Member engagement is the foundation to the success of all associations and smart association executives know this. But how do you achieve it? This presentation contains tactical ideas, including effective new member onboarding campaign and the use of data modeling to create personas to better target at risk members, from four well known and respected membership authorities.

1. The New World of Engagement:
Great Ideas that Work!
Monday, March 14, 2016
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Christopher Mitchell, ADA
Christopher Wojcik, SME
Eric Berkowitz, IEEE Computer Society
Erik Schonher, MGI

2. What we Hope to
Accomplish Today
• Define Member Engagement
• Present tactics effective with increasing member engagement.
• Introduce a new approach in developing the tactics used to promote
and market member engagement.

3. From the Association’s Perspective,
Member Engagement is Important
Individual Trade Combination
Top reason for not renewing: 31% 49% 38%
C-Suite ranks engagement
as very important: 65% 73% 68%
It…
• Promotes your association’s culture
• It allows for individual’s to integrate into the association
• It fulfills the primary function of most associations:
• Transmission of knowledge
• Information dissemination
- 2015 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

4. The process of moving
members and prospects
from observers into users
of the products and
services made available
by your organization and
strengthening their
emotional, physical and
fiscal investment in the
organization.
Engagement …

5. The “Typical” Member Engagement Toolbox:
• Governance
• Annual Convention
• Discipline-specific
divisions
• Leadership
Conferences
• Magazines &
Journals
• Grants & Prizes
• Webinars
• Other Digital
Content
• Email
• Member Directory
• Online Advocacy
• Government
relations

6. Using Research To Drive
Engagement
If you’ve always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get
what you’ve always got.
Albert Einstein – Henry Ford
We’ve always done it that way.
Grace Hopper
Eric Berkowitz

7. Overall Satisfaction
7
30%
50%
14%
5%
1%
Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Neither satisfied
nor dissatisfied
Somewhat
dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Overall, how satisfied are/were you with your IEEE Computer Society
membership? (N = 3,518)
80%
Satisfaction increases with age.
Sixty-two percent of
respondents under the age of
30 are satisfied, compared to
82% who are 60 and older.

8. Cost versus Value
8
6%
23%
40%
23%
5% 4%
Far greater than
the cost
Somewhat
greater than the
cost
Equal to the cost Somewhat less
than the cost
Far less than the
cost
Unsure
Based on the cost of membership for the IEEE Computer Society, would you
say that the value you have received is/was: (N = 3,518)
29%
Younger members
were less likely to
agree that the value
of membership
exceeded its cost.

9. Computer
magazine
Magazines
Computer
Society Digital
Library
Online
technical
training
courses
Bodies of
Knowledge
resources
Conference
proceedings
Academic (N = 699) 66% 51% 60% 27% 23% 59%
Software design/dev.
(N = 591)
65% 58% 41% 39% 40% 20%
Consulting (N = 329) 77% 61% 53% 42% 39% 22%
Engineering and engineering
management (N = 318)
74% 57% 46% 39% 39% 19%
Research and development
engineering (N = 296)
74% 56% 51% 28% 23% 43%
System admin/IT support
(N = 126)
67% 60% 51% 67% 55% 17%
Design and development
engineering (N = 107)
66% 56% 39% 36% 36% 25%
Other (N = 410) 70% 58% 54% 38% 38% 28%
Benefits by Job Function

10. Assumptions
• Help grow membership by eliminating
barriers related to cost
• Focus on retaining members and
recapturing lapsed members, in addition
to attracting new ones
• Position the Society to build the pipeline
of future members
• Provide flexibility to engage members
with diverse needs
• Be feasible within the context of IEEE-at-
large
• Be built on sound principles that helps
CS set realistic and achievable goals
The Future
Model Should…

11. A New Approach!
Content Bundle which provides flexibility to
meet member needs and is adjusted to align
with price tolerances of young professionals.
Basic
+Training &
Education
+Research and
Information
All
Access
Higher Grade $40 $15 $15 $60

12. Nov-14-2011 12

13. The Path Forward
13
Member growth
Engagement
Customization and
flexibility
Revenue
Complexity for the
member

14. 14
Computer
Society
Today
Content
Bundles
The Future….

15. Ten Great Words
Observe
Think
Change
Dare
Try
Empower
Question
Banish
Grow
Do

16. Chris Mitchell
Predictive Modeling
Who’s not going to renew this year?
• What do we know about
our nonrenews?
• Build a statistical model
to predict which dentists
will become nonrenews
• Using the model to move
members out of this
category

17. What we know about our non-renews
• Current ADA retention rate is
93.9%.
• 43.3%: “I want to be a member,
but could not afford the
membership dues.”
• 29.1%: “The member benefits
are not valuable to me”
• Percentages even higher for new
dentists

18. Building a statistical model
• 22 variables were examined
• Analysis produced a 6-variable
model
• Correctly predicted 7 of 10 non-
renews (tested against 2013,
2014 and 2015 renewal cycles)
• Predictive variables
• Who’s at highest risk?

19. Using the model to increase renewals
• Overview document to share
with state dental societies
• Share monthly lists of those who
fall into this category
• What we can do to increase
renewals among within this
group
• Measurements

20. Delivering Value 20

21. But what is “Value?”
Noun…
The regard that something is held to deserve; the
importance, worth or usefulness of something.
Engagement is the emotional fabric
that drives an association’s success.

22. #1 Challenge
“Difficulty in communicating value”
80% of our life is emotion, and
only 20% is intellect. I am much
more interested in how you feel
than how you think. I can change
how you think, but how you feel
is something deeper and
stronger, and it's something that's
inside you.
- Dr. Frank Luntz, PBS Interview
Emotion
, 80%
Intellect,
20%
Schonher’s 80/20 Rule

23. What does a member WANT?
• Stand out from the crowd
- Project a unique social identity
• Feel a sense of belonging
- Feel like part of the group
• Be the person I want to be
-Fulfill a desire for ongoing self-improvement
• Succeed in life
-Find worth that goes beyond financial or socio-
economic measures

24. Christopher Wojcik
What does this mean to me?
All marketing collateral should contain a version of these basic
elements:
 Background on your organization
 Mission statement, history, etc.
 Elevator pitch for membership
 “As a member…”
 Narrative(s) illustrating how membership impacts potential
member
 Member segmentation or separate collateral
 WIIFM

25. Move beyond the elevator pitch…
The member narrative connects on a visceral level
• It highlights member aspiration and should
create passion in the prospect
• The narrative directly demonstrates value
without discussing ROI

26. Why Focus On The Narrative?
It places the spotlight on engagement.
You avoid the ROI trap.
Simplifies recruitment.

27. Identify WHY members engage
Use members in materials
Implementation

28. Communications and Message
Refinement
Effective marketing communication is moving
away from “mass marketing” tactics and
moving towards more intimacy.

29. 29
One-to-One
Engagement

30. New
Perspective
Partnering for
Mutual Success

31. The Key to planning an effective Member
Engagement Program is to make it a …
Conversation

32. Take a lesson from techniques used in developing “Adult Education”
Personalize
Promote dialogue
Be authentic
Then…Close the Loop
A New Perspective in Developing Your Next
Member Engagement Program

33. • Working definition of engagement and it’s importance.
• Case Study by Eric Berkowitz on “Using Research to Drive
Engagement.”
• Case Study by Christopher Mitchell on “Predictive Modeling.”
• Value, emotion and “Schonher’s 80/20 Rule.”
• Christopher Wocjik and the importance of the Narrative.
• Key to planning an effective member engagement program is to
make it a Conversation.
• Personalize, Promote Dialogue, Be Authentic, Close the Loop
Summary (close the loop)

34. Questions & Discussion

35. Contact Us
Eric Berkowitz
Membership Director
IEEE Computer Society
e.berkowitz@computer.org
(202) 778-4735
Christopher Wojcik
Director, Membership
SME
cwojcik@sme.org
(313) 425-3128
Christopher Mitchell
Director, Membership Marketing
and Research, ADA
mitchellc@ada.org
(312) 440-2864
Erik Schonher
Vice President
Marketing General Incorporated
Erik@MarketingGeneral.com
(703) 706-0358
THANK YOU

36. Hand Outs
Erik Schonher
Vice President
Marketing General Incorporated
Erik@MarketingGeneral.com
(703) 706-0358

38. 2015 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report
50%+ MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT
COMBINATION
Participation in your public social network.
Attendance of annual show and webinars.
Participation in young professional pgm.
Participation in your Private and Public Social Networks.
# of visits to members-only website.
Donations to your association foundation.
TRADE
Participation in young professional program,&
public/private social networks.
# of visits to members-only section of your website.
Attendance at your annual conference, professional
development meetings & webinars.
Number of members who get a certification or
membership upgrades.
INDIVIDUAL
Participation in your professional
program, public /private social
networks and certification programs.
Attendance to webinars and meetings.
Number of visits to members-only
section of website.

39. Practical Advice…
Always tie recruitment efforts to a specific membership benefit
that they can access for free immediately…so they can
experience a great benefit that will compel them to join.
Set up an automated email campaign to send weekly then monthly,
introducing new member benefits and engagement opportunities
depending on how they entered the org and/or topics relevant to
their job titles.
Early engagement is especially critical for retaining first-year
members. Need to reinforce the value of joining in the first year.

40. 1. A welcome email .
2. A New Member Packet .
3. An email containing a one-question survey asking which benefits
/resources the member is most interested in (sent one month after joining).
4. A welcome phone call to anyone who did not respond to the one-question
survey.
5. After 3 months , a new member survey to determine which benefits and
services they found most useful so far.
6. An email encouraging them to get involved by writing a blog post,
presenting a webinar, or self-nominating for a board seat (six months after
joining).
At 9 months begin the renewal process.
New Member Onboarding Model