WildApricot Reviews

Pros

Most efficient platform. It genuinely supports manhour savings. What takes 100 manhours to achieve, is literally less than 20 manhours to achieve using all features of wild apricot. Imagine an 80% cost savings on manhours!

Cons

Email verification during registration. Unfortunately, some register with an email error. If there were an email verification during registration, it would further save manhours in contacting the registrants to correct email error.

Pros

Our whole ski club is run using Wild Apricot. It's a very comprehensive system to broadcast events, track registrants and collect payments. As director I found it extremely helpful to oversee event status, and track sales as they occur.

Cons

Admin access needs to be more granular. Giving someone admin access exposes major parts of the system. Our need is to limit admin access to a specific event or event grouping. Considerable computer experience is necessary to manage the system and our volunteers don't all have the same level required. This puts the system at risk of unintended damage.

Pros

It has lots of great features like the forums and all the different letters you can generate and set up dates to have them automatically sent out. It’s also great for setting up events and then attaching all the reminders. It’s just all very difficult to do though.

Cons

It’s not intuitive and very difficult to work with.

Pros

For our organization, Oregon Potters Association, it has helped to solve a number of our problems. For example, not only do we use the platform to get membership dues, we rely heavily on the directory, and well as having a place to get our members to register for upcoming workshops and sales. It really is great!

We are about to connect Quickbooks to our website, which we really think will help us. We have a big pottery show once a year where sometimes 200 + members sign up to participate, it is always complicated on our end- because they pay a down payment to reserve a booth (like $50), and then we need to collect the remainder of the booth fee (like $300) when it gets close to the show ( about 8% cancel so they don't have to pay the remaining fee but we keep the registration fee)- I spent last year adding invoices manually to each participant, because I don't think WA has a way to do split-payments and it was a bloody nightmare! - but Quickbooks integration will surely help us this year, right!?!?! Please tell me it will 🤣

Cons

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do newsletters for non OPA members. It seems that a non-member could sign up for a newsletter, and then their email is in our system, but it kind of gets muddy when we want to only send a newsletter out for our members (member only events, get togethers at peoples houses, etc. ) and public events (come to our big pottery show). I also get confused then, when I see all of the numbers in the system - who is a member and who do we just have their email. We sometimes write grants and we like to share our reach for certain events we do - it would just be nice if it was clearer to separate the members/non members in our system. Maybe there is, and I just haven't quite figured it out.

Pros

It allows me to have a secure place to make tickets to a class I teach for injury prevention.

Cons

I wish there was a way to incorporate more admins at no charge and more geared to classes not fund raising.

Pros

I have used wild Apricot to build 4 websites since 2008 and several sites are still issue today.
The User Friendliness in Building a website for a non-developer. The COMPLETE features to include e-mail marketing and SaaS. (Members can join and update their details and register for events.

Cons

Storage space can sometimes limit keeping organizational files in the cloud. I would like to set more udpated plug and play web pages.

Pros

It is generally very easy to use and we have really good success with member use.

Cons

My main issue, and it's a big one for me, is that there is no live support. I just can't accept that there is no way for your company to offer support personel for training or trouble shooting.
The other important thing that could really be useful is the reporting. The options are not great and I find it hard to get data in a way that could be useful for our organization.

Pros

It's flexibility and simplicity. You don't need a degree to use it, it can be learned by almost anyone.

Cons

Not enough features on using the App, compared to the website. For example, we have a carpool page on the website but unable to see it on the app.

Pros

That it is an one-stop-shop for all things membership & event & website management. Plus, it has all the Finance features, fantastic reporting, and Paypal integration.

Cons

No way to identify Duplications in the Contact List. We have to manually figure out which contacts to MERGE.

Pros

I loved how easy it is to create and maintain our website, host events, manage payments. I was in charge of the migration to WildApricot and it was a breeze

Cons

Sometimes the format options for designing webpages and emails could be a little clunky.

Pros

This software is a one-stop shop for membership management. It also manages your website, event management, payments, subscriptions, members only content, and more!

Cons

It has a learning curve for setting up, configuration, and for daily administration of the software.

Pros

One of the things I liked most about Wild Apricot was its user-friendly interface and ease of use. Navigating through the platform and accessing its features was intuitive, making it simple to manage and maintain membership-based organizations. The ability to customize the website and membership portal was a standout feature, allowing for seamless branding and personalization. The event management module was comprehensive and made organizing and tracking events a breeze. Additionally, the integrated email marketing and communication tools were effective in engaging with members.

Cons

While Wild Apricot had many positive aspects, one thing I liked least was the limited flexibility in customizing certain aspects of the platform. There were some design limitations, and advanced customization options required technical expertise or assistance from support. Additionally, the reporting capabilities, while adequate for basic needs, could have been more robust with additional analytics and data visualization options. It would have been beneficial to have more flexibility in tailoring the platform to meet specific organizational requirements.

Pros

The customer support was good as its live chat and email. It facilitated a members only database. There is a mobile app and supports mobile payments.

Cons

It links with Wordpress but has limited other integrations. Does not have advanced social media intergrations.

Pros

I like the fact that the software includes a membership area and an event area. Members are already contacts within the system, so they find it easy to register for conferences. We're also able to send emails to all contacts or to just our members.

Cons

I'd like to see a way to set up sessions and a conference schedule in the system with each session having a QR code in order to keep up with session attendance.

Pros

I absolutely loved setting up this software, I found it very challenging but I do enjoy a challenge.

I migrated out of Associations Online (AO) to WildApricot (WA). I found that using the CSV export of the membership out of AO really easy and the upload in WA simple as well.

The events system is fantastic for Zoom and events that need to have someone at the door checking people in. The admin app for WA is awesome when I'm on the go and just want to see who has checked into an event or who has registered for an event.

Cons

The biggest, and I mean this is a deal-breaker, the site builder is seriously broken and needs a massive update. I have checked about 30 other sites that use WildAprioct and they all look the same. Very Narrow, broken up into blocks of either 1/2/3.

There is a basic function of having a button added but the customization of said button is the link and text. Not the colour or the size. The blogging functionality for the site is very basic which is fine but it would be nice if I could categorize it and allow for displaying the post on other pages so that it isn't locked to the single blog page.

WA integrates with WordPress so I wanted to build a better-looking frontend for my site but the downside is the integration is not in full. You can have the login and some profile migrated over but things like Events, Profile Updates and even administration of membership can only be done in WA. So any changes in the profile can not be done in WordPress as it is only a one-way sync. The plugin for Wordpress is only a SSO for WildApricot.

Finally, the Support/Feature request, WA is probably one of the slower ones for it. It may take years for anything to happen. They update often around the 4th of each month but its never anything that is really useful for the Admin or User. Its usually bugs in the system which is awesome, but I would really like to see some more functionality with the system like the website builder and other integration into online Accounting Packages.

Pros

Wild Apricot offers ECF an opportunity to create, modify and update our online software when needed, allowing our in-house staff to make necessary adjustments without having to spend association funds to hire programmers to complete the tasks.

Cons

There is one item on our "Wish" list that we hope to see in the future. It would be nice to upgrade to a newer version of Excel or Word when exporting information. It's a small thing, but when you are trying to handle multiple lists for conversion to reports, etc., the first move is to save and rename the document based on the compatibility function. On a busy day, it's an added step that's time lost.

A 2nd wish would be for a bit more friendly e-mail design module. It works but can be challenging.

Pros

WA has a great feature set that includes a lot of the functionality we need to completely manage our membership, communication, and payment collection. I especially like that we can have bundle memberships and can create saved searches for email distribution or member management.

Cons

There are occasionally issues with some of the search fields that can only be resolved by logging off and back in. I would like to have group texting capabilities.

Pros

With the baseline requirement for membership management completely fulfilled by Wild Apricot, we have found considerable value in the events management features to manage training courses, and the mass emailing features for communications. Of course, solid invoicing and payment processing are also very important. Overall, the user and administrative experience with Wild Apricot is satisfying and very productive. We built or re-engineered our business processes around the capabilities in Wild Apricot, to a significant degree.

Cons

It takes quite a while to get what look like simple enhancements made to the search and select features within "saved searches". We don't seem to be getting attention, and the enhancements we've requested have been in the queue for over a year. The result of having to wait is that our saved searches are needlessly complex and hard to maintain.

Pros

It offers a large selection of features and can be a one stop shop for membership tools. Although most of the features are not nearly comparable to equivalent stand-alone services, they are functional.

Cons

Customer support has been quite poor. They dropped telephone support in the last year and did not provide any guidance or assistance to us when they forced a payment system change that affected our members.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to WildApricot

Pros

Our agency hosts many repeated events not only multiple times during the school year but that also repeat year after year. The ease with which events can be duplicated and edited for specific dates allows staff to set up a year's worth of events in just a few hours.

Cons

We have many users creating events and Wild Apricot has only one events manager. We do have a very talented group but there is still a bit of nervousness since events are unable to be compartmentalized by a user or a department. PayPal payments are collected into one bank account and have to be parsed out after receipt by registrant as to which account the funds need to be deposited. We would like to have payments tied to department accounts for each event and pass that info through PayPal to our Fiscal Department.

Pros

The main reason we went with Wild Apricot was for the membership database. It is great to be able to keep track of all members, and be able to search by category.

Cons

would love a more step-by-step process for setting up the webpages. This is not my area of comfort

Pros

Easy, quick, and efficient transition over to Wild Apricot from other website types such as WordPress, Weebly, and other member platforms. Excellent for small to mid-size organizations to consolidate all needed features and tracking/reporting in one place.

Cons

The only weakness is the choice of new "themes" to help speed up a new website. You can certainly do almost anything you want with the templates... but the ready-made themes make it so much better (and easier). Just need to keep the sample themes up-to-date and competitive with WordPress... so the organizations are happy with the basic choices available when they are deciding to move to Wild Apricot.

Pros

I was the Secretary for my Chapters well known organization. The Secretarial duties are vast and important to the life of the organization. Wild Apricot appears to have everything a non-profit organization needs. It allows me to do all of the required things necessary.
The membership database allows for custom as well as preset categories with specified access. I can keep track of membership categories, addresses, dues due, and
Quick books is a part of the application. Reports can be easily generated using the information entered into the database. My favorites are the communication sections. I can announce events that all members can quickly view, be registered for or wait listed. Reminders can also be sent to all members or those specified.
Payments can be taken and recorded, invoices and receipts sent. The confirmation emails are customized and can be personalized. Documents that need to be shared can also be done.
I find that Wild Apricot can complete all necessary duties assigned to an organization. While all officers can have premium access to all documents, reports and finances 24/7, it also allows for all shades of transparency to members while keeping confidential information secure.
I haven't run across any application as thorough as Wild Apricot. I've only used the application a few days as they allow a 30 day trial to try it out and show off their goods to potential users.

Cons

My only concern is that the way in which things are laid out aren't as intuitive as I would have liked. I would rather have an illustrated manual on the dashboard for when a new user signs in. There is a quick 4 minute video guide that I may find usable later on the opening page. But its definitely not a deal breaker for me.

Pros

The primary driver was to find something that was intuitive to use. Our staff are all part time volunteers and needed to be able to use the software with minimal instructions from their homes. Wild Apricot provided this by making the import of data simple as well as creating a new Web site that had same look and feel of existing site. Also migrating the DNS was easy.

There are plenty of tutorial and FAQ pages to guide you along. Once you under stand the basic concept everything else becomes easy. Best part is being able to grant limited admin access to certain pages for updates and changes. Also by letting users update their own information we saved a lot of time updating Membership data. Creating Events proved very popular as well with Members now being to sign up on line and also remit payments. Integration with PayPal was easy as well.

The application packs enough features to make it much easier to manage the Swim Club without making it too complicated to use. Everything beforehand was Excel driven and therefore never synchronized or up to date.

I also like the mobile app a lot. Easy to take a look if new members signed up, paid or if member are delinquent without going online.

Cons

We have encountered some minor issues we wished were a little different but nothing to deter from the overall functionality. I think that would be the case with any software packages. So no major cons to report. We like the software. It is easy to use and has powerful reporting etc capabilities.

Pros

We use the software to host our website and manage our membership database/contact system (emails to members and potential members). Before moving to this system, we were using separate tools for these three functions and it was extremely cumbersome. The consolidation was straightforward, their online help documentation is superb, and their technical support is astoundingly prompt and thorough. Seriously. It rarely takes more than 3 hours to get an extremely high quality response, and during one interaction the support staff proactively suggested a completely different approach that had advantages over what we were trying.
The contact management system (emails) is beautiful. It has given us a much more professional look and feel for our user base and many of our members have told us they feel it is impressive.
We are not using all the features (in particular, photo albums, user forums), but may want to use them some day, it is good to know we have these options for expansion.

Cons

I gave it a three star rating on ease of implementation only because they do not have the ability to easily import your old website into their system. This frankly is not a big problem for us, we wanted (and needed) to overhaul our website anyway, but it means that as of today (three months after go live on the member database and contact management system), we are still transitioning our website. We are all-volunteer with no staff, it is truly not difficult to re-do the website, but if a user is satisfied with their existing website, the effort to transition over should be part of consideration.