The challenge: a membership run by hand
HistoryMiami is a community history museum in Downtown Miami, where it has been since 1985. Membership sits inside a development team of three, so every hour counts.
For years, renewals meant one thing: printing cards and mailing them to every member, one at a time. As their membership lead put it, it was days of sending out physical cards to each and every one of our members, over 500 people. That cost real money in postage, and the work did not always stick. When members moved, cards came back marked "unable to send to sender," and the team had to print and mail them all over again.
There was also a blind spot. Once a card went in the mail, the team had no idea what happened next. Whether someone opened it was, in their words, "up to them and their choices. We are not in their home when they are opening everything."
Why they chose Cuseum
The nudge came from their peers. Nearby institutions like Fairchild were already using Cuseum, and the team wanted to stay on par with museum standards. When they looked closer, the decision made itself.
"When I looked into what Cuseum has to offer, I thought: this is an amazing program. Thank God we are using it. It was honestly an easy choice."
Onboarding: step by step, with a real person on the other end
The transition took a few months, partly because a staffing change meant a new person had to get up to speed. Even so, the team described the setup itself as straightforward, helped by clear step-by-step guidance and a responsive account manager named Maria.
"Our account manager Maria has been very helpful and very kind. They took the time to explain what they needed and why. It honestly made things a lot easier in the long run."
The results
The clearest win was time. The manual renewal process, printing cards, adding letters, printing labels or envelopes, and stuffing them all, added up fast.
The staff time it used to take to send renewal notices and physical cards each cycle, now handled digitally.
Just as important, the team can finally see what is happening. With Cuseum, they can tell who has opened, generated, and installed their card, so they know exactly which members need a little more attention.
- Cards sent and resent digitally, no printing or postage
- Open and install tracking, so outreach is targeted, not guessed
- Physical cards still available for members who prefer them
- Event links added right on the card, so members sign up from their phone
Members noticed too. Some simply flash their phone and walk in, and, as the team happily reported, they feel like VIPs.
"They feel like VIPs, and I love that, because at the end of the day, our members are VIPs. We just make sure it is accessible to them at all times."
Their advice to other museums
Change takes patience, they said, but the payoff is worth it.
"Nothing worth having is done at the snap of your fingers. It takes time for your team and your members to get used to it, but it is well worth it, and it gives you so much more time to make the visitor experience even better. I highly recommend using it."
