How to Build Memberships at Every Step in your Organization’s Life Cycle: Wild Apricot Webinar Review

Kristen recently watched a Wild Apricot Webinar on building memberships at every step in your organization’s life cycle. The instructor broke down the various stages and indicated what the focus should be on for each step.

1.     Emerging. When your organization is getting started, it is in the “emerging” stage. This is when early adopters will join looking for something to fill the gap that your organization fills. You should spend your effort focusing on getting the word out, the benefits of being a small organization, and pushing your mission out.

2.     Catching on. The next phase of your organization is “catching on.” In this phase, more people are finding out about the organization and joining. The focus during this stage should be creating processes, reducing fiction, and ensuring an easy time for new members.

3.     Getting the Hang of It. Once your organization is more established, you branding and staffing should have improved. The “getting the hang of it” phase is when people start to care more about the brand rather than just what you are offering. Your attention should be on efficiency and transparency.

4.     Time to Shift. At this point, you are fully set up and known in your industry. You have a broader audience and should be more responsive as well as putting in effort to stay relevant.

With each step of your organization, it is important to keep members happy and returning. This is what will ultimately keep the organization afloat.

How to Increase Online Membership Renewals

Collecting checks in the mail can be a bit clunky and unnecessary during due renewal season. It is a constant waiting game. As the processor you are waiting on the check to arrive, then depositing it and the member is waiting to see if the money goes through. This process would be made a lot simpler if members moved their payment process online. It is quicker and more convenient for both you and the member. In order to give members that extra push to online, try the following tips!

1.     Express the benefits. Explain to members why it is beneficial for them to pay online. This can be done in an email blast, at a member meeting, or on a handout! Figure out which communication method fits with your membership and run with it.

2.     Simplify the process. Make sure that the payment portal is easy to find and use on your website. Have a button on your home page as well as a separate page for renewing membership. The more places members can find where to pay, the better. Include instructions on how to use the payment portal to make the steps even simpler.

3.     Allow mobile payments. Ensure that your website and the payment portal are both mobile friendly. Many people might remember to pay their dues when they are away from a computer. If they go to pay on their phone and the process is not responsive, they might abandon the idea all together.

4.     Offer an incentive. If you are still seeing resistance to online renewals, offer a small discount to those that pay online. Sometimes that extra push one time can lead to a habit forming action.

Moving the payment process online will make your job easier and will eventually make members happier. The hardest part will be getting older members to change their ways but once they do, nobody will be looking back.

Grow your Young Professional Membership

Do you ever take a look around at your membership and notice that the group is full of seasoned professionals that are inching closer and closer to retirement? If so, it might be time to start targeting a younger crowd that can stay in the association for years to come. Obtaining young professionals as members, however, can be tricky. The millennial generation is known for wanting experiences rather than material items. That means you truly have to give them an experience and offers they cannot receive elsewhere. Luckily, a new group of college graduates enters the work force every year so you have a new group to target each year.

Reach. In order to convince young professionals to join your organization, you need to reach them where they are. Set up a booth at their college fair, contact the leader of a club that is related to your association, get online. Students at a fair are always looking to get involved in something and students in a club are already involved. These are the perfect types of people to bring in to the association. They are open and willing to learn about something that is more of an extra-curricular. Reaching millennials on social media is also always a good move. When doing this, however, make sure to be relatable and provide useful content. You can’t just have social media and expect someone in a younger generation to follow it.

Membership levels. Students coming out of college are often drowning in their student loans. The last thing they will want to do is put more money into getting a leg up in their career. Some options would be to offer a free membership to students or a free or discounted first year of membership. Offering free membership to students, allows them to get involved in the association early and understand the value the organization holds. They are then more likely to continue paying for their membership after their time in college. If you want to ensure that you hold onto them during that transition period, the free or discounted first year will most likely keep them hooked.

Benefits. When trying to attract a younger crowd, make sure to stress the benefits. Networking is a huge benefit to post grads. They are looking to make connections in the industry and often struggle with finding a place to do that. These connections are great but there is also a chance that they will find real friends among the members. This can also be an incentive to join. Push the people aspect of the association and any other benefits that would specifically apply to someone just entering the work force.

If you make these adjustments and understand your target audience, your association will be booming with young professionals before you know it!

Recharging your Membership: Your Membership Webinar Review

I started to notice lately that one of the associations that I manage was losing their membership’s interest. Less people were showing up for events, emails were being opened up less and less, and nobody was volunteering for committees. Because of this, I decided to watch Your Membership’s webinar, “Recharging your Membership.”

The webinar focused around an idea that is often applied in personal relationships, but should be applied to professional ones as well, including associations. That idea is that, “People remember NOT WHAT YOU DO, but how you MAKE THEM FEEL.” Due to society’s shift to a more experience-driven value proposition, it is important to think of how your members feel rather than what you are providing them.

People are more emotional, expect things to exceed their expectations, and want things that are intangible. This can be challenging for associations to deliver. Each member is different and might have a different expectation that they are looking for you to exceed. Your members, however, should fall into a similar audience. They all chose to join the association for a reason. That reason is something you should focus on when delivering their experience.

The webinar also covered the fact that a member’s last great experience is now their new expectation. You want to leave a good impression in their mind at the end of each time you have with them. If you are hosting a conference, end with a motivational speaker, a concert or a bag full of goodies. Make them feel appreciated and excited!

The first step in giving your member’s a positive experience, however, starts much earlier and often with technology. Make sure your association’s website is easy to navigate and does not cause them any trouble. If they do not enjoy their experience on the website, they may be less likely to sign up for events or look for information in the future on the site. Ensure that it is clean, easy to read, and aesthetically pleasing. The same goes for any emails that are sent to that member. These are all contact points in which you can leave a good impression.

Shifting your association to be more experience-driven is a necessity in order to maintain a competitive advantage nowadays. Being non-member centric is the biggest threat to your organization. Pull members in and retain them by involving them in the conversation. Create an idea box for members to reach you at, thank them after every interaction and simply make them feel welcomed. This actions can go a long way in membership retention! I am excited to take what I learned and apply it to my own association to help them grow and maintain their members.

Wild Apricot Webinar Review: Member OnBoarding

Continuing education is something we value strongly at Impact. Wild Apricot’s webinars always prove to be incredibly helpful and informative. Both Jill and JoEllen watched the webinar, “3 New Strategies to Boost Your Member OnBoarding, Engagement, and Retention.”

These two learned that members decide within the first three emails from you whether they will continue reading future emails! This is the primary method of contact between most associations and their members, meaning members NEED to be reading those emails in order to stay up to date and informed.

Maintaining a member’s attention, however, is on you. Wild Apricot offered a plan for your first three emails.

·      Let members know that you know what their problem is

·      Solve that problem

·      And connect them to your Value Trigger Point

A New Member Engagement Study found that onboarding programs increase new member renewal ratees on average by 10%. More so than ever today, people are focused on experiences rather than things. Creating a positive early-on experience for members is crucial!