Wild Apricot Review, Pricing & Features

Wild Apricot Pricing & Cost

Here are details on Wild Apricot pricing:

  • Offers free plan for up to 50 members
  • Prices start at $40 per month, ranging up to $600 per month depending on how many members your organization has. Smaller organizations can expect to spend less than $100 per month
  • Multi-chapter pricing is also available

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Table of Contents

Full Review

Wild Apricot launched in 2006 to meet the growing needs of professional organizations, ranging from charities and nonprofits to community associations and recreational clubs. The cloud-based software is known for its robust set of features which help membership-based organizations efficiently manage their members, events, and finances online.

One of Wild Apricot's major strengths is its drag-and-drop website builder, which enables organizations to quickly create a professionally-designed website and online store without requiring any programming knowledge or web development experience. Organizations can also benefit from two dedicated mobile apps, including an admin app and the recently launched member app.

The software's broad application makes it an affordable option for any organization looking for an affordable, web-based membership management solution.

Wild Apricot Key Features

Below we'll discuss the key features of Wild Apricot and how they can benefit your organization.

Membership Management

Wild Apricot’s key functionality is member management, and the cloud-based software provides wealth of features to store, access, and manage client information. Existing data can be imported from Excel spreadsheets, making it easy to transfer and add member information from different databases. Advanced filters can be used to quickly identify members according to membership status, event registration and outstanding dues.

The member application process can be automated through customized sign-up forms that collect information such as medical history, payment information, contact details and any necessary agreements/waivers. You can create different levels of membership for your organization with different access rules, prices and renewal policies. As an example, the software allows club owners to create premium memberships with unlimited access to your club's facilities, or discounted student memberships with reduced visiting hours.

Wild Apricot Review Setting Membership Level

Members can set up recurring billing cycles for their monthly membership fees, and also set up one-time payments for events. All of this info can be managed through Wild Apricot, which will also maintain a payment history for each member, which each member can access by logging into the system. You can create customizable invoices and receipts that can be automatically sent to members whenever a transaction is made.

Wild Apricot supports an extensive range of integrated payment processing systems (PayPal, BluePay, Stripe, and Skrill, among others), with financial data securely stored with PCI-DSS certifications. Traditional offline transactions, such as cash and check can also be recorded making it easier to accept all types of payment options.

Website Builder

Wild Apricot's website builder is a major reason why the system has become so popular. The website builder enables organizations to easily create a custom website without requiring any coding or web development expertise. Professionally designed templates are available, and a drag-and-drop builder enables you to customize the layout, text, font, color scheme, and more. Widgets can also be added for dynamic functionality including event calendars, online forums, membership directories, application forms, and blogs. With the drag-and-drop functionality, you'll be able to make any modifications to your website on your own without having to consult your tech guru.

Wild Apricot Review Website Example

Event Scheduling

Wild Apricot can help you coordinate and promote events, whether they're recurring or one-time events. Events can be displayed on your website in list format, or through a calendar, allowing visitors to view event descriptions, register and pay any associated fees.

Wild Apricot Review Calendar Example

You can customize event registration forms according to your needs and set restrictions to create member-only events. The ability to set events as either private or public is particularly beneficial to growing your membership base. For example, public classes can attract new business, while exclusive access to private classes can encourage prospective members to join. Owners can also benefit from capping events to a specific number of registrations, and class instructors can save time by checking attendance from their mobile phone.

Wild Apricot Review Event Scheduler

Since Wild Apricot is 100% web-based, you can make updates and announcements for events on the spot, from anywhere you have an Internet connection. This is helpful for event staff and administrators who need to relay important information on the day of the event.

Though Wild Apricot is helpful in creating events and allowing members to register, it lacks integration with other social media channels. This means that when events or announcements are made for the event, you'll have to also post them on your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages manually. This can be cumbersome, especially if your members frequently interact with your other social media channels.

Marketing & Member Outreach

Wild Apricot provides a range of different marketing capabilities to help promote your organization and stay in touch with your members. The system lets you send an unlimited number of emails and newsletters to engage existing members and new prospects. You can send targeted emails by creating recipient lists based on specific criteria, such as activity level or event attendance. Built-in email templates allow you to send professional-looking and mobile-friendly emails, with automated personalization.

The software also helps increase member retention by creating automatic email reminders for membership renewal and upcoming events, as well as allowing you to send promotional emails each time you create an event. You can also track the delivery, opens and clicks for all automated emails, providing valuable data about the effectiveness of your campaigns to inform future marketing strategy.

Wild Apricot can also help you stay in touch with your members by providing you with a custom online discussion forum, where staff and members can post relevant content and interact with each other. This can be a powerful tool to help create a sense of community and keep members engaged with your group.

Reports

Wild Apricot features a comprehensive financial tracking system to organize your group's finances, and to help you monitor various KPIs. You can quickly generate financial reports to view your club’s income by source (events, memberships, donations, etc.) and by payment status (fully paid, partially paid, unpaid), allowing you to measure progress and track outstanding debts. You can also export financial data to QuickBooks.

Wild Apricot Review Financial Reports

Owners can also create reports to analyze event registration, attendance, and payments. The screenshot below shows how you're able to generate reports for a few specific metrics. However, if you want true report customization, you'll likely need to do some analysis on your own in Excel.

Wild Apricot Review Income Report Builder

Mobile App

In February 2018, Wild Apricot launched a mobile app for members. The mobile app enables members to register and pay for events on the go, and view contact information of other members. Though this is helpful for members, the mobile app is fairly new, and so lacks a lot of functionality that you might hope for. In addition, the app is only available for iPhone users.

In addition to the member app, Wild Apricot provides a separate mobile app for group administrators (which members cannot access). Though the admin app is helpful for managing members, it's especially helpful for managing events. Rather than having to carry around laptops and connect to Wifi in order to access Wild Apricot, you can manage events on the go with the admin app. The app enables you to check in attendees & guests for events and record payments at the door. Unlike the member app, the app for admins is available for both iOS and Android users.

Wild Apricot Review Mobile App

Is Wild Apricot the Right Software for You?

Wild Apricot is an excellent membership management option for small and medium-sized organizations who don't have the technology resources to build a website from scratch and build their own proprietary membership management system. Wild Apricot's integrated website builder is one of its major selling points for organizations, since it allows users to quickly create professional-looking websites without requiring any web development expertise. In addition, the system offers various functionality to help attract new members and keep them engaged with your group. If you're on the market for software to help streamline your organization and provide your members with an exceptional customer experience, then Wild Apricot is an excellent choice to consider.

To learn more about Wild Apricot, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial through our referral link.

Bruce Hogan

Bruce Hogan is Co-founder & CEO of SoftwarePundit. He leads the team's research and publishes content about software products and trends. Bruce has experience investing at multi-billion dollar private equity firms, leading teams at venture-backed technology companies, and launching new businesses. You can connect with Bruce on LinkedIn.

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