How to Create a Membership Form in 3 Minutes?

Creating a membership form may seem like a laborious task, considering how important they are in providing a smooth members’ journey.

You want to keep it simple and straightforward while adding all the fields to collect the necessary members’ data. Additionally, you need to make sure that the design is consistent with your association’s branding.

If you are going through the same pain, continue reading…

In this article, we’ll share our secret sauce of creating a membership form from scratch in just 3 minutes.

Quick Reads

List of Items to Include in The Member Registration Form
Steps of Creating a Member Registration Form in 3 minutes
Free Tools to Create Online Member Application Forms
Best Practices To Make Your Membership Application Forms Stand Out

Let’s dig in.

List of Items to Include in The Member Registration Form

items of member application

To make the process easier, you can divide the elements of your membership form into two lists of items. One - that is mandatory to add regardless of what type of memberships you offer and Two- that varies depending on your association and membership tiers.

Let’s take a look at the first (mandatory) list of information fields:

Personal Details: Full Name, Date of Birth, Occupation
Contact Details: Contact number, email address, mailing address.
Membership Tiers: Membership type signing for, along with its terms and annual charges.
Membership Status: New or current member (for renewals)
Terms and conditions of memberships
Payment Options: Online Payment, cheque, cash, bank transfer
Date of registering for the membership
References (If required for your association)

The second list of widgets allows you to segment your members for more information and provide them with a better experience. This can also vary depending on what membership tiers you are offering.

But make sure to mark them as non-mandatory so that your members can fill them out at their discretion.

Activities and Interests
Reasons for joining the organization/signing up for the membership
Additional benefits to look forward to
Their expectations from your organization

Create a Membership Application Form for Your Association in Just 3 Minutes

Most membership management software allow you to create a single membership application form for all types of memberships. This leads to a situation where one information field is required for one tier but is typically irrelevant to the other.

With Glue Up, however, you can create several membership application forms and assign each to a particular type of membership. Thus, you can ask more relevant questions of your target applicants.

Here are the steps you need to follow to create your membership form in just 3 minutes:

Step 1: Log in to Your Glue Up Manager Account

create new

give name

Login to your Glue Up Manager Account. In case you don’t have a Glue Up Manager Account, you can set one up today by requesting a demo.
Click the double-gear icon located in the platform’s top navigation bar to open the Organization Settings dropdown.
In the dropdown’s Membership Settings column, select Application Forms. Here, you will find two different tabs: Contact Forms and Company Forms.
Contact Forms are used for individuals. Company Forms are filled out on behalf of a company (used for corporate memberships only).
Click on the button on the top right corner of the screen to create a new membership application form.
Give your form a name. To make it easier for you to find your membership later, add a title that relates to your membership type.

Step 2: Create Custom Fields for Information

create form

Once you open a new form, you can see a list of information fields on the left side of the screen.
Click any of the existing field blocks to add fields to your organization’s membership application form. All fields can be arranged by dragging and dropping as needed.
Click any pencil or trash can icon on any of the blocks to respectively edit or delete a field.
You can also add a title, custom text fields, and dividers to give a tidy look to your form.
Once completed, click Save to add it to your membership module.

Step 3: Attach The Form to Your Membership Type

application form

Click on the gear icon > Membership Type.
Add a new membership type (if you haven’t done before).
Scroll down to the last tab where you can see the option for adding the application form.
Search the name of the form you created and add it there.
Now Click Save and Continue.

Step 4: You are all Set!

Your form is successfully added to your membership tier now.
You can also change the application form for your existing membership level.

One of the advantages of the platform is that changing the application form for an existing membership type doesn't delete the data collected previously. Data collected previously remains in the system and can be recovered by re-adding fields or switching back to the old application form.

Additionally, you can see the date the form was created, the last time it was modified, and how many membership types it is being used for.

Free Tools to Create Online Member Application Forms

There are several free online tools and form builders that let you create and design your forms from scratch. They are also beginner friendly with a drag-and-drop interface. Here are some of them:

Even though these are secure, easy, and free to use, they lack several features which can cause problems over time.

For instance, most of them are design tools that do not collect your data in tabular form.
They do not support payment integrations in the form.
You cannot add separate forms for each membership type.
You cannot directly integrate the application form into your association website. (You will need a developer each time you have to make changes)

Since Glue Up is an Association Management Software, the entire platform is integrated with your website so you and your team can edit your membership form whenever you want (without tech experts).

Additionally, the AMS allows you to integrate online payments into your form. Once your member makes the payment, they receive an automated invoice confirming their membership. Additionally, the data pulled from the form is added to your members’ data to keep them informed.

Best Practices To Make Your Membership Application Forms Stand Out

best [practices]

It is easy to create an effective membership form once you understand its purpose.

However, you need to take into account some elements from the design perspective to make sure your members can find, fill and submit them without any difficulty.

Make it Easier to Navigate

Marketers often make the mistake of not making their forms easily navigable for prospects. As a result, they lose a great member who was looking for the form to join their association.

To avoid this problem, add a clear (red button) that says “Join Us” which will take them to your membership form page. Clearly define all your membership levels with their prices on that page.

To fill out the form, they can simply click on the button below the membership description after selecting the tier they want to join.

Choose the Right Format

Although it may seem obvious to use online signup forms, offline forms are necessary when your members are not tech-savvy.

Offline subscription forms are also great when you are getting started. Let's say you are having your first meeting as a newly launched nonprofit association.

In that case, a few forms would be easy to distribute and manage than having a complex CRM. Once you are ready to expand, you can then switch to online association forms.

Ensure That the Payment Options Are Properly Integrated

It is also important to integrate the payment method correctly for online payment options. Having a complex payment workflow with the inability to confirm the transactions may result in dissatisfaction among members.

Read this case study to learn how the British Serbian Chamber of Commerce (BSCC) simplified its application process by using Glue Up's add-on Stripe feature for online payments.

Use a Minimalistic Design for the Form

use a minimalistic design

While you may feel inspired to make your forms colorful, keeping them simple and straightforward will ensure a pleasant experience for your members.

Follow these steps to make your member information form effective:

Add a small brand logo on the top right section.
Keep your text simple and clean.
Divide it into separate group fields to avoid cluttering.
Ensure there is enough white space between the fields.
Keep all the mandatory fields on the top.
Add notes or important information at the end of your form.

It is also important to communicate your organizational personality through the form. Therefore, use the graphics, text, and colors that represent your brand.

In case you are not using Glue Up’s AMS, you can look for online samples from inspiration or use an online builder tool like Canva.

If you are using Glue Up's AMS, you simply need to add the custom fields to the form. The AMS will show a customized form on your website that aligns with your branding.

Make sure it is Mobile-Friendly

Just like any other page on your website, it is important to make your membership form mobile-friendly.

All you need to do is browse your form on your mobile device and fill out all the information. See if the page is loading correctly and if any problems arise as you fill in the information widgets or while you are submitting it.

You can also use the following websites to check if your membership form is mobile-friendly:

Test Them Out Through A/B Testing

Test your membership form once in a while to make improvements where needed. The easiest way to do this is to take feedback from your staff or members directly.

Ask them to rate your membership sign up form from 1-5 on questions like:

Does the form seem simple and easy to fill out?
Does it have a neat and clean format?
Does it have all the required information fields for the memberships?
Can you easily understand the terms and conditions given on the form?

Additionally, you can also try A/B testing for the forms. This will give you a better understanding of which template is more appealing for the new joiners. Google Analytics is the most effective and cost-effective tool for doing split testing.

Although you can add up to 10 different versions to the analytics, testing out two at a time is recommended for optimal results.

Would you like to design a membership form that saves your time and communicates a postive brand image to your customers?

Book a free demo today and discover creative templates as well as many other exciting features to create a stellar member experience right away.

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