Do Your Association Benefits Match the Top Reasons Your Members Joined?

It’s always frustrating for associations to lose members during the renewal process.

But, before you go into panic mode and try to recruit a bunch of new members to make up for lost revenue, we’re going to show you a different approach to member retention that will help your entire organization.

See, when membership numbers dwindle, it is usually a sign that your association is no longer providing the benefits that once attracted your existing members.

As we discussed in our article Are Your Association Fees too High?, your members need a perceived value for their money.

When members are initially interested because of the benefits your association offers — such as opportunities for networking and insider events — they tend to drop off if they feel like they’re not receiving enough value for the dues they’re paying.

To give your members their money’s worth, you need to take a critical look at the benefits your organization is offering and analyze if they’re helping or hindering your membership retention rates.

Today, we’re going to talk all about how to reduce churn the fast and easy way so your membership retention rates stay high.

What Do Your Members Want the Most?

Your organization’s benefits have to match what your members really want in order for them to stick around.

While every association is different, the most popular reasons people join clubs or organizations are usually:

The Ability to Network

Niche organizations are beehives of activity from like-minded individuals, which is perfect for networking. People enjoy connecting with others who went through similar circumstances and look for organizations where they can learn valuable advice.

You have members with emerging talent mingling with continuing success stories to further the professional opportunities of the whole club.

Plus, in this current economic climate, it’s just as important to get a foot in the door of a major company as it is to nail the interview. Members in better positions have the ability to help fast-track eager new members by posting available jobs within their respective companies.

A Space to Practice Skills

Your members may want to volunteer for administrative positions to gain experience in recruiting members, fundraising or team leading during an important event.

Members have the chance to create white papers together, host Twitter chats with other thought leaders, or organize workshops or conferences together to brush up on their communication skills and get their work in front of influential leaders.

All of these coveted skills make a big impact when they’re on your member’s resume. They highlight your member’s professional experience in a niche they care about, which goes a long way to establish authority.

Access to Specialized Information for Professional Development

Everyone wants to stay informed about what’s going on in their industry.

Certain professions need ongoing access to training materials to stay accredited in their positions. They’ll need to keep up with new testing requirements, licensing information, research tactics, etc.

Your organization may receive discounts for courses or training materials, which is an attractive benefit to members who need to pass their certifications in order to be eligible for a raise or position change.

Does your organization also publish work by your members?

Giving your members the chance to spread their accomplishments thanks to your organization’s credible platform may be a huge incentive as well.

Again, these are just a few common benefits members look for in an organization. Your organization’s benefits may be completely different — and that’s okay — as long as those benefits live up to your members’ expectations and provide value.

So how do you know if you’re succeeding?

Are You Providing Enough Value for Your Members?

Dean West, FASAE, president of Association Laboratory, Inc., says that:

“When we study the number of benefits that are essential to the decision to join or engage, most of our clients are astounded by how small the number is. Just because an association offers 25 different things doesn’t mean the prospective/current member cares about 25 things.

Rarely do we identify more than four or five key benefits that influence the decision. The result is a lot of wasted effort on benefits that don’t improve member value or corresponding membership business metrics.”

In other words: Simplify.

Once you know what your members are looking for, you can focus all of your attention on those very important benefits while discarding the mediocre ones.

Shifting this concentration on quality over quantity will improve your retention rates and even attract new members.

Here’s how to discover what your organization does best for its members.

Build an Online Community

Creating an online community for your organization isn’t only essential for keeping everyone connected, it also helps to create your member persona.

Once you understand who your member really is, you can start to figure out which type of benefits appeal to them most.

MemberMan essentially creates your association’s very own social media site where members take advantage of features such as introductions, comments, tags, messages and team pages to connect with other group members.

However, you can always try to set up this community on your website in the form of open forums and commenting, or by using group pages on established social media sites like Facebook.

Here members will share content that’s relevant to the challenges they’re facing.

Check posts with high engagement (aka, the most ‘likes’ or shares) and ask if your organization is helping to solve these problems for your members.

Pay attention to this online outlet to really hear what your members want from your organization — this includes social media.

Analyze Your Social Media Trends

Consistently engaging with your members on social media is the best way to get a grip on your organization in real time. You’ll be able to see firsthand what your members are interested in and trending towards.

Track your member’s interests by using your social media analytics to tell you what resonates with your followers.

If you get more retweets on member profiles than you do on certification changes, you’ll know that your members are interested in sharing success stories. You may think about highlighting your members more frequently, like a weekly inspirational spotlight.

Don’t be afraid to ask your members for feedback.

Start a discussion about the challenges they’re facing. You may be surprised to learn a whole new area of benefits you’ll be able to provide simply because you asked what your members really wanted.

Speaking of which…

Use Surveys to Get the Answers Directly from the Source

Surveys are the fastest way to get answers directly from your current and potential members.

Using a service such as Survey Monkey, create questionnaires to send out via your email newsletters and social media posts.

Your members will have the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback and will be free to speak their mind and give you their honest opinions.

Try your hand at asking a variety of questions, such as which benefits they’re using the most, which they would be most disappointed to see scaled back, how to improve the benefits you’re providing, etc.

You’ll have a gameplan in no time.

Put All of the Pieces Together

If you learn from your surveys that an overwhelming majority of your members hang around for the social aspects of your club, maybe you should concentrate on building an online community for them and host regular meetups.

If discussions are sticky threads in your forums, your organization may want to schedule Twitter chats with influential speakers, or host discussion-type “Ask Me Anything” chats.

Your goal should always be providing more value to your members than the price of their dues. You want your members to feel as if their dues are more than a fair price for all the benefits they receive in return.

Look, we want your members to stick around just as much as you do, that’s why our number one goal is reducing churn. We think the best way to do this is by increasing engagement with your top-tier organization leaders and your members.
Get involved and ask your members what they really want. Only then can you be certain that you’re giving them the most bang for their buck — and they’ll be sure to stick with your club.