Wild Apricot Launches Version 3.0: Crowdsourcing Drives Success for Association and Nonprofit Membership Management Software
TORONTO, May 20, 2009 — Wild Apricot today launched Version 3.0, a major upgrade to its website and membership management software designed for associations and non-profits. The majority of Version 3.0's features were "crowdsourced": driven by feedback from customers. Wild Apricot, which has more than 15,000 registered users and continues to experience growth of 10% per month, attributes its success to its "obsession" with listening to customer feedback and actually using it.
"Non-profits and small associations always struggle to balance their desire to use modern web technologies with their constrained budgets," says Dmitry Buterin, Wild Apricot's Chief Apricot who personally reviews every customer support email. "Our mission is to make it easy and affordable to build an interactive website -- with built-in automated administration tools, such as membership management. Our customers -- association professionals, non-profit board members and dedicated volunteers -- want to focus on their cause and not on computers or coding."
Wisdom of Crowds
Launched in 2006, Wild Apricot is built around the philosophy of listening to customers and evolving the product based on their needs and feedback. Regular customer satisfaction surveys rate the company exceptionally high in multiple areas, including technical support -- a trait that's often lacking, particularly when it comes to less expensive "software-as-a-service." The company actively seeks input and collaborates with customers in the development process, with customers voting and commenting on others' suggestions. Customer feedback guides the product development roadmap and new updates are released about every two months.
Version 3.0 includes two significant changes engineered to improve the customer experience. The first is a complete overhaul of the website design options -- including a wizard which guides new users in creating and customizing a professionally-looking website. "Our new design options reflect feedback from users asking for more options and desire to create great looking websites even if they have no budget to hire professional web designers," says Buterin.
The other significant improvement is an overhaul of the contact database functionality which gives customers the ability to track all interactions (aka CRM) -- whether they are prospective donors, members, event guests or other stakeholders. "Interacting with constituents is a key consideration for associations, non-profits and like-minded organizations," adds Buterin. "Version 3.0 makes it easier to get the big picture, making communicating with them easier and fundraising and membership campaigns more efficient."
Customer Engagement
Wild Apricot has made it easier than ever for organizations with limited resources to use the Internet to their full advantage, providing the tools needed to engage and communicate with members. Wild Apricot continues to engage with the industry stakeholders. It publishes a highly read blog focused on technology for non-profits, a dedicated website for association management and recently launched Association Jam, a new "social news" website for the association market.
About Wild Apricot
Wild Apricot is web-based software-as-a-service designed for associations, clubs, and charities and non-profit organizations. More than 15,000 organizations have already registered for Wild Apricot service -- integrated website content management, membership database, member self-service portal and event registration, e-mail communication, blogs and forums, and online payments. With pricing starting at just $25 per month and with a product designed for non-technical users, Wild Apricot can help even the smallest associations and non-profits.
