Adjust Benefits in Bulk

1. Go to Memberships, Benefits section, click Assignments.
2. Filter to the desired contact(s), then select all, or manually check the box next to the contacts you wish to adjust. The blue action bar will be displayed.
3. Click Adjust Remaining.
4. On the Adjust Remaining Quantity screen:
   • Select the Benefit Item that you wish to adjust.
   • Enter the Adjustment Quantity, which is the amount by which you wish to adjust.
   • Select the Adjustment Direction. This allows you to adjust the benefit up or down based on the quantity entered above.
   • Enter an Adjustment Description. IMPORTANT: the description is part of what you can send to the member (if you choose to include it in your report) to itemize how their benefits provided advertising exposure, networking opportunities, and other money-saving advantages.
     
5. Click Done.

Communicate Benefit Usage to Contacts

Over time, you will want to notify benefit owners of the benefits their membership provides, how many they have used, and what remains. This can be done individually or in bulk.

Communicate Benefit Usage to an Individual Contact

From a contact’s Overview tab, you can send your member a benefit usage email. We have provided you with a default email template, ‘Your Membership Comes with Benefits’. This contains a powerful merge field, Benefits Remaining Summary. You can use the template as it is designed, customize it, or you can create your own. If creating your own, be certain to include the merge field.

1. On the contact’s Overview tab, scroll to the Benefit Tracking section.
2. Click the envelope icon in the section heading.
   
3. The send email window will open, prepopulated with the ‘Your Membership Comes with Benefits’ email template. See Send an Individual Email for instructions on sending the email.

Communicate Benefit Usage to Contacts in Bulk

You can send the benefits email to multiple members at once.

1. Go to Memberships, Benefits section, click Assignments.
2. Use the search box and the filter controls above the grid to narrow to the desired contacts. For example, you may wish to filter by membership type if the email you wish to send varies from one membership type to another.
3. Once you have filtered to the desired contacts, you can select all by using the checkbox in the upper left-hand corner of the list, or you can check contacts individually. When contacts are checked, the blue action bar will be displayed.
4. Click Email Owners. The message will automatically be populated with the ‘Your Membership Comes with Benefits’ email template. You can use this as designed, customize it on the fly, or select a template of your choice.
5. See Send a Mass Email for further instructions.