What is a customer register?
A customer register is a place where you collect information about your customers or contacts, so that you can keep track of the relationship and follow up effectively. It can contain everything from name, email and phone number to interests, previous dialogues, purchase history, agreements, cases and internal notes.
All customer registers are digital today, and "customer register" is synonymous with CRM systems, but a customer register in a smaller company can also be very simple, for example a list in Excel.
What is a customer registry program?
A customer register software (customer register program) is a digital system where you collect and keep track of customer data and customer relationships. In practice, there are three different types of functionality that you are most often looking for:
- Structures data (e.g. customer cards, fields, labels and segments)
- Connects history (e.g. emails, cases, agreements, payments and activities)
- Supports workflows (e.g. tasks, reminders, flows, and integrations)
For membership and fundraising activities in particular, it becomes especially important to be able to manage both individuals and organizations, relationships between them and multiple types of "status" simultaneously (member, donor, volunteer, elected official and partner).
AI often highlights the value of structured data and it is a good idea to consider how a customer registry platform should be able to include and manage these three basic classes of information:
- Analog, unstructured information
- Digital, unstructured information
- Digital, structured information
Data quality, integrations and GDPR
A sustainable customer register for membership and fundraising activities is not just about keeping track of contact details. When the data is accurate, the systems are connected and GDPR-supported, you reduce duplicate work, avoid incorrect mailings and get a clearer picture of each member and donor.
When data fails, it gets expensive
Poor data quality is not just an IT problem. It results in double mailings, incorrect receipts, missed renewals and unnecessary support questions.
If you want to put it in even greater context, you can also mention that there are estimates at a macro level: for example, Harvard Business Review has described the cost of “bad data” in the US alone at around $3 trillion per year.
Integration and a common image of the member or donor
In many organizations, there are at least three “truths” at the same time: Membership register, fundraising tools, and finance or communication tools. When they don’t connect, you get the classic problem of the same person having to provide the same information multiple times.
79 percent of customers expect consistent interactions between departments, while 55 percent feel they are talking to separate departments, and 56 percent often need to repeat information. The point also applies to members and donors: the experience becomes fragmented if your data is fragmented.
On the system side, the goal is often a 360-degree view, where the customer register can integrate with other systems so that you get "order and order" and avoid duplication of work.
79 percent of customers expect consistent interactions across departments.
55 percent feel like they’re dealing with separate departments.
Donor retention is declining, making the registry more important
For fundraising organizations, reactivation and trust are crucial. Data from various fundraising organizations shows that it is still difficult to get donors to come back, especially among those who give for the first time. In other words: Many first-time donors become one-time donors, if you do not follow up smartly and relevantly.
This is where a good customer registry program makes a difference in practice: You can segment correctly, measure what works, and automate follow-up without "blowing up" with more manual lists.
GDPR and the customer register
Customer registers often contain personal data, and then you need to be able to show that you have a legal basis and that you are processing the data for clear purposes. For example, the Swedish Data Protection Authority describes both how agreements can be a legal basis, and how the balancing of interests works when it is used.
If you work with balancing interests, it is also worth knowing that the EDPB has updated guidelines on when “legitimate interest” can, or cannot, be used under the GDPR .
In practice, this often means that the customer register should support:
- Clear purposes per data type
- Traceability and authorization
- Routines for thinning and registry extracts
How to get a customer register that is actually used
Many registers become “a place where data ends up”, but not a way of working. The trick is to start in the process, not in the fields.
- Define your most important flows: New member, renewal, monthly gift, termination and reactivation.
- Determine the least common data set: What must always be correct?
- Set responsibilities: Who owns data quality, segments and integrations?
- Migrate and clean: Better fewer fields with high quality than the other way around.
- Build iteratively: Add reports, automation, and integrations once the foundation is in place and the data is reliable.
In Multisoft's delivery model, new system support typically begins with a requirements gathering that leads to an initial implementation, and is then further developed on an ongoing basis. This approach is often particularly suitable when the membership and fundraising processes are unique, and when you want the system to follow the business over time.
Multisoft has a customer satisfaction score of 4.7 out of 5 after completing an implementation project.
Customer register for member companies and collection organizations
Multisoft are experts in membership and fundraising organizations. We know that for you, the “customer” is often a relationship that changes over time. Someone may become a member, pause, return, start giving a monthly gift, change contact details, move to a local branch and want different mailings. Therefore, the membership register needs to handle more than just contact information.
Examples of what should be on a customer card
To make the registry useful in everyday life, you first need to decide what should be “true” and searchable. Here is a practical basis:
- Basic data: Name, address, email, telephone and corporate registration number if necessary.
- Relationship type: Member, donor, corporate partner and volunteer (one or more at the same time)
- Membership: Level, start date, end date, local affiliation and roles
- Gift history: One-time gifts, monthly gifts, campaign links, and receipts
- Payments: Fees, invoice history, direct debit and other payment methods
- Preferences: Channel selection, language and delivery settings
- Consent and legal basis: What you rely on, and for what purpose
- Interaction history: Calls, emails, meetings, events and cases
- Segmentation: Labels or fields that make it easy to find the right audience
Features to look for in a customer registry program
Many systems promise “everything,” but the difference is often in the details. Good features are those that help you find the right thing and do the right thing when things are stressful.
An example of a digital contact register highlights, among other things, labels, note fields, export for mailing and that it should be possible to access the register on both mobile and computer. You may also be looking for other specific functionality such as collecting invoices, quotes, notes and making lists in the same place, as well as being able to create custom extra fields that become searchable.
It is a good idea to start from your current situation and map out what the system must have, and then map out the functionality that is desirable. In terms of decision-making regarding system support, you are faced with the choice of building a solution, purchasing a solution, or customizing a solution .
Checklist for membership and fundraising needs
Here is a concrete feature list to compare alternatives against:
- Quick search and filtering (including labels and segments)
- Customer card history (fees, gifts, communication and matters)
- Customizable fields (so you don't have to use the "other" field)
- Tasks and reminders (for renewals, follow-ups, and reactivation)
- Export and target groups (for campaigns, mailings and reporting)
- Roles and permissions (not everyone should see everything)
- Traceability (who changed what, and when)
- Integrations (so that the same task is not entered into three systems)
