ClubExpress Reviews

Reasonably good site for hosting club web presence

Comments: The support has been great. I work in a support role in my day job and I must say calling CE is a frictionless experience. I've emailed on a Saturday or Sunday and gotten responses back during that time - usually because my question is either answered, or the issue fixed. Overall, my experience with Club Express has been good. There's a long list of things I'd love to improve, but for what the software does, it does it reasonably well.

Pros:

The hosting software does a reasonably good job in helping create a packaged online presence. For someone not familiar with creating a website there is a lot to be done when creating a site, from the server setup (and administration), creating databases, store functionality (credit card transactions) and other programming. Club Express has all of this packaged up into one reasonably easy to deploy environment. There are certain methodologies which you have to understand in order to best use the site software, but this isn't any different than learning any other software package. With any software/site support is absolutely essential to helping smooth out the rough edges and I've found Club Express support to be very helpful and I can usually get my issues squared away within one call and certainly less than a day.

Cons:

While the site is easy to put up, there are some areas where the design is a bit clunky and challenging to use. As long as you stay within their parameters you're probably be fine, but no single organization fits perfectly into that box. Sometimes it's easier to change the code than it is to change the organization culture... other times, the culture has to change to fit the code. Neither of those operations can be very comfortable. One usually requires money, the other usually requires many meetings and often tears as old ways have to change. The site software tries to do many things and given the demand of everyone going mobile these days, the mobile software falls short. It's far FAR easier to to manage on a desktop than on a phone or tablet. Their recently released texting functionality is a great example. Neat feature - but completely unusable unless you're at a computer. Can you do it on a phone? Sure - but the mirad of menus one has to navigate through to send a text makes it useless. It's better just to start a group text before the event and use that going forward.

Outstanding customer service

Comments: We are solving our problem of managing all aspects of our memberships, communication, marketing, and having a well-functioning, good looking website to present to the world. The overall experience has been great.

Pros:

ClubExpress supports EVERY user, as in every member of our group, not just administrators. This is a huge help to our small group. Example: Yesterday I had a member who was having an issue posting to the discussion forums via email. I checked everything I knew to check as an administrator, and still couldn't understand why he was having an issue. So I was able to direct him to speak with CE support, and they were able to resolve the issue for him - Helpful for all of us. One other thing is that the development team seems to listen to suggestions and implement desired changes/features rapidly when they hear from enough users. In fact, there is an email address dedicated to receiving ideas/suggestions. CE also had designer help us realize our vision for the look and functionality of our new site as we built it. They are also very thoughtful and transparent about data privacy/ownership/usage in their policies.

Cons:

The interface for writing/publishing text on pages is a little clunky.

The Challenge of Evolving with Technology Demands (UI/UX)

Comments: I love them, but I also really understand their limitations. I refer not to just the technology limitations, but the mindset limitation. Each time I share (perhaps 100+ now) possible modifications to simplify processes, I get the response of a programmer, not of a designer and UI/UX thinker. In other words, I get the excuse as to why it IS and has to stay that way, rather than the "ah-hah! Yes, we should figure that out." I recommend that, as a group of executives, you do a Mindset ReSet leadership retreat (which I do, btw). Your attention to professionalism, organization, and your customers is outstanding, and I would love for you, as a group, to be able to break through the often restrictive set-up that slows down design and user experience innovation. With much respect and gratitude, I wish you much prosperity in this New Year.

Pros:

Your offering has the best value for the money. The customer support is wonderful, second to none. The constant attention to upgrades - and that you plan them ahead - shows incredible organization and constant dedication to your customers and to your product. The features are very robust. It shows that you are really listening closely to your customers' requests - perhaps better than any competitor out there - and responding to them! I do believe that it is possible to offer robust features in a more simplified and intuitive way. The longevity of several staff members is very impressive, and their dedication to problem-solve with and remember their customers' specific needs and preferences is VERY impressive. I have felt that on several occasions. When asked if I'd recommend Club Express to others, I want it to be a 10 based on how outstanding you are for the reasons above. Yet, the feedback I receive from many of our members - and the amount of volunteers' time for the learning curve - makes it difficult to recommend it to other organizations' executives when they may not have the same level of volunteer support. Make your site more intuitive and efficient and I will gladly recommend you to everyone!

Cons:

1. Club Express focuses on developing a new function, rather than first on how the user can best experience it. I suggest greater ease and intuition (UI/UX) with feature development. E.g., when the new Events/Calendar functionalities rolled out 1-2 years ago, it greatly increased the complexity (and number of mouse clicks) to set up an event. More features are okay, but should be intuitive and efficient. 2. Your data organization is not conducive to simple, obvious changes. Good, intuitive design does not require the tiny-text prompts that I turn off, but have to do so in the site code. What should be simple changes are stuck behind the organization of how the database was structured. Get rid of the instruction prompts (obvious to modern-day computer users); do not let them affect Chapter Finder and other key functions. Information should be built separate from functionality. 3. More attractive, fully responsive template options 4. Mobile set-up (duplicative efforts) should not be needed and currently degrade for tablet 5. Give us more CSS control; place classes on div's, etc. so that our CSS can target them 6. Member registration MUST be simplified; I detailed a PPT of 20 ways to improve it and was shocked that none of the modifications were possible. 7. If you had a modern-looking, fluidly-flowing app that automatically input information from the website databases (directory and design), then you would rock our world and really step it up in many organizations' eyes. :-)

Easy and Flexible Software

Comments: Overall, we are very happy with everything that ClubExpress provides for us. Their software and services are priced very reasonable, and the administrative tools make it very easy to perform weekly and monthly tasks to manage our members and their interests.

Pros:

This software has all the tools necessary to build really great web pages for our sailing club. All the administrative features are available for managing our club members, and all the tools work well to manage our club documents and photos. The membership administration is superb, since it allows our members to manage their own contact information, and profiles. At the same time we can administer all our member subscriptions and activities in one place. Membership renewal is very important for our club, and the ClubExpress administrative features allow us to simplifiy this annual process.

Cons:

Only a few hiccups were discovered. Originally we had some difficulty uploading groups of photos into our club's photo albums, but that issue seems to be resolved now. One other frustration is managing our historic documentation. There appears to be no way to view documents online, so members who wish to view an historic document must download the document to their computer. Consequently, we need to shrink the size of our documents, by dividing them up into smaller categories. That way the smaller documents are quicker to download, while our larger documents take much more time to download. We find this to be somewhat cumbersome with current technology.

Alternatives Considered: Waypoint

Reasons for Switching to ClubExpress: The ClubExpress software fits very well with our sailing club activities.

Very robust, but sometimes clunky

Comments: Overall we've been happy with the product, and are just really getting into the depths to which it can help our organization grow and prosper. The customer service is top notch, quick to respond, and willing to make adjustments just for us. This is a very powerful web service and we are looking to getting to fully know it!!

Pros:

The ClubExpress system is very robust with a very wide variety of modules, and endless ways to customize them. We are only 6 months in to using it, and I am sure we have not yet figured out all of the ways or organization can benefit. The email editor, once learned, is very powerful and can be manipulated with a wide variety of options. Customer service is top notch!

Cons:

Some of the procedures to complete steps can be a bit cumbersome: for example if you make a change in a change box, select save on the change box, but forget to select save at the bottom of the page, all changes are lost. Reports seem to take one or two dialog boxes to generate (could be condensed). Web editor feels clunky. Some editors have limited font options, and edits sometimes don't take on the first try.

Meh

Comments: I was here with ClubExpress was chosen by management but had very little training on it as I left the organization shortly after. Now I am back in a management capacity and there are still many things that are clunky about the platform. It seems to take a very long time to get the hang of the ins and outs and has caused at least one ex-employee to cry. Seriously. I have stuck with it, and it does become easier, but SOOOO much time to figure some of it out. The videos have been a bit helpful but often it is just easier to ask a colleague how to do something in the system rather than have to sit thru a 10 minute video and only have 1/2 of the question answered.

Pros:

It keeps all of our customer history information in one place.

Cons:

It can be rather clunky and sometimes just will not save things they way they were typed or created. It is not very intuitive and there always seems to be a 'work around' needed.

Alternatives Considered: WildApricot

Reasons for Switching to ClubExpress: Management at the time chose Club Express because it worked well with the website host we were using. Now we are switching hosting and it will be easier to have most of the information be moved over to the new host and use ClubExpress for only the necessary items.

Sadly not happy with ClubExpress

Comments: I enjoy the support we get from customer service, but some other members feel like they've been rude or unhelpful. If you would like more information, I would like to put you in touch with several of our members/admins who can discuss why they are disappointed with the product.

Pros:

Ability to create paid for events. Lots of options and functions for creating pages and customization, especially if you understand computers a little. You don't have to be completely computer savvy to use this product.

Cons:

Hard to get around, I feel like I'm clicking all over the place. My organization really dislikes the forums and we need to reset settings, but we'd have to go through 600+ users to reset each setting individually due to an error during set up. The forums seem to be either too difficult for users or somehow not engaging enough for them. I think my organization is looking for a platform like Facebook, so communication between members is easier. Poor chat service. Classifieds are not easy to use. Formatting issues often happen and s

Alternatives Considered: StarChapter and WildApricot

Reasons for Choosing ClubExpress: BigTent was no longer available.

Reasons for Switching to ClubExpress: Lots of functions and the forum seemed like it was going to be great for our organization. But turns out it has been difficult for some users and admins and we have lost a lot of membership due to the lack of conversation and engagement with the website.

Club Express Fan

Comments: Very, very positive. Tech support is great, accessable, and quite clear in their responses.

Pros:

It's tailored to clubs & social organizations making it's functionality ideal for us. The modules are, I believe, are unique to our (clubs) environment.

Cons:

Formating is a bit of a PIA and can be cumbersome. Picture & photo upload is limited to resident computers only. There's no direct access to social media or cloud storage which is a definite negative. Event questions are very limited and do not offer If-Or linking. Event registrations can be confusing for the non- tech users/ members.

Automated Membership Management

Comments: We have recently updated from an antiquated system that was not meeting our community's needs. There are additional features we would appreciate, but are currently enjoying the modern, user-friendly interface. Their user manual is complete and thorough, help buttons are available on all screens for users and admins, and phone or email support is quick and efficient.

Pros:

ClubExpress reduced our workload for membership processes by 95%, automating our correspondence, dues collection, and renewals.

Cons:

Ours is a parent-child group, and we find it frustrating that families are not linked in the directory. Our members organize events, but an admin has to assist every time there is a fee. Our membership manager has to separately track additional criteria for renewal.

Alternatives Considered: Workplace from Meta and WildApricot

Reasons for Choosing ClubExpress: Homeschool-Life has no print admin or user manual; all directions are given via YouTube. It is not intuitive or user-friendly, and its financial systems are archaic.

Reasons for Switching to ClubExpress: Features, calendar, ease of use, privacy, financial capabilities

Club Grows as we Utilize New Features

Comments: Their support team never lets us down. Quick responses to our queries and happy to keep answering questions until we are satisfied.

Pros:

Fulfilled our need to have member management together with communications and finances

Cons:

Now that we use most of its features, we find that volunteers who want to help with it are intimidated by its process. Plus, because we use only volunteers and we oversee so many members, we have to be careful about who we allow into the system to maintain member privacy.

Comprehensive Cloud Based System for organizing, managing and growing membership based non-profits

Comments: 1. Public and Private (member login required) website. Implemented within 30 days.
2. Membership database implemented in three days. 200+ member records bulk-load by Club Express in one day.
3. Sons in Retirement (SIR) is an interest (activities for men in their retirement years) based organization. The ClubExpress platform provides for creation and management of categorized interest groups of activities managed by designated member coordinators. Members may join or leave individual activities at any time.
4. Financial management of member dues payments and organization event registration and fee payments via an event calendar.
5. Availability of version and a mobile app

Pros:

Comprehensive integrated cloud based software for a custom public/private website, member database management, club and activities organization, communications, financial management with access to on-line, telephone, user manuals and webinar customer support. The total monthly cost is based on the number of active members with no long term contract commitment. A 30 day trial period was provided which allowed ample time to review, learn and use the basic functions including configuring our initial website.

Cons:

The Club Express platform is technically and functionally comprehensive. Our organization chose to implement the system ourselves rather than purchase and engage Club Express support. As a result many volunteer hours of effort from club members were required. A new function, text messaging, comes at extra cost which appears to our members as not justified. The News article function is good for brief, one page or less, articles. However, our organization monthly newsletter icurrently includes eight pages and is emailed in pdf format to most members, printed and post mailed to a few members. We must resort to using Microsoft Publisher and uploading the pdfs to a ClubExpress document folder, creating a custom page with links to the newsletter documents making the newsletter available on our website.

Small local car club user- Great Product!👍

Comments: Excellent, it meets 99% of our club needs

Pros:

Allows members to manage their own information, while giving great ability for administrators to manage club information too! Event management is excellent, membership management is excellent and dues and background financial management is great! This system manages small event driven clubs very well!

Cons:

A few computer literate administrators are needed to implement and maintain the system But the basic system is easy to use and can be learned quickly bu administrators with some computer knowledge!

Exceeded Expectations

Comments: The web platform produces a wonderful look and feel. For me, the online and telephone support has been the deal maker. On my prior system all calls came to me. It's nice to know there are resources available for my members to help them through their questions.

Pros:

Switching database/website providers is scary. We signed up for Club Express based on the reviews of it's customer support. They were not disappointed. The nominal charge for the basic setup of the site is well worth it. We had a simultaneous go live and membership renewal which is not ideal. Club Express support got us through it! We have had them build custom functionality which has saved us countless hours of manual labor. Though new to the platform it is clear that there is a tremendous amount of functionality available as we grow into the system.

Cons:

The system is comprehensive; it can be daunting to navigate new areas. That being said, there are online and live support for everything that is on the system.

Good framework for member based non-profit organizations

Pros:

The software is easy to use unless you are a computer novice. Anyone with moderate technical ability can set up and manage the website based on this framework. Unlike Wordpress or Drupal CMS, it is a closed system which is a strength and weakness. The strength is that a mistake will not take the website down. The weakness is that if you need a feature not supported by the modules, you cannot implement it.

Cons:

Some features are inflexible and cannot be changed. Some examples: If a non-member fills in the Ad-Hoc form, they must fill in the fields that do not apply such as Organization and Title. Events do not support entering latitude/longitude under an event location which is a problem when the parking location is far from the street address of the building. When the event organizer wants to set a deadline for registration, everyone with coordinator access can still register after the deadline. When the person registering uses the browser's back and forward buttons instead of the registration wizard's next and previous buttons, the fee is $0 instead of the correct amount. The only way to fix it is to cancel their registration and have them re-register properly. We want to monitor who is downloading the training documents. Club Express does not support adding analytics code to measure it.

Hard to Imagine Managing Without It!

Comments: Very good. We especially appreciate their willingness to adapt to a long-term goal of using the system to connect local chapters to theirs state ones and mesh the local and national databases.

Pros:

This software has greatly improved our outreach and communications internally and externally and thus increased the scope and effectiveness of our organization, all the while being relatively easy to use. We can manage our member database easily and have saved much volunteer time though automated volunteer sign-up and member and event management, not to mention communications to our membership. The support response has been excellent with one support person assigned to our account, with others available if that person isn't. Club Express is continually improving and expanding what it can offer.

Cons:

There are occasional issues such as non-members having difficulty joining if they have been on our non-member mailing list due to a conflict of their login as a non-member. The person attempts to join via the website without an administrator knowing they are trying to do this, and thus they are not able to join. Club Express has indicated it is working on a solution to this issue.

Comprehensive Member Management

Comments: Overall, our organization's leaders feel more in control, more easily able to track transactions, than they were before we contracted with Club Express.
Club Express might be even better for us if more of our members were enthusiastic about its very sophisticated feature--or even comfortable with them.
The commercial aspect of Club Express doesn't quite suit us because we provide a lot of information free of charge to users, i.e., voters.

Pros:

The developers and other staff seem to be constantly available to help. They typically answer emails immediately. In my organization (a nonprofit working for informed citizen participation in government) the membership team and the finance team appreciate Club Express features that handle dues and event fees and donations and the like. As webmaster I work much more on preparing Custom Pages with information about our work than on member rosters and bookkeeping.

Cons:

Custom Page construction with the Page Rows remains awkward. Spacing is inflexible, fonts change for no apparent reason -- frustrating. Developers are constantly revising--improving--the software, which can be hard on users. The volume of instructional manuals is overwhelming. There is no "help" guide for specific problems.

Great Product, Requires Computer Knowledge

Comments: Overall Club Express has made managing our club much easier. In particular the automatic reminders when it is time to renew their membership. We run our annual golf tournament with Club Express and the registrations can get involved with personal info, golf team info, clothing info, and sponsorships. Once you learn how to set up the registrations, it runs relatively easy, with reports available to you on all levels. And when you have questions, the support staff works with you to set up what you need, test it, and be sure you are getting the results you need.

Pros:

Talking to their staff prior to our decision was easy and they asked all the right questions, things we did not think about on our end. I appreciated how Club Express worked with us to import our data. They made it easy, discussing the import fields, how things should be structured, and our requirements.They kept us advised every step of the import and made the initial process of set-up easy.

Cons:

Understanding some of their terminology took a bit, but I believe part of that was our inexperience in this type of software.

Improving our data management

Comments: After the usual growing pains we have found this system to be a wonderful upgrade and is enabling us to work more efficiently in all aspects of our operation. We still have features we have not implemented (like Forums and Ad Hoc Reporting), but that will come with time. I'd like to particularly credit the tech support staff for answering my every dumb question and implementing some upgrades that we have suggested. I think the caliber of the tech support is just outstanding.

Pros:

Our small non-profit "village" had cobbled together at least 6 other software applications to conduct our day-to-day business. It was duplicative and a bit of a mess. Using ClubExpress enabled us to bring everything under one umbrella - managing member and prospect records, entering payments and donations, event registration management, sending out email blasts, and providing volunteers the ability to accept service requests online, anytime. Plus, members can access the system to update their records, RSVP for events and make their payments and donations. It's been a terrific upgrade.

Cons:

The transition was a bit of a challenge as you might imagine as we bring all these functions under one roof. Our staff is very busy and had to fit in training on the fly. It took several months for all of us to feel comfortable using the system. That's not the fault of CE, but just a fact of transitioning. It would be much better for a group to start out with CE versus transition to it, though the CE customer support has been absolutely outstanding and the training videos and regular webinars help a lot. Some of our members and volunteers still do not access the system, but that's ok since so many are actually using it.

ClubExpress=outstanding value for small to medium non-profit & customer service can't be beat

Comments: I work with many other AMS and I really like ClubExpress. The greatest thing about CE is the customer service. I appreciate being able to either email or call with a question and get almost immediate response. I also appreciate that they accept suggested improvements and eventually implement those suggestions that are compatible with most of their clients.

Pros:

I guess I would say that I like that CE is always rolling out improvements. Over the past 5 years, there have been improvements that I wanted and eventually, they have implemented those improvements.

Cons:

I would have to say that what I like least is that we can't tailor the software to meet every one of our specific needs. This software is for multiple nonprofits and clubs and has to meet the needs of a wide range of clients. I would like to see a Search function added to the website, and that is one drawback we are currently experiencing.

IACP Review of Club Express

Comments: My overall experience after identifying them as our new web platform has been overwhelmingly positive. No regrets for moving over to them at all

Pros:

Ease of use, ability to program events, registration, payments and email communications, as well as Member management. Overall cost is reasonable and customer service is very good.

Cons:

While the reports are voluminous, it should be easier to: Identify what data elemnents are in each report from an informational screen vs running each one to see what it includes. Filter a report for the information you need, choose my own data elements. The system is set-up to recognize the individual as the member and the reports are geared that way. Our group the company is the member so many of the reports leave that information out making it hard to run one report vs 3/4 and some outside Excel work. My group is international so better formating of phone numbers etc., is needed. Overall there should be an ability of a "Super User" to have more freedom creating reports Also a better export of data for my accountant from CE to QuickBooks On-line. Still doesnt work very well.

State Geocaching Organization

Comments: ClubExpress definitely has a learning curve, but it is a powerful and mostly straight forward service tailored around clubs and organizations like ours. The people behind the organization are absolutely excellent to deal with. If I get stumped, customer support is always ready, willing and able to help and almost always comes up with a good solution. They have fixed my errors on more than one occasion. I can't say enough good about them. I have recommended ClubExpress to a few other organizations similar to ours and will continue to do so. My scores on this survey only reflect that the product is not perfect. Close, but not quite.

Pros:

The product offers multiple ways to accomplish the same or similar tasks, from fairly simple to very complex. After a learning curve for someone not familiar with web development, I find it well thought out and pretty well implemented. I have yet to find something that I really need to do that I can't find a way to do it. There are plenty of features this product has that I have not explored, but it keeps me coming back to see what else it can do.

Cons:

I think the editors for various functions could use a little work. The editing screen gets a little tongue tied at times and the cursor has a mind of its own. Exiting the current session and starting back up always seems to fix the problem.

A Good Solution for the Cleveland ICF Chapter

Comments: ClubExpress has been a great solution for the chapter. We look good on the site, and we're able to do everything we want. Our team is excited to deploy more of the options available and raise our game even farther. As an all-in-one software option, ClubExpress helps us stay on top of what our members need.

Pros:

The ClubExpress package has all the pieces we need in the ICF Cleveland chapter. We coordinate monthly events, manage membership in the chapter, and communicate what the chapter is all about. The software is easy to use, and has more options than we even need. ClubExpress is designed for uses like this, and we're excited to tap into even more of the capabilities. We also manage our mailing list with the software, and have had good success with that option.

Cons:

The learning curve is pretty steep, and I don't find the software to be intuitive. However, the support system is an under-utilized asset for me. I suspect that once I have a better sense of the big picture strategy behind the software I will find the learning curve to be less steep.

Solid product - Okay development from ClubExpress

Comments: The final product is fantastic from our point of view. We have a much better web presence that communicates with our members, potential members, and the general community in ways that are clear, appealing, and functional. Getting to this point required a lot more time and effort on our part than we anticipated due in part to decisions we made as an organization, but also due in part to communication problems with CE. To be fair, when we brought those communication issues to light, CE was responsive within short order, but the process still required much more effort on our part than we had been told would be the case and more even than we anticipated. That said, if we had it to do over again, we would still make the switch to CE, but we might choose a different, less expensive implementation option than we chose the first go around.

Pros:

* Contains all the features of our "must have list * Has most of the features of our "wish list" * Reliable service * Little to no downtime * Regular communication about issues with product features

Cons:

* Software is fantastic but implementation team from CE struggled at times with communication * Sales and service seem to have a communication issue resulting in over-promising what can be delivered within a given time frame * Some elements are a bit clunky or cumbersome for our specific implementation

Good Software for Clubs and Social Groups

Comments: We are generally satisfied with Club Express, however, we have had to develop work-arounds to accomplish some of our necessary functions. Email renewal notices show only generic information so that members do not know what the actual cost of renewal is until they log in to their accounts. Many of our senior members do not log into their accounts and pay via U.S. mail. As a result, we must still mail paper renewal notices to many members.

Pros:

Club Express is good integrated software that allows a group to track its members, payments, member communication, programs, and activities, including paying for activities. It also manages some aspects of its web presence. With a little instruction, it is reasonably simple to use.

Cons:

There are a number of areas where the software is not designed for a group like East Falls Village where household members have equal standing in the organization. The concept of Primary and Secondary members with some processes limited to Primary members is difficult to manage. Household members are not handled equally in Club Express and data must be entered repetitively in fields that should carry over to secondary member fields. The system is also optimized for member online access but somewhat difficult for handling member accounts where paper records are needed.

Review from the Land Downunder

Comments: We had a myriad of technologies from spreadsheets, to MailChimp, email, and a separate event booking software. We were paying a lot of transaction fees and nothing was integrated and everything was pretty much manually operated. Our membership and supporter database are growing very quickly. We are putting on more events and we wanted to increase member benefits by giving them a site where they could find resources, book events, advertise their businesses many other benefits. Our Executive Officer is employed up to five hours per week and prior to ClubExpress she was spending a lot of her time on ineffective and cumbersome manual processes. ClubExpress has freed her up to do more strategic functions.

Pros:

We love the fact that it allows us to manage our small but growing association from one platform. It gives us a professional, low cost management tool to manage members, events, communications, and some of our finances. We particularly love the directory options (members, business and projects) that are spatially enabled and the ability to make some private and others public. We are looking forward to connecting with Quikbooks Lite to manage all of our finances and then we will have all functions in one platform.

Cons:

Setting up newsletters is a little clunky. Design options are also a bit limited. Search functions are not intuitive - very techy and some are very long winded and somewhat old fashioned.