What is a digital membership card and should you offer it?

Digital membership cards have become more popular in recent years – not only with organisations looking to save time, money, effort and the planet, but also with customers.
The days of filling a purse or wallet with membership, loyalty and discount cards very quickly saw their demise during the pandemic when contactless was the new buzz word.
Phones are used for everything – including digital membership cards, which can be very easily stored in the ‘wallet’, ready for quick, easy and convenient use.
Organisations who offer digital membership cards will save on time and costs, plus be offering their customers a greener, more convenient service that they expect and demand.

Romax can easily create digital membership cards for your organisation, assisting you in both set-up and promotion.


What is a digital membership card?

Put simply, it’s a digital version of a customer’s traditional cardboard or plastic physically-held card. It is stored on their Apple or Android phone within the secure wallet, ready for use on entry to an event or location, or to use a promo code or discount coupon.

How does a digital membership card work?

The customer simply shows or scans the digital card on their phone wallet in the same way they would have taken the card out of their actual wallet / purse / bag.
It is branded, personalised and has all the information digitally stored ready for it to be used.
A digital membership card brings many benefits to both organisations and customers.

Read on for benefits

Benefits to organisations who use digital membership cards

  • Save time
    Digital memberships take much less time to process than physical membership cards. Processing is greatly reduced, saving staff resource, which can be used more effectively elsewhere. Digital cards require significantly less human labour for printing, checking packing or posting.

  • Save money
    Digital cards hold a lower cost per customer than traditional cards. Your staff won’t need to spend as much time processing them, replacing them if they are lost or need to be upgraded / updated.
    You also won’t have print, postage or handling costs.
    You might even be able to pass the savings onto your customers, or divert them into customer experience or value, perhaps a ‘thank you’ for going digital…but remember it needs to be wanted by that customer.

  • Carbon footprint reduction
    Digital membership cards help you to achieve your green and carbon goals and position you as an organisation that cares about these values – often shared by and sought out by customers whose purchases are influenced by an organisation’s commitment to them.

  • Customer service & satisfaction
    Members can receive and access their digital membership card much more quickly than waiting for a physical one to be processed.
    They are ready and waiting to be used on their phone – which most people take everywhere they go now.
    They won’t be affected by lost, damaged or stolen cards.
    Updates or upgrades can be fairly instant through their digital card, giving them a better and easier customer journey and service experience.
    Your organisation can offer either digital or physical cards, giving the customer choice and enabling you to appeal to all age groups and preferences amongst your customer base.
    Your marketing communications can deliver higher ROI too – data can be segmented so that you send targeted messages to particular audiences it will resonate with, rather than wasting resources on sending it to those it won’t…which can damage reputation and loyalty.
    The Romax easy-to-use, personalised dashboard provides full control over your account where your customer data can be analysed and segmented for campaigns aimed at growth, loyalty, offers or sales.

  • Grow membership
    Digital membership means you have the ability to reach your customers easily and quickly, with offers, loyalty schemes, upgrade and renewal information.
    For example, a heritage tourism venue may want to push sustainability credentials from a digital membership; a video games company might want to push messages around an early release date to digital members; and an event organiser might want to promote quicker queue times for digital membership customers.
    Digital membership allows you to send renewal information so you don’t lose customers through lack of a reminder, plus send upgrade details to increase their spend.
    Digital membership also gives your marketing something new – with new messages to new audiences around quick, easy, instant access digital membership cards.
    Videos and customer testimonials can be used to show off your happy customers whose glowing reviews align with your key messages.

  • Brand awareness
    Digital membership cards allow you to really push your brand, through notifications and marketing communications.
    Tiered membership models can be colour-coded and experimented with – at a much lower cost than physical cards.
    The Romax Digital Platform can integrate with your CRM system to use data around renewals, expiry, offers or reminders etc – creating relevant communications that boost your brand, improve customer experience and avoid hitting the wrong mark that generalised rather than targeted messaging usually does.