SECTION 9 The Demographics of Your Associatio
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SECTION 10 Words of Wisdom
WORDS OF WISDOM
y We conduct regular surveys and release the results to the industry, so that members feel that they have a “voice” in getting their views out to the entire industry. (Trade) y We have focused more directly on the “Value of Membership,” laying out the benefits and perks in our marketing efforts. (Combination) y We have started to use Google Adwords to sell membership, products, and certification. It seems to work well and the analytics are clear. (IMO) y We have worked to enhance our member benefits, offering more services as part of membership dues. We’ve also tried to solicit feedback from members about the benefits they actually want from us. Lots of personal communication back and forth. (Trade) y We heard from many lapsed members that they simply didn’t know it was time to renew. As such we changed our renewal strategy to include more renewal notices and added a
mailed notice. We found that this helped us to increase retention rate by 4%. (IMO) y Welcome series highlighting member benefits each month after joining (IMO) y When our expiring members were coming to the end of their grace period, the member services team phoned each member (more than 200) to remind them to renew—this included overseas phone calls. We found that people renewed immediately but we also received feedback on why they hadn’t renewed to that point. The majority of members forgot to renew, and a percentage of them had retired or moved away from the industry. (IMO) y While I think we all would like to go paperless and just do engagement or retention via technology, paper and phone calls always help. We use technology all the time to communicate and engage members, but the postcards and paper invoices sometimes receive more responses. (IMO) y Data issues! We use 4 different systems to manage our data. Our data practices, until 2 years ago, have been abysmal. They are improving but we are not able to look at any given member and have an entire picture of their membership and engagement with our organization. (Combination) y Data, data, data! Accuracy of data. And not knowing if there has been adequate training and understanding of business rules and how the (new-ish) CRM/AMS operates. (IMO) y Digital trends and our lack of data driven technology. The changing workforce and determining what the future needs will be for our member base. (Trade) y Everything! More specifically—how to build value so that it’s a no brainer when a member goes to renew. Also, how can we be more relevant in what we offer to specific segments— the more relevant the better the chance of helping them understand why they need our association to grow, expand. (Combination) continued on following page
With regard to your association, what keeps you up at night? y Our staff is overworked and continuous disruption in the industry makes adapting to evolving needs of members difficult (Combination) y A top struggle is getting current members to fully utilize their member benefits. (Trade) y Acquisition and retention new ideas that are effective (IMO) y Another recession (Trade) y Attracting and maintaining younger professionals and also engaging them to become part of leadership. (IMO)
y Being caught between the traditional membership mindset and how we drive membership innovation. (IMO) y Cashflow and lack of growth (IMO) y Chapters that go rogue…or don’t utilize the national organization in a way that is good for the entire organization. Social media not kept up-to-date, websites that are not using our branding… (IMO) y Clean data. (Trade) y Competition and lack of analytics to make data driven decisions. (Combination)
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