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Associations Trends Talk Blog – Fine-tuning Your Membership Recruitment & Retention

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Our September 2022 Associations Trends Talk discussed recruiting and retaining members as the pandemic continues. Ewald Consulting Chief Growth Officer Paul Hanscom sat down with Tricia Smith, Jennifer Richards, & Kevin Jacobs for this conversation.

Member recruitment and retainment techniques are at the forefront of association leaders’ minds as the pandemic continues. Thoughts such as “how do we help our members in this trying time?” and “what resources can we provide for our members in this new world?” are likely on your mind, too.

 

You can watch the full Associations Trends Talk on-demand for free. Here are a few takeaways that stood out:

 

  1. Get the right tools: Resources like voicelogic.com (allowing for delivery of a voicemail from a trusted leader), Higher Logic and other online communities, and social media channels are becoming more popular. Consider making a shift to a new technology that encourages more interaction between you and your members — and among your members. 
  2. Think about retention: First-year association members can be the most challenging to retain. Kevin explained that after talking to lapsed members, many said that they simply weren’t aware that the membership wasn’t renewed. Several associations (including Tricia’s) use auto-renewals as a good member retention method. Others create teams to reach out to first-year members by phone during year one to ensure that new people take advantage of valuable member benefits. Find the strategy that is best for you and your members.
  3. Cater to your member community: Jennifer explained that in her association, the young professionals’ committee has a great amount of energy. Invest in opportunities that provide new, fresh ideas. Another way to do this is by changing your language. Kevin explained that in some cases, dropping association jargon may be more welcoming to new members, which could bring that new energy.
  4. Get personal: Having current demographic information about members helps an association know how to talk about itself. It also helps in creating segmented and targeted messages that will resonate with every audience from students and young professionals to retired members. One tool mentioned was PropFuel, a platform that allows for more direct messaging based on the needs of members.

Members are the center of your association. Take stock of how you’re communicating with members throughout the year and the membership life cycle, and consider how you can be better for your members.

To learn more about member recruitment and retainment, check out an episode of our podcast, Associations Next: Remember Your Members.

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Associations Next: Remember Your Members

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In this episode, we are joined by Ewald Account Executive Veronica Crosier, Ewald Membership Strategy Manager Whitney Murray, and Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI) board member Wendy Cross. In this discussion, you will hear about gaining and retaining members of your association.

Takeaways:

  1. Place value on networking. Wendy described how challenging it was to network during the pandemic, but PSAI found ways for members to continue connecting in a new space. Veronica shared that she saw a member save thousands of dollars on a part for a truck after talking with other members. Giving examples like this can show your members the value of community within those associations.
  2. Cater to the generations. Associations need to stay up to date on trends and needs of current members, as well as the younger generations that will one day lead the industry. Meeting younger professionals where they are will ensure that you meet their needs and thus keep your association strong. Wendy encourages associations to let members know all the avenues they can use to gain value from belonging.
  3. Engagement, engagement, engagement. Whitney explained that a great deal of effort is focused on membership renewal — but engaging regularly will reaffirm the value of the association. That way members will be more likely to renew.
  4. Value members’ and former members’ input. Put out regular surveys to get information on what value they are getting from the organization and if they have lapsed, ask why. Veronica explained that some members simply forgot to renew but another did not have the budget and the organization was able to accommodate. Your organization is a community, and it’s important to listen to what your members need.
  5. Retention begins on day 1. Have a plan to communicate with new members throughout the year to keep them informed and help them make use of benefits.

 

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Connect to Grow: Three Keys to Retaining Association Members

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Much has been said about how to get people to join associations, but not nearly enough has been said about how to keep them. After all, what’s the point of spending all that time and energy recruiting new members if they’re just going to leave a few months or years later?

The simple answer? – Engagement.

Here are some essential ways to connect that can help keep your association members happy and engaged.

 

1. Invite them to events.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many association members feel left out of the loop when it comes to events – whether virtual or in-person. Make sure you keep them in the loop by inviting them to everything – from general meetings to social gatherings. You must understand that event attendance should be more purposeful than a mere opportunity to socialize. 

For one thing, members can make use of events to be more familiar with the larger professional community, its challenges, and the nuances of work realities. Personally inviting members to events is a way of orienting them to the association’s initiatives and priorities, and letting them know that their involvement is important. Furthermore, it gives them opportunities to meet other like-minded individuals who can help further the cause.

 

2. Ask them to volunteer on committees.

Another great way to keep your members engaged is to ask them to volunteer on committees. This fosters a personal connection among members to grow more meaningful relationships based on a common area of interest, and it also allows them to participate in decision-making, exchanging ideas, and developing initiatives that they can truly claim real ownership for.

Committee involvement also requires members to do their part on a task, which can serve as a very effective feedback mechanism for board insights and engagement with various interest groups.

 

3. Give them opportunities to be heard.

Make sure you give your members plenty of opportunities to be heard. This can be in the form of surveys, focus groups, or even one-on-one interviews.

If you want to level up in your approach, encourage them to write for the newsletter. This doesn’t just give them a platform to share their thoughts – it also helps improve the newsletter’s content, making it more relevant and engaging for everyone. Best of all, that byline would surely make them look credible to the community and their employer. 

You can also provide opportunities for members to improve their public speaking skills as a panelist, presenter, or guest speaker whether in face-to-face events or webinars.

The important thing is that you let them know that their voice matters and that you’re always open to hearing what they have to say.

Association membership can become a lot more meaningful if there are opportunities for engagement beyond submitting your membership dues or renewal payment. The key is to be proactive and make the effort to reach out early and often. After all, it’s the association’s goal to keep all of its members active and involved in the community.

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Associations Trends Talk Blog – When Should You Increase Membership Dues?

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Pricing your membership dues is a delicate balancing act. You have expenses, you want to keep your value up, and you want to keep your members. David Ewald recently sat down with pricing expert Ben Malakoff to discuss pricing strategy for associations including when to increase dues, by how much, and how we can change pricing models to be more forward-thinking.

Ewald’s biggest takeaways from Ben Malakoff:

  1. It is time to increase your dues. Your members are vital to your organization, and you want to stay loyal to them as they are to you, but you need to keep up with the cost of operations and inflation. Increasing dues support the value you provide by keeping up with the economy and allowing you to grow. Ben suggests increasing your dues by 2-4% every couple of years. If you haven’t increased your dues in a while, this may be more like 7-8%
  2. Changing your dues model could re-energize your organization. As younger generations enter the workforce, some organizations are considering a subscription-type system where dues are automatically renewed, meaning existing members have to actively opt-out rather than opt-in every year. This is a familiar model to Gen Z, who grew up with subscriptions for content. Another option is the “freemium” model, which gives members free access to some content and allows them to pay for premium content À la carte. Ben recommends being careful with this model, however, as your members provide revenue, making the membership mostly free could cost you consistent revenue.
  3. Communicate. Ben says communicating with your members is the easiest way to evaluate whether or not your dues are appropriate for the value you provide. When altering dues rates, communicate to your members early and often that the price will be changing. Further, if you are considering an increase, send out surveys and/or host a focus group. With this information, you may be able to suggest new offerings or ideas that would provide more value.

Did you miss this month’s ATT? Watch the recording here.

Audience

Associations Next: Don’t Stop Engagin’

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In this episode, we sit down with Christi Kokaisel, Senior Director of Membership and Amy Nostdahl, Associate Director of Member Leadership Development at American Academy of Neurology. They give us some valuable insight into how to engage your member base virtually.

  1. Overall, members seem to be more engaged despite the state of the country and world. Christi said there has been a 13 percent increase in AAN’s community engagement on its online platform — and a whopping 52 percent increase in international member engagement. This may show that members are looking for engagement, so now is such an important time to lean into engagement.
  2. Focus on community. Amy explains the importance of listening to her members during the pandemic to help them lead through crisis. As an association of medical professionals, she said it was important to be there and support her members at that time. Find out how you can be there to support your community.
  3. Recognize that competition for your members’ attention is growing from many sources. Be ready to innovate to keep your share of audience.
  4. While video is incredibly engaging, virtual meetings and events create fatigue among participants. Work to find the balance. Quick polls, breakout rooms and other tactics can help hold attention.
  5. Focus on engaging discussion during meetings/training events, with about 80 percent of the time spent in dialogue. Christi recommends keeping it short, having breaks, and not going overboard with presentations. This keeps meetings efficient and engaging.

Listen to the episode: Don’t stop Engagin’

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How to Recruit New Leaders

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Selecting your next leaders is no easy task. It takes serious effort to learn about who is in your organization, determine their strengths, and encourage their growth to the point where they can help lead your organization. Your members and volunteers are the future leaders of your organization, so it is important to approach recruitment thoughtfully.

  1. Provide consistent content: Give volunteers the resources to educate themselves in matters of the organization. ASAE explains that this is particularly important for the next generation of volunteers—millennials and gen-Zers. This next generation are digital natives, so putting your content into digital formats and making it consistent will help engage a new, energized generation.
  2. Keep your brand strong: Create and maintain an exciting environment for your members and volunteers. This will energize and engage those within the organization and motivate them to continue working within it. Open View Partners explains that when you work on your brand and culture, you also begin to attract people who want to work with the organization. This not only widens your pool of leadership candidates but engages them and grows their interest.
  3. Give volunteers opportunities: Show your people you are interested in them and their success. ASAErecommends hosting in-person or virtual networking events and holding discussion via social media. Anything you can do to engage members and volunteers will help show that you are invested in them.
  4. Be open: An article written for Forbes recommends you allow yourself to be open to different types of leaders than you are used to. Different backgrounds, ages, and other diverse factors can open your board up to new ideas. Consider what each person may be able to add to your leadership team rather than seeing if they fit a certain set of requirements.

Leadership recruitment is not easy, but with care and effort, you can invest in your people and help foster your next generation of leaders.

People

Best Practices for Retaining Members

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Members are associations’ best asset. The people who make up and represent your organization bring it purpose and life. While recruiting is important, keeping your members around is just as crucial. On average, it costs 7 to 10 times more to win a new member than to keep an existing member. In this post, we will go over some tips on how associations can retain their members.

  1. Conduct surveys: People want to be heard, and if you’re a great leader, you certainly want to hear from your members. Short surveys can be a great way to get a feel for what your members want and how they are feeling as part of the organization. The Membership Guys recommend sending out regular surveys so that you are not playing guessing games about what your members want.
  2. Provide a content calendar: Your organization’s content and events are great pull factors for potential members and great reasons to stick around for those who are already members. Reminding members what you offer and what they can take part in will show them how they benefit from staying in the organization. The Membership Guys explain that even if they cannot attend an event on the calendar, it creates the “fear of missing out” if they leave.
  3. Pay attention to engagement levels: Catch lack of engagement early. It’s so important to keep tabs on social media engagement, newsletter opens, and event registrations to see how much your members are engaging with your organization. If you see it start to fall off, check in with your team and see how you can get things back on track before it is too late. Member Clicks suggests reaching out to members individually and seeing what they think would help get them more engaged with the organization.
  4. Emphasize member benefits: Let people know you are the only organization that can provide the benefits that you offer. Glue Up recommends consistently promoting your offerings to remind them of the resources they have. This will remind them of your association’s value.
  5. Be open to communication from members: Your association was made for your members, so it is very important to remain open to suggestions from members. Member Clicks explains that every member should feel comfortable giving feedback to the organization. Make it clear that you are open and ready to hear feedback — and make it easy for members to stay in touch.

Your association was built around your members. Putting time and care into the people who are part of it will help them stick around and grow your organization even more.

Team

How to Effectively Communicate with Volunteers

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Communication is one of the hardest things to get right, but it is arguably the most important. In this post, we will review some of the ways you can improve communication with your volunteers.

  1. Be consistent: No one wants a ton of emails every day, but you should communicate frequently. Getting Attention explains that consistent communication builds motivation. You should figure out the best way to communicate with your volunteers and stick to it.
  2. Allow volunteers to give input: Your volunteers are out there making it happen. VolunteerMatch explains that you should be open to hearing their experiences, ideas, and thoughts on how to improve the organization. Volunteers will be more willing to communicate if they know it can go both ways.
  3. Keep it simple: Volunteers are donating their time, so they are likely busy outside of their time in the organization. In It Live suggests cutting out jargon or flowery language to keep communication efficient and effective. This saves you time by reducing the need for questions and it saves volunteers’ time as well.
  4. Get to know them: VolunteerMatch explains that in order to better motivate and engage your volunteers, you need to get to know them better. Figure out what they are passionate about, their skill set, and their schedule. Once you have a better idea of your volunteers as people, you will be able to direct and communicate your asks more efficiently.
  5. Understand that no one is the same: No one mode of communication works well for every person. Mix it up with emails, web updates, and meetings to make sure that everyone has the chance to understand the message. Getting Attention also emphasizes that different volunteers have different abilities. Take the time to make sure everyone is on the same page and in the right role.

Your volunteers are giving their time to the organization, so it only makes sense that you need to invest time with them. Effective communication requires time, but ends up making your volunteers, and therefore your organization, even better.

Volunteers

How To Be a Great Volunteer

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Tom Brokaw sure got it right when he said, “It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” While volunteering can be quite an undertaking, when you go in with the right attitude and drive, you can make a difference. In this post, we will go over some great ways you can be a better volunteer.

  1. Stay informed: One of the most obvious, but most important things to do as a volunteer is make sure you have all the information available to you. Try to get to know as much as you can about the organization, its history, goals and values. Nonprofit Hub explains that when you are informed, you spend less time asking others what to do and you will show initiative.
  2. Don’t over-commit: We all want to do a good job, but it helps no one if you burn yourself out. Think about how much time you can comfortably commit and stick to it. Network For Good explains it is better to start slowly with your time and add in more if you are feeling good.
  3. Stay connected: Minnesota Council of Nonprofits suggests that every volunteer should have a clear contact they can report to. Without designated points of contact, it can be easy to get lost—especially for a new volunteer.
  4. Have a positive attitude: Be a bright light in your organization! Nonprofit Hub explains that volunteer work can be hard and having a positive attitude can keep up the momentum. Not only will it make the work more fun, but it will uplift those around you.
  5. Take stock of your skills: What are you strongest at? Everyone comes into a volunteer position with strengths and areas of growth. Think about your strongest assets that you could bring to the organization. Network For Goodsays that this works best for you and your organization because you will need less training and you can jump right into your work.

Volunteering is a wonderful, selfless way to contribute to a cause you care about. By stepping into the role, you are already demonstrating your willingness to help. However, with these tips, you can go the extra mile.

Analytics

How Associations Can Use Analytics to Boost Membership

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What are analytics?

Analytics are a brilliant tool used to research possible trends that any industry can benefit from using, especially associations. Looking at analytics is all about seeing what is working and what isn’t, and then making improvements.

Associations often have one thing on their mind: increasing membership. How to increase membership, how to provide the best experience and value for members, etc. They want to grow their membership, but analytics as a tool are often overlooked or ignored.

While it may be daunting, analytics can help guide your organization and grow membership. Here are four uses of analytics that can help associations grow their membership.

    1. Auditing
      Having a good overall experience with an organization is like a puzzle: many pieces fit together to create the full picture, and a positive online experience is one of them. Associations need to maintain a strong web presence in order to provide a positive online experience as well as gain and retain members. By using analytics, associations can audit their websites and see what is working and what isn’t, such as 404 errors and bounce rates, and then make improvements to provide a better experience for current or potential members.

    2. Monitoring social accounts
      Everyone is active on social media these days, including businesses. Social platforms are versatile and an important part of any marketing strategy because of their ability to drive awareness, engagement, and start conversations. Analytics allow associations to start and monitor the online conversation of their brand and gain a deeper understanding of which social campaigns are effective. This understanding can then be applied to create a better experience for prospects and members by targeting content that specifically fits their needs and the online conversation.

    3. Paid Marketing
      If an association invests in paid marketing, they want to make sure the campaign is effective. Whether it is A/B testing or promotional content, analytics are a useful tool for evaluating paid marketing because they allow associations to compare options. By choosing the most successful option, associations provide content in the right context for their members.

    4. SEO
      So why does auditing, social media, and paid marketing matter? It contributes to improving Search Engine Optimization, often referred to as SEO. At the end of the day, associations strive to enhance the user experience. Search engine bot crawlers read a websites’ pages from top to bottom and rank the site based on the quality fundamental SEO practices executed. Examples include meta tag, fresh content, and alt tags. Bots will determine how high or low a site will appear on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), which affects the visibility of a site in a search engine.

The use of analytics has transformed the world of marketing, bringing endless growth opportunities to organizations. Utilizing analytics in your strategy and planning can be key to keeping your organization relevant and thriving. So the next time analytics comes up in a strategy meeting, don’t shy away, instead dive right in and help grow your organization.

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