Memberway
Abstract
Memberway is a SaaS product that empowers member-based organizations to communicate more clearly and effectively. Powered by React Native — and a bit of Crafted ingenuity — Memberway provides a unified platform for group messaging, event management, scheduling, and more. Think of it as a personalized social media platform for organizations and their members.
Design
Native
Problem
Connecting through Modern Communication
Memberway began when Crafted was presented with a familiar problem: ineffective communication was stifling an organization’s growth. In a marketplace review, Crafted discovered that most member-based organizations are forced to utilize multiple third-party SaaS tools to provide their members and staff with barebones functionality. But using multiple software solutions requires technological expertise, training time, and puts systems at risk of failing.
The reality of this approach is grim — organizations are using a host of different management, scheduling, an organization tools, but still report out-of-date records, irrelevant data, and missing functionality. Crafted created Memberway to end this chaos. Memberway gives members a cohesive, curated experience, and it gives staff the power to facilitate that experience.
Process
Streamlined Communication
Most organizations know that social media is important, but managing those platforms takes time, and developing new resources and can be difficult. Unfortunately, budget restrictions are often a factor in the decision to deemphasize communication. Budget restrictions are understandable, so why can’t communication be easier and more affordable? Memberway is powerful enough to manage all core business needs in addition to empowering communication.
design
native
01
Powerfully Cost Effective
Industry research showed that software in this space tended to be expensive, adding pressure to the organizations who use those services. Crafted set out to make Memberway a premium service, but without the unsustainable cost. Memberway isn’t just powerful, it’s cost effective. Thanks to that efficiency, Memberway is completely scalable – perfect for large and small organizations alike.
Some of that efficiency is brought through the use of Google’s Cloud Firestore, a real-time SQL database that allows developers to create complex relationships without a loss of performance. Cloud Firestore also integrates with Google Cloud Functions inside the Memberway app, allowing for push notifications and instant messaging. Most importantly, it gives Memberway on-demand computing power without an exorbitant cost. Because Firestore is serverless, it means organizations aren’t paying for servers unless functions are being used.
02
Thoughtful Design & Testing
Crafted released the beta version of Memberway with one goal in mind: collect and utilize feedback. The best experiences are built with the consumer, and it was pivotal that end-users got the chance to share their thoughts. One major insight gained from the Memberway beta test was that social media integration is pivotal. Crafted also discovered that advertisements on the Memberway platform were extremely effective. For example, one participating restaurant posted on Memberway about a menu tasting event and promptly saw an increase in attendance.
These insights helped refine our focus on Memberway’s social features, like instant messaging, uploading photos, photo editing, talk-to-type, and making it easier to post content.
03
Admin power
Alongside the native application (the version of Memberway that an organization’s members interact with), Crafted created an admin portal for staff and management teams. The admin portal includes expansive functionality, including everything from member management to event creation. Powered by Firebase, the admin portal is what gives administrative staff the power to control, create, and curate content within their version of Memberway.
One of the most fundamental functions of Memberway is to allow organizations to import pre-existing member lists into the app. Even with this most basic functionality, Crafted looked to elevate the user experience, developing an import process alerts users of errors within uploads file that can be immediately fixed during import. With a few simple clicks, member and staff lists are automatically imported and ready for use within the app.
From there, admin can easily manage all aspects of Memberway:
- Post creation, including standard posts, announcements and full-length articles
- Channel creation and management
- Event creation, invites and reporting
- Staff permission management for channels and public groups
As with the member-facing app, this functionality is possible because of the scalability of Firebase and Firestore. These technologies give us the freedom to constantly create new features and modules. Memberway’s functionality, capabilities and usability is constantly growing and improving, making it an application that Crafted is continuously proud to have created.
Some stats to impress you with.
75+
Designed and redesigned app views and modules
200+
Hours spent designing and developing
Solution
The End Result
Thanks to beta testing, Crafted was able to revise and reiterate before the official application release. Working with end-users saved Crafted development time, but more importantly, it improved user satisfaction.
Memberway is an application made with the users’ needs at the forefront of the design and development processes. Crafted was produced an affordable product that improves core functions of organizations that it works with. More importantly, Crafted was able to produce a product that members would enjoy, improving the profitability of the organizations that utilize Memberway.
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Read the Case Study