ShelbyNext Membership Reviews

Recently they have been adding more and more features. Their membership management is at the core, but they have updated the calendar, forms, and giving to be better and more comprehensive within the last year. They have some really powerful features like workflows which allows you to automate some key processes and notifications.

There are a few features I wish they had, but one overall theme is how I wish that they integrated more closely with their partner software. The company that owns Shelbynext has been blending their different Saas products but there is still a bit of a wall that keeps the integrations from being seamless​. A good example of this is how there are 4 different ways that you can give via different methods on mobile, but none of those apps have all of the features of memberships, group, forms, calendar, and giving in one product. I think that this will probably be fixed over time.

It's a really solid product overall. The best features are it's ability to easily enter, edit, combine or delete member records. The combining of duplicate records is ESPECIALLY useful. It transfers all information, including giving information, to the chosen record and misses nothing. Again, an excellent tool indeed. Plus, the entire package is just user friendly. It doesn't require indepth instruction to use and find needed information about an individual member, a group or team, and so on. Finally...the email function that allows emailing end of year giving statements is excellent.

I cannot really identify a significant downside to this software package. It simply does the job in an efficient, easy fashion.

That it is cloud based, love the app and being able to use the software where ever I happen to be working. The overall look of the site is fresh and fairly user friendly. Easy to get around and update profiles. Check In was not an option with V-5 so that has been a nice feature. We love the ability to create forms as well, really has helped us with many events.

Reports!! Headers, dates, reliability of the data is really poor. V5 gave us way more options for creating and saving reports that are used regularly. The Directory feature needs work as well. Would like the pre-set configurable fields to be more flexible.

It has really helped me organize our church membership data. It's become a great tool for our leadership to use as far as Interactions and keeping membership information handy for our leaders who are on the go. They really utilize the directory in the Shelby Next app for reaching members and checking on them during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I would like to see more updates in the mass contact portion of the software. Being able to insert and use graphics more easily in email templates would be a great help.

The portability and distributed nature of the cloud database keeps everyone on the team and in the church connected and up to date. There is ongoing enhancement that helps make the product more user friendly. The security of the data and the ongoing updates and the redundant backup process reduces in-house IT staff time.

The giving reports are not accurate. When you run a demographic of givers from three years ago against current date, the current data is wrong. The program does not look at the dates. We live in a complicated world and we must be able to show through reporting tools how the giving is coming in to the system. Shelbynext does not do this well.

We have a big church and have thousands of congregants - Shelby has allowed us to create a more personal portfolio for each of them. It's hard to know them all individually - but shelby has helped us disciple to each of them on a level that meets them where they are - because we can in real-time track their attendance, giving, small groups, classes and their prayer requests. It's revolutionized our congregational care - among many other wonderful ways it's served our church.

I don't work with the financial part of the program - but I do know there were some crossover issues from the old Shelby that made the integration challenging. Although, once it was completed, it's worked seamlessly.

I like the connectedness between membership and the financials. This is why we went with the membership. I also like the calendar.

I don't like the absence of some items. E.g. it doesn't email me when a staff member requests time off through the portal. This is not user friendly.

I like the ease of use. It is similar enough to Shelby V5 that the learning curve was not as steep in learning the new software. I like the help sections for each area. The videos and step by steps are very helpful. Like that ShelbyNext is web based so I can work from home when needed.

The Check-in part of this software is very limited in what it does compare to what was available in Shelby V5. Configuring the printed tickets to include the information needed is not easily accomplished.

Slick interface. Good customer service.

No spell check on the desktop site. Limited ability to customize reports.

1- We like the accessibility on mobile devices. 2- Allowing various users to have access to specific groups has been great in terms of communication & attendance. 3- Overall appearance & ability to view information have been enjoyed by our users. 4- Search tools have been very useful (except that we cannot easily report once the search is completed).

1- Reporting options are very limited so the data has to be manipulated through Excel. This is not easily done by most of our users, so the burden of reporting rests on one individual. It would be nice if reports could be run right out of Shelby including the data fields the user chooses. 2- We have 'snowbirds' and the use of 2 addresses is not precise at this time. We do input addresses with corresponding...

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The browser based platform allows the user to drill down and open multiple screens, very useful for processing donations, confirming gifts, membership status, and updating donor info on the fly. Workflows and interactions give our pastors a road map for following up with members and prospects, whether a desire to join our church, an upcoming surgery, or other needs - no one falls through the cracks,...

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The most noticeable shortcoming, to me, is the inability to see who received group emails and contribution statements via email, who didn't, and which emails bounced back as invalid for whatever reason. It's impossible to get correct emails from members and prospects when you're not aware that the email you have is invalid. I understand this is being addressed, but it should be a priority. There's a learning curve to ShelbyNext Membership, although I believe there would be with any software other than basic membership management for a small organization. Both our Membership Coordinator and I are still learning nuances and new ways to handle things.

It is cloud based. Our congregation can log in and edit their own record and see their own giving. The calendar, form creation, check in and email service are part of the package. I think the forms work the best of most any aspect of the system. Used to use Jot form, Constant Contact, PlanningCenter, and EMS for forms, emails, check in, and calendar. Now just one system.

So many small things that don't quite function the way we would like. None of the systems that I mentioned above : forms, calendar, email, check in - work as well as the individual systems that we used before. Forms is the closest to Jotform, but the other 3 do not function as well as the prior system we used. Too many things for me to list them all: Constant contact - we could see data regarding how...

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It's entirely web-based, so it can be used anywhere. It comes with mobile apps for major mobile device platforms, so getting to data when not at a computer is easy. Creating individuals and adding them to families is simple and the UI is fairly pleasant to use. The integration with Shelby's giving/donation service works well and the software allows members to see their giving in simple, easy...

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There's no support for custom domains (e.g. "members.mychurch.com") Reporting is too simple in many cases and there's not enough customizability for the data that the system can hold (e.g. being able to generate a report on which members are missing photos). Volunteer management is still very limited / non-existent. Churches that need to see a high level view of which members are doing what should...

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How user friendly it is and that it is on the cloud. I love that all of our staff can have their phones in their hands and get church members info without having to be connected to our server or at their computer. As the Administrative Assistant this has saved me SOO much time! I also like the forms - but its also the thing I think needs some work. I love being able to attach events and classes to profiles easier through the forms.

That everytime someone submits a form a new profile is made. I have called customer service about this so many times and I have never recieved a return call. I also think the calendar could use some work - Its not as user friendly as everything else. I was told that we could put the calendar on our website - but I still haven't found how to do that... and again, customer service hasn't called me back about that either.

For me the connection between Membership & Financials makes my work seemless!

Changing from another software to Shelby had it's challenges but I think all conversions do! The way Shelby does not really 'track' visitors for reporting or historical purposes has also been a challenging change for us.

I love using Shelby. The ease and accessibility is user-friendly. I love the many options I have when printing reports.

We utilize the send email/text/voice option several times a week. One problem that we have run into is sending texts to our Spanish speaking ministry. Spanish involves many accent marks and symbols. An accent mark in one word can completely change the word. In the past when we have sent a mass text from the Shelby app in Spanish, it never goes through properly. There will be a "?" where there was supposed to be an accent or symbol. I have called the support number listed and talked with a representative. He had never encountered this problem and said he would call me back. I never received that call, and that's ok. I know this is a minor issue and not an immediate issue to be addressed. This would be a huge help to our ministry if there could be a Spanish option for Shelby.

The ease of use. If I don't know how to do something, there is a tutorial for whatever issue I'm facing. If I can't find something, I can always put in a help request. I do not feel alone and stuck when I am faced with a challenge.

I struggle with the separation of financial data vs. membership data. I have to check membership once yearly and have to monitor attendance and giving status. I've not yet created a report that shows attendance and giving within one year for church members. Still a work in progress.

I find the app very easy to use and appreciate it's interface with other map programs. [It is interesting that I could not submit this survey because the comments in the "Pros" section is too short. I guess that's one way to hear what you want. I don't know what else you want me to say about your program: You use a nice font? It hasn't crashed yet?

What I like least about the Shelby products we have is the lack of training my staff received (and told they would get) plus the long wait my staff has to endure whenever they have issues with the Shelby Membership Program and the Shelby Financial Program and call for technical help. The time spent on hold is interminable. I suspect that there are just one or two people answering the phones. Last...

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The overall look of it and ease . The ability to export/import transactions into excel, which cuts down on a lot of work having to re-enter

Wish that creating special reports would be easier

Honestly I can't think of anything that I can say that I like about this software. I've worked in 3 different churches and used multiple programs and this is by far my least favorite of them all.

This software is not really user friendly. The upgrade from Shelby V5 to ShelbyNext did not go well. The mapping between the two versions needs work. None of the custom reports we created in V5 came over to ShelbyNext. It is very expensive compared to other programs and they lock you into multi-year contracts that you cannot get out of. This is meant more for very large churches. The Shelby Financials is very difficult and time consuming to use it actually caused a Bookkeeper to quit. The Shelby customer service is not very responsive. We almost always have to leave messages and wait for call backs and a good majority of the time when you call you get a recording saying they are in a meeting or away at training or closed for some reason.

What I like most about the software is how I have contact with the participating congregation. I can contact individuals or groups through Shelbynext in a timely manner. I like that I can store notes about individual members that help me better service them.

After two years, the thing I like least would be the self-help instructions. I think that they should be more detailed and cover more aspects of the software.

In SheblyNext | Membership, I love that as soon as you open the application, you're greeted with a search bar that you can type whatever small tidbit of information your have on someone, and instantly get it. It's been extraordinarily helpful when I'm in the receptionist roll. I'm also a big fan of how nicely organized all the details of each individual is laid out, and I love that you can link families together.

We upgraded from the '80's-'90's version of Shelby, and what I miss the most is being able to see an individual's overall attendance percentage from their attendance page instead of just green checks or red x's.

It is user friendly and allows our congregation to access needed information.

Would like to have more flexibility with tracking interactions. Wish you could reassign interactions or assign them to more than one person.

As a church staff member, I enjoy the fact that the Shelby Membership App puts information in church members' hands. We rarely receive phone calls asking for addresses and phone numbers which occurred frequently each day. Church members can track group attendance and set up meetings through the program as well. We enjoy the ability to make a church-wide or group-wide phone calls, texts, and emails.

The children's check-in system allows parents and guardians to add multiple records to the system, and it does not ask for mailing address information.

I like that it is cloud based and that our data base is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection

Reports in SN Membership are an issue.There is SO MUCH formatting that must take place using a csv/excel report to ultimately get to the information needed. I have never liked that Contributions are a part of membership in SN. It forces us to create roles that exclude access to this feature as contribution information is held in strict confidence at our church.