This document provides an overview of a presentation by Advanced Solutions International on membership marketing best practices. ASI is a company that helps associations and non-profits improve performance. The presentation discusses ASI's services and a benchmarking report on membership trends. It then outlines strategies for membership awareness, recruitment, engagement and retention based on the report's findings. Effective awareness tactics include email, websites and word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth, email and direct mail are top recruitment channels. Onboarding new members involves welcome emails and kits. Annual conferences and meetings engage 10-30% of members each year.
4. Advanced Solutions International (ASI)
• Help associations and not-for-profits improve
organizational performance
• Developers of iMIS software
• Offices in Australia, the UK, Canada, and the
USA
• Nearly 200 employees and 100 partners
worldwide
• Thousands of customers in more than 20
countries
9. What are the Trends in
Association Membership?
2012 Membership Marketing
Benchmarking Report
• Fourth Year Produced by MGI
• Over 691 Participating Associations
• Up Front Disclaimer
What not Why
Correlation not Causation
10. Research Goals
1. Gain an understanding of the membership marketing
practices of associations
2. Determine the challenges in membership marketing
faced by individual membership and trade associations
3. Define what practices they believe are most effective
4. Understand through cross tabulation with new
member, renewal and growth numbers what practices
correlate with better outcomes
11. Research Methodology
1. Survey open from January 24, 2012 to March
3, 2012 – 6 Weeks Total
2. 5,862 requests to participate
3. 11.7% response rate with 691 participating
associations (one response per association)
4. Margin of error + / - 3.7% with a 95% confidence
level
15. TOP CHALLENGES TO GROWING MEMBERSHIP
2012 2011
(N = 683) (N = 631)
Membership too diverse; difficulty meeting needs of different segments 26% N/A
Difficulty attracting and/or maintaining younger members 24% N/A
Insufficient staff 24% 16%
24% N/A
Insufficient budget 21% 13%
Changing demographics of industry 18% N/A
Weak product or service offerings 18% 13%
Lack of strategy or plan 17% 11%
Competitive associations 16% N/A
Industry consolidation 14% N/A
Inadequate association management database 13% 8%
Inadequate research to understand market 10% 7%
Lack of marketing expertise 10% 7%
Market saturation 10% 9%
Difficulty in converting student memberships to regular memberships 9% N/A
Lack of integration between national and chapters 8% N/A
Misalignment of goals between board and executive staff 4% N/A
Economy 3% N/A
Poor customer service 1% N/A
Other 12% 16%
16.
17. Section 2: Membership LifecycleTM
Strategies
“What’s working in membership marketing?”
19. How does your association create brand awareness of your organization?
METHODS FOR CREATING ASSOCIATION AWARENESS
2012 2011 2010 2009
(N = 683) (N = 638) (N = 405) (N = 599)
Email 94% 71% 67% 61%
Association website 92% 87% 88% 85%
Word-of-mouth recommendations 83% 90% 91% 77%
Promotion to/at your own conferences/ conventions 79% 65% 66% 65%
Advertising in your own publications 72% 48% 56% 51%
Association-sponsored social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn) 71% 51% 56% 35%
Direct mail 69% 62% 66% 76%
Association-sponsored events 68% 57% 56% 37%
Cross-sell to non-members who buy your products or attend your conferences 61% 56% 59% 52%
Exhibiting at other conferences 61% 50% 51% 53%
Public relations 61% 40% 39% 29%
Local events/meetings 60% 53% N/A N/A
Search engines (organic) 48% 45% 47% 34%
Advertising in outside publications 47% 31% 31% 28%
Chapters 42% 38% 46% 39%
Job board 39% 24% 23% 23%
Personal sales calls 32% 25% 22% 24%
QR codes 30% N/A N/A N/A
Accreditation promotion 24% 18% 20% 14%
Telemarketing 22% 16% 18% 18%
Paid banners on other websites 21% 12% 13% 12%
Mobile apps 20% N/A N/A N/A
Search engines (paid or pay-per-click) 20% 14% 20% 8%
Radio or TV 15% 7% 5% 7%
Texting 6% N/A N/A N/A
Other 3% 4% 3% 3%
Do not know 1% 0% 0% 1%
Top three methods for creating brand awareness.
Blue: Upward trend
20. Which social media does your organization officially use?
SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS OFFICIALLY USED BY ASSOCIATIONS
2012 2011 2010
(N = 685) (N = 641) (N = 405)
Facebook 86% 91% 75%
Twitter 79% 71% 66%
LinkedIn (Public Access) 56% 53% 59%
YouTube 53% 45% 35%
Association Blog 30% 27% 30%
LinkedIn (Members Only) 30% 28% N/A
Association Listserv 22% 24% 31%
Private Association Social Network 19% 18% 17%
Flickr 15% 15% N/A
Google+ 11% N/A N/A
Wikis 8% 9% 13%
Ning/Groupsite 4% 4% 6%
Second Life 1% 2% 3%
MySpace 1% 1% 4%
None 3% 6% 8%
Other 4% 4% 6%
21. Time to Achieve 50 Million Users
1. Print Hundreds of Years
2. Radio 38 Years
3. TV 13 Years
4. Internet 4 Years
5. iPod 3 Years
6. Facebook 24 Months
7. Twitter 12 Months
8. Google+ 6 Months*
* Stephan Scherzer, CEO, VDZ - German Magazine Publishers
23. EFFECTIVENESS OF MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT MARKETING CHANNELS
Most Effective Least Effective
Marketing Channel
(N=685) (N=630)
Word-of-mouth recommendations 54% 3%
Email 37% 11%
Association website 34% 7%
Direct mail 30% 24%
Cross-sell to non-members who buy your products or attend your conferences 20% 7%
Personal sales calls 17% 7%
Promotion to/at your own conferences/conventions 16% 9%
Association-sponsored events 16% 4%
Chapters 14% 8%
Exhibiting at other conferences 10% 28%
Local events/meetings 10% 5%
Promotional incentives 8% 16%
Association-sponsored social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn) 5% 18%
Public relations 5% 11%
Telemarketing 4% 13%
Accreditation promotion 4% 4%
Advertising in your own publications 3% 17%
Advertising in outside publications 2% 25%
Search engines (organic) 2% 8%
Search engines (paid or pay-per-click) 1% 10%
Job board 1% 13%
Radio or TV 1% 11%
Paid banners on other websites -- 14%
Texting -- 5%
Other 3% 3%
24. TOP THREE MOST EFFECTIVE AND LEAST EFFECTIVE
MARKETING CHANNELS BY ASSOCIATION TYPE
Individual Membership Associations Percentage
Word-of-mouth recommendations 51%
Most Effective Email 39%
Direct mail 37%
Exhibiting at other conferences 31%
Least Effective Advertising in outside publications 23%
Direct mail 20%
Organizational/Trade Associations Percentage
Word-of-mouth recommendations 56%
Most Effective Personal sales calls 37%
Email 30%
Direct mail 34%
Least Effective Advertising in outside publications 28%
Exhibiting at other conferences 22%
25. REASONS MEMBERS JOIN ASSOCIATION
2012 2011 2010 2009
(N = 684) (N = 641) (N = 400) (N = 303)
Networking with others in the field 22% 25% 24% 22%
Access to specialized and/or current information 12% 14% 13% 23%
Advocacy 12% 10% 11% N/A
Continuing education 8% 7% 11% 5%
Learning best practices in their profession 7% 7% 9% 8%
Accreditation or certification 5% 4% 4% 2%
Discounts on products or meeting purchases 5% 5% 6% 9%
Association publications 4% 3% 6% 3%
Conferences/trade shows 4% 5% N/A N/A
Prestige of belonging to the association 4% 5% N/A N/A
Access to industry thought leaders 2% 1% N/A N/A
Advancing in their position 2% 2% 2% 4%
Members-only education 2% N/A N/A N/A
Access to career resources 1% 1% 3% 1%
Access to industry benchmark studies 1% 1% 1% N/A
Insurance (Affinity programs) 1% 1% N/A N/A
Not sure 1% 1% 2% N/A
Other 6% 8% 9% 10%
27. Which of the following communication methods do you use to help onboard
or engage new members in the association? (Check all that apply)
COMMUNICATION METHODS USED TO ONBOARD NEW MEMBERS
2012 2011 2010 2009
(N = 685) (N = 643) (N = 402) (N = 337)
Email welcome 72% 71% 72% 62%
Mailed welcome kit 64% 67% 68% 83%
Membership card or certificate 51% 51% 59% 58%
Volunteer or staff welcome phone call 29% 30% 32% 26%
In-person new-member reception or orientation 25% 23% 20% 19%
New-member introductory email series 25% 25% 27% 14%
Special discounts on purchases 24% 23% 23% 17%
Invite to chapter meeting 22% 18% 25% 23%
New-member newsletter (print or electronic) 16% 15% 20% 11%
New-member survey 16% 17% 18% 20%
New-member gift (e.g., gift card, calendar, notepad) 12% 11% -- --
Custom new-member renewal series 10% 10% 11% 7%
Telemarketing welcome phone call 10% 12% 10% 4%
New-member webinars 9% N/A N/A N/A
Early or “at-birth” renewal 4% 5% 4% 2%
No special communication 3% 2% 2% 2%
Other 3% 5% 5% 8%
28. What proportion of your members do you estimate engage with your
organization in the following areas EACH YEAR?
AREAS OF ENGAGEMENT
1%- 6%- 11%- 16%- 21%- 31%- 41%- Over
N 0% N/A
5% 10% 15% 20% 30% 40% 50% 50%
Attend your annual conference/trade show 644 1% 12% 13% 11% 12% 11% 11% 6% 10% 12%
Attend at least one of your professional development meetings 663 1% 12% 13% 10% 9% 10% 9% 6% 9% 23%
Acquire or maintain a certification with your organization 666 2% 9% 6% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 8% 57%
Attend at least one of your webinars 658 2% 15% 14% 9% 8% 6% 2% 4% 4% 36%
Purchase a non-dues product (other than previously checked) 655 2% 18% 11% 9% 8% 8% 3% 3% 6% 33%
Purchase a non-dues service (other than previously checked) 658 3% 17% 11% 9% 7% 6% 3% 4% 6% 36%
Purchase or maintain insurance through your organization 658 2% 14% 5% 3% 3% 2% 2% 1% 3% 64%
Purchase a book or directory 653 2% 19% 10% 6% 5% 5% 3% 2% 3% 46%
Participate in your public social network 666 3% 25% 21% 13% 10% 8% 5% 3% 3% 10%
Participate in your private social network 660 3% 20% 13% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 38%
Upgrade their membership 658 2% 16% 8% 6% 3% 1% 1% 2% 3% 58%
Volunteer within your organization 664 2% 32% 21% 14% 11% 7% 4% 2% 2% 7%
Donate to your association foundation or PAC 662 3% 23% 13% 6% 5% 2% 2% 1% 2% 42%
Participate in your young professional program 656 2% 16% 8% 4% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 67%
Participate in your mentoring program 661 4% 18% 5% 3% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 66%
30. What is your overall membership renewal rate?
3%
Under 3% 2012 (N=685)
50% 3%
2% 2011 (N=643)
4% 2010 (N=403)
50% to 6%
59% 4% 2009 (N=337)
4%
7%
60% to 10%
69% 11%
7%
22%
70% to 23%
79% 21%
16%
38%
80% to 34%
89% 40%
37%
22%
90% or 23%
higher 18%
29%
3%
Not sure 2%
3%
4%
31. What is your retention rate for first year members?
Under 50% 10%
50% to 59% 13%
60% to 69% 12%
70% to 79% 19%
80% to 89% 17%
90% or higher 12%
Not sure 18%
(N=682)
32. Which of the following marketing channels do you use for membership renewals?
MARKETING CHANNELS USED FOR MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
2012 2011 2010 2009
(N = 685) (N = 644) (N = 405) (N = 333)
Email marketing 88% 88% 88% 83%
Direct mail 81% 82% 85% 91%
Staff phone calls 53% 52% 49% 56%
Peer member contacts 23% 20% 24% 31%
Telemarketing 21% 24% 23% 27%
Magazine cover wraps 17% 15% N/A N/A
Board phone calls 17% 18% 15% 28%
Social media contacts 15% 13% N/A N/A
Chapter phone calls 13% 14% 14% 15%
Fax 9% 10% 11% 17%
Employer contacts 6% 8% 7% 4%
PURL 3% N/A N/A N/A
Texting 2% N/A N/A N/A
Renewal app for mobile devices 1% N/A N/A N/A
Other 3% 3% 3% 4%
33. How many membership renewal CONTACTS (such as mailings, emails, phone calls) do
you have in your renewal series?
1%
None 2%
2%
1%
20%
1 to 3 23%
22%
21%
40%
4 to 6 44%
44%
46%
23%
7 to 9 18%
20%
19%
7%
10 to 12 7%
6%
7%
3%
13 to 15 1%
2%
2%
2%
16 to 18 1%
1%
1%
2012 (N=686)
More 2%
2% 2011 (N=642)
than 18 2%
1% 2010 (N=404)
3% 2009 (N=337)
Not sure 1%
2%
3%
34. RENEWAL RATES BY NUMBER OF RENEWAL CONTACTS
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=356)
7 or more
1-6 renewal
Renewal Rate renewal
contacts
contacts
Less than 80% 49% 44%
80% or higher 51% 56%
35. When do you start the renewal effort?
Immediately after 9%
8%
welcoming 6%
10%
Prior to 6 months before 5%
6%
expiration 8%
8%
At 6 months prior to 7%
7%
expiration 5%
7%
3%
5 months prior to expiration 4%
3%
5%
9%
4 months prior to expiration 12%
14%
13%
38%
3 months prior to expiration 33%
35%
33%
16%
2 months prior to expiration 16%
15%
13%
8%
1 month prior to expiration 8%
7%
5% 2012 (N=685)
4% 2011 (N=641)
The month of expiration 3%
3%
4% 2010 (N=405)
2% 2009 (N=336)
Not sure 3%
3%
5%
36. RENEWAL RATES BY START OF RENEWAL EFFORT
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=354)
Three months More than three
Renewal Rate or less prior to months prior to
expiration expiration
Less than 80% 51% 40%
80% or higher 49% 60%
37. When do you end renewal efforts (stop renewal contacts to the member)?
2%
At the month of expiration 2%
1%
2%
7%
1 month after expiration 8%
9%
9%
13%
2 months after expiration 13%
14%
13%
23%
24%
3 months after expiration 23%
21%
9%
4 months after expiration 7%
7%
13%
2%
5 months after expiration 3%
2%
Not asked in 2009
8% 2012 (N=688)
6 months after expiration 8%
8% 2011 (N=639)
Not asked in 2009
11% 2010 (N=404)
More than 6 months after 11% 2009 (N=336)
expiration 14%
Not asked in 2009
21%
We don't stop contact 22%
19%
21%
3%
Not sure 3%
3%
4%
38. RENEWAL RATES BY END OF RENEWAL EFFORT
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=354)
More than three
1-3 months
Renewal Rate months after
after expiration
expiration
Less than 80% 51% 43%
80% or higher 49% 57%
39. Do you offer any of the following renewal options?
Installment renewal payments 46%
46%
(monthly, quarterly) 46%
32%
Multi-year renewals 32%
33%
26%
Renewal bill-me 28%
28%
24%
Automatic annual credit card renewal 24%
22%
22%
Lifetime membership 25%
Not asked in 2010
2012 (N=445)
22%
Early renewal discounts 21% 2011 (N=440)
19%
2010 (N=246)
Automatic Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) 15%
15%
renewals 10%
40. REASONS FOR NOT RENEWING MEMBERSHIP
2012 2011 2010 2009
(N = 687) (N = 639) (N = 400) (N = 333)
Budget cuts/economic hardship of company 17% N/A N/A N/A
Lack of engagement with the organization 14% N/A N/A N/A
Employer won’t pay or stopped paying dues 12% 15% 25% 22%
Could not justify membership costs with any significant ROI 11% N/A N/A N/A
Lack of value 11% 24% 36% 20%
Left the field, industry, or profession 8% 12% N/A N/A
Too expensive 5% 14% 11% 22%
Forgot to renew 4% 7% 6% 11%
Lack of relevance 3% N/A N/A N/A
Company closed or merged 2% 7% N/A N/A
Disappointment with the benefits/services 2% N/A N/A N/A
Moved 2% N/A N/A N/A
Retirement 2% 2% 4% 4%
Can get materials from other members/other sources 1% N/A N/A N/A
Disagree with the advocacy position in the association 1% N/A N/A N/A
Lost job 1% 3% 4% 3%
Poor customer service 1% -- 1% --
Student memberships do not convert to full memberships 1% N/A N/A N/A
Switch to competitor 1% 1% 1% --
Not sure 2% 6% 2% 4%
Other 4% 9% 12% 14%
41. BASIC ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES BY RENEWAL RATE
Less than 80% 80% or Higher
Under $50 9% 3%
$50 - $99 21% 7%
$100 - $149 15% 6%
$150 - $199 16% 10%
$200 - $299 11% 13%
$300 - $399 7% 10%
$400 - $499 2% 6%
$500 - $749 5% 7%
$750 - $999 2% 3%
$1,000 and over 3% 7%
Varies by company size 9% 29%
43. After a membership lapses or expires, how long do you continue to
contact the member to invite them to reinstate their membership?
10%
We don't contact lapsed 11%
members 10%
8%
22%
1 year after expiration 22%
24%
25%
13%
2 years after expiration 14%
15%
13%
10%
3 years after expiration 9%
6% 2012 (N=686)
6%
2011 (N=641)
5%
4 to 5 years after expiration 4%
6% 2010 (N=403)
5%
2009 (N=333)
1%
6 to 10 years after expiration 1%
1%
1%
We continue indefinitely to 31%
30%
contact lapsed members 24%
30%
5%
Not sure 5%
7%
7%
4%
Other 3%
7%
6%
44. RENEWAL RATES BY HOW LONG ASSOCIATION CONTINUES
TO CONTACT MEMBER FOR REINSTATEMENT
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=305)
More than three
1-3 years after
Renewal Rate years after
expiration
expiration
Less than 80% 51% 42%
80% or higher 49% 58%
46. MEAN AMOUNT SPENT ON MEMBERSHIP
MARKETING PROGRAMS BY NUMBER OF PAID MEMBERS
More than
Up to 1,000 1,001-5,000 5,001-20,000
20,000
Acquisition* $17,643 $34,632 $101,931 $503,470
Retention** $12,711 $19,247 $52,240 $298,896
*Acquisition includes money spent on awareness, branding, and recruitment.
**Retention includes money spent on engagement/on boarding, renewals, and reinstatement or win-back.
47. What types of analysis do you use to measure the effectiveness of your membership
marketing campaigns?
Response rate analysis 49%
Source code or Keycode capture and analysis 29%
A/B split marketing tests 20%
Lifetime value analysis 16%
Computer matchback to prospect database 15%
Recency/Frequency/Monetary Amount (RFM) analysis 7%
N=667
Regression analysis 6%
None 40%
54. Any Questions
• bodonnell@advsol.com
• ASI Website: www.advsol.com
• iMIS Information: www.advsol.com/asi
• Follow ASI on Twitter: @advsol
Notas do Editor
At Advanced Solutions International (ASI), our objective is to help your association achieve your financial goals and fulfill your strategic mission by providing proven technology solutions using a full-cycle process of continuous performance improvements. Our best practice approach focuses on Recruiting, Engaging, Measuring, and Growing to help increase the satisfaction of your members as well as their lifetime value.Our demonstrated success model has been refined by serving as a trusted advisor to executive leadership teams at nearly 4,000 associations like yours worldwide. We’ve helped these organizations grow revenue, reduce expenses, and control risk—even in a challenging economy.
Background on the benchmarking research.
Important statistical validity information on the research methodology.
Some in the association world talk of membership as a concept as either dead or dying. But do the numbers support this contention?
There are numerous voices that claim that membership has reached the end of its useful life. Have we really reached the end of membership? The numbers from our research do not seem to support this contention.52% of respondents say membership has increased over the past year.60% of respondents say new membership acquisition has increased over the past year.36% of respondents say membership renewals have increased over the past year.
Can you relate to any of these challenges? Which is the biggest challenge for your organization?
Other Top Growth Killers include: Insufficient budget Weak product or service offerings Industry consolidationGrowth despite challenges Membership too diverse Competitive Associations Difficulty in converting student members to fully paid members
The Membership Lifecycle segments the membership experience into five consecutive stages: 1. Awareness -- when prospects first discover you. No one joins a membership organization unless they first know that you exist and have value that will help them. You also will have difficulty recruiting a new member if you cannot identify who top prospects are for membership. So the goal of the awareness stage of the lifecycle is what I call mutual awareness. On the one hand, just like any product, you need to establish share of mind with your prospective members. But in addition, you also want to gain what I call share of database. You want them to raise their hand and register on your website, accept a free whitepaper or newsletter, or attend a webinar or meeting. When they know who you are and you know who they are, you have the chance to cultivate a relationship. 2. Recruitment -- when prospects choose to join you. Membership is what marketers call a “push” product as opposed to a “pull” product. A pull product is something that is bought not sold. If you are a coffee drinker, you do not need a promotion piece to convince you to drink your coffee every morning. You seek it out. But very few people wake up in the morning saying that they need to find a membership organization to join. As a push product, membership is sold not bought. Successful membership organizations put in place a very pro-active recruitment plan as part of the lifecycle. They test, track, and analyze special offers, messages, marketing channels, and timing to convince a prospect to give membership a try by making the decision to join. 3. Engagement -- when new members feel they belong with you. The most likely member not to renew is a member in their first year. The second most likely member not to continue membership is one who has no behavioral indicators of usage or involvement with the membership. So the goal for these new members and those not taking advantage of the value provided is to generate interaction. Any type of interactive engagement, whether it is a purchase, a visit to the website, a completed survey, or a phone call to the organization correlates positively with the ultimate renewal of a member. Membership engagement is a crucial lead-in to renewal. 4. Renewal -- when lapsing members decide whether to keep you. The mind shift that is important when thinking about renewals is that you are undertaking a campaign and not managing an event. We are entering another political season. Politicians know that just sending one letter or one phone call is not a strategy that will maximize voter turnout. So they are very aggressive (some say too aggressive) in turning out the vote for themselves. In the same way, today the standard three part renewal series is no longer sufficient to maximize retention rates. A synchronized, multi-channel, high frequency, campaign is required to maximize renewal outcomes.5. Reinstatement -- when former members agree to return to you. In life there will always be bumps in the road with any relationship. It is no different with the membership relationship. However, it almost always makes more sense to try and restore an existing relationship than starting a new one. The reinstatement portion of the lifecycle is where attempts are made to understand the problem and fix it. This sometimes involves market research. As the old proverb says, “Look where you tripped, not where you fell.” It also involves ongoing outreach to highlight new opportunities and new membership options. Successful membership organizations never give up on getting members to come back.
One of the fastest growing Awareness Tools is association sponsored Social Networking sites. Does your association offer a sponsored social media application? What is your association doing in social media?
• The top social media networks officially used for association membership are: Facebook 86%, Twitter 78%, LinkedIn (Public) 55%, YouTube 55%, and LinkedIn (Private) 29%.• Associations have increased their official use of Twitter: 66% in 2010, 71% in 2011, and now 78% in 2012.• Associations have increased their official use of YouTube: 35% in 2010, 45% in 2011, and now 53% in 2012.• Associations with more than20,000 members are much more likely to use social media, 96% use Facebook, 90% use Twitter, and 70% use YouTube.• 31% of associations with more than 20,000 members have a private social network• Only 2% of the 685 responding associations do not officially do any social networking, down from 8% in 2010 and 6% in 2011. • 11% of associations are now officially using Google+.
Adoption of new communication methods is growing at an incredibly fast pace. What is your organization doing to keep up with these rapid changes? What technology are you using to stay ahead?
Consistently, WOM has come in first. This is always a surprise to me because very few people have a WOMM plan. How do you create more “Word of Mouth” for your organization?
The larger the membership size, the more likely direct mail rated as the “Most Effective” membership recruitment channel. For associations with more than 20,000 members, 49.6% say that it is the “Most Effective” membership recruitment channel. Only 15% of groups with less than 1,000 members rate direct mail as most effective.
How do these reasons compare to your organization?
Associations with membership renewal rates at or above 80% are significantly more likely to report using a mailed welcome kit, volunteer or staff welcome phone calls, and /or in-person new member receptions.
Intuitively, we all know that members using the associations services is good, but seeing the statistics to support it highlights the critical nature in the membership lifecycle of member engagement. In our 2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, we asked associations to tell us first whether they offered a specific program or service and then the proportion of their members that participated in it. For example, if an association had an annual conference or trade show, what proportion of the members attended? If a product or service was not offered by an organization then they were excluded from the analysis for that particular item. Overall, we had more than 650 unique associations respond to this question. What we found is that usage had a very strong correlation with many key membership statistics. Organizations that reported a higher level of usage where more likely to say that they experienced better outcomes in their membership results. With each of these behaviors, a higher proportion of membership usage correlated with an: • Increase in overall membership over the past year• Increase in overall membership over the past five years • Increase in new members over the past year• Increase in renewal rates over the past year
• The average renewal rate for individual membership organizations this past year was 78% and the average renewal rate for trade or organizational memberships was 85%. What are the renewal rates for your organization?
• The average first year member renewal rate for individual membership organizations this past year was 67% and the average first year renewal rate for trade or organizational memberships was 75%.
• Associations that have between 7 and 15 contacts in their renewal series were more likely to see their renewal rates increase over the past year (40.9% to 29.1%).
More renewal contacts appear to correlate with better renewal rates. How many renewal contacts does your association have?
• Associations that start their renewal efforts five months or more BEFORE expiration were more likely to see an increase in renewal rates over the past year (25.7% to 19.8%).Earlier renewal efforts correlate with better renewal rates. When do you start renewal efforts?
• Associations that continue renewal efforts from at least three months after a member’s expiration date and up to continuous efforts are more likely to maintain renewal rates above 80% (80.2% to 69.4%).
• Associations that offer an “early-renewal discount” were more likely to see an increase in renewal rates over the past year (24% to 19%).
How do these reasons for not renewing compare with your memberships.
Associations who say that they “continue indefinitely to contact lapsed members” are more likely to have renewal rates over 80%, have seen membership increase in the past year, have seen membership increase over the past five years, and have renewal rates increase in the past year.
Answers to the question, “What types of analysis do you use to measure the effectiveness of your membership marketing campaigns?” raise lots of concerns for me. The responses reveal an alarming lack of using even the basic marketing measurement tools available. As the chart below highlights, of the 667 organizations answering the question, less than half track response rates to their marketing efforts. Only 20 percent conduct split marketing tests. And a full 40 percent use no marketing measurements at all.Why is this? In an age when we have computers on our desks and big investments in websites and databases, it seems fundamental practices that have existed for years in marketing are not being used. To quote Claude C. Hopkins, who wrote way back in 1923, from his book, Scientific Advertising: “The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science . . . . We learn the principles and prove them by repeated tests. This is done through keyed advertising by traced returns . . . We compare one way with many others, backward and forward, and record the results. When one method invariably proves best, that method becomes a fixed principle” (NTC Business Press).An organization that does not track responses, conduct tests, understand the lifetime value of members, and understand the buying patterns of members in their database is sub-optimizing its effectiveness and the long-term growth potential.
At ASI,our objective is to help your organization achieve your financial goals and fulfill your strategic mission by providing a solution that supports a full-cycle process of continuous performance improvement. Our best practice approach focuses on Recruitment, Engagement, Measurement, and Growth to help increase the satisfaction of your members as well as their lifetime value.
One of the ways we help associations improve membership performance is through our product iMIS.
With iMIS, you can manage your member data, e-commerce, online communities, and website from one centralized database. iMIS provides powerful self-service options, social networking capabilities, and personalized web pages—with no programming necessary—that encourage member participation, increase satisfaction, and strengthen renewal rates.Your members can easily manage their own contact information and renew memberships, buy products, donate money, or register for events online. They can also do business with your organization from their smart phones or tablets while on the go. This level of service helps you attract new members and keep them coming back.You can also engage members by creating your own private online community that empowers them to connect, communicate, and collaborate with one another. A private online community can also differentiate your organization, boost satisfaction rates, and foster member loyalty. You can easily leverage social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn to offer additional options to engage members. They can recommend products, events, fundraising campaigns or other content from your website to social media sites to expand your organization’s visibility and encourage viral marketing opportunities.
Because iMIS is one system, with one database, all interactions and transactions with members, whether online or offline, are recorded directly in the iMIS database. This allows you to make better, more informed decisions with real-time, integrated data. By analyzing accurate information, you can determine which programs are working best and where to invest further. And, you can gather more in-depth intelligence on your members to better respond to their needs. Knowing what works and what needs to be improved allows you to make adjustments that will help your organization continue to grow by acquiring new members, retaining the ones you have, uncovering new sources of revenue, and improving the overall performance of your association.
If your ready to take the next step towards improved membership performance, and even if you aren’t, please take a moment to fill out an event survey. Your feedback is important to help us improve on this event. Please also be sure to check yes for the last question if you’d like us to follow up and explain how we can help your association improve membership performance.
