The Keys to Member Onboarding

A board’s focus often leans towards membership recruitment rather than the steps that follow. Although it is important to recruit new members to grow your organization, it is equally important to make those new members feel welcomed. Creating a welcoming environment will increase member retention and could in turn help to recruit new members. New member retention increases 10% when a new member onboarding plan is implemented. (Memberclicks)

This plan, as simple or complex as you make it, is the key to growing and retaining your membership. There are a few things to keep in mind as you start to formulate a strategy.

1. Set goals. Why are you doing a member onboarding plan? This is an important question to ask yourself as you begin the process. Setting clear and measurable goals will allow you to look back and see if the work was worth it, if the plan is working, or if things should be tweaked.

2. Get started ASAP! In a world of instant gratification, you can never be too quick to reach out to your new members. Even if the first message they receive is automated, you are moving in the right direction. Verify that you received their application or membership and welcome them to the organization.

3. Add some variety. We all know what it is like to receive email after email from companies and organizations. Find creative ways to reach your new members. Consider starting with a welcome email, then sending a direct mail letter, or a phone call from one peer to another. Mixing up who the messaging is coming from is also a great way to introduce the member to a variety of contacts within the organization.

4. Make it personal. There is nothing less enticing than an email that clearly went to everyone. Including the member’s name is one way to increase their chance of reading the message. If it feels like an automated message, it will get thrown in the trash very quickly.

5. Take personal to another level. Aside from personalizing messages with specific names, understand the different groups within your audience. Create buckets for members such as first years, young professionals, large companies, etc. Personalizing the messages to these buckets will help to ensure members are actually getting what they need out of the organization rather than everything it has to offer.

Start looking into what you onboarding plan currently consists of and work from there. The sooner you can get something in place, the more members you will retain in the long run.

Never Stop Innovating

Members join associations to fill a need or desire. These needs and desires are likely to change over time and your association should be open and ready for change. “81% of associations with membership increases in the past five years, and 82% with an increase in overall new members, are significantly more likely – by margins of at least fifteen points – to indicate that their organization has a culture that supports innovation.”(Marketing General Incorporated) The opposite can be said for associations that do not support innovation. These organizations saw a dip in membership numbers. You may be asking, how do I effectively implement innovation within the board and association? Good question.

Start with self-reflection. Within your board, evaluate what has changed and what has remained the same for years. Just because something has been done the same way for years does not always make it the best way for it to be done. How can you improve that for membership? What do members need out of it? Work from there!

If you work with an AMC, ask for their advice! They have seen many different ways of doing things and can be a great resource when it comes to implementing change. They can also provide an outside perspective on how things look, what seems to be working, and what is not.

You may be overwhelmed by the amount of tasks and processes to review. Try walking through the member experience from start to finish.

Review membership models. Are there enough options? Are there too many options? Are the prices fair?

Review benefits. Are members given what they are promised? Do they still want the same benefits? Ask them! A simple survey can answer these questions. This will keep you from wasting time and money on things they may not be interested in while allowing you to focus on things they do want.

From there, review anything else involved with being a member including events, communication, etc. Once you have wrapped up the review process, do not lose momentum. Now is the time to brainstorm and implement change. This is the only way to grow your organization over time. Members will age out or fall off and innovation will allow you to slow this down while growing new demographics. “Associations with increases in one-year and five-year membership numbers are more likely to have higher percentages of Millennials and Generation X members (23% and 31%, respectively). One way these groups are achieving this is through growth in participation with their young professional programs.” (Marketing General Incorporated) Growing these younger generations and allowing them opportunities within the organization is crucial to staying relevant. Without an openness to innovation, your association will stay stagnant or see a decline in membership. Get ahead of this and watch your association prosper.

Getting Creative with Non-Dues Revenue

With the direction of the economy and membership numbers starting to take hits, it is important to find new ways to make money for your organization. Keeping your organization financially stable will allow it to continue to thrive and prepare for when members are ready to start rejoining. If you are looking for ways to raise some funds, try some of the following!

1.     Focus on sponsorships. Find new ways that sponsors can get involved in your organization. This may be simply including them in a newsletter or social media post. It could also be something more in-depth like allowing them to have a few minutes to talk to members on a webinar or virtual conference. Sometimes placing these “commercial breaks” in the middle of educational content allows attendees a minute to relax from the information while giving sponsors an opportunity to connect.

2.     Open up shop! Sites like Café Press allow you to integrate personalized merchandise onto your website. This allows members to buy things like coffee mugs, clothing, stationary and more with your organization’s logo on it. Not only does it bring in money from purchases, it also advertises your organization to non-members.

3.     Create advertisement options. Send information to previous sponsors sharing that they now have the opportunity to advertise on the website. Create contracts between different advertisers and make sure not to go over board with the amount of ads you allow on your site at one time. A scrolling banner ad might be the best way to go about this option.

These solutions might help you to get started on non-dues revenue but this idea itself should remain a continued conversation. You, your board, and your members know what would be the most beneficial for your organization and should always be brainstorming on new ideas.

The Art of Retaining Members

We often get caught up in trying to bring new faces into the organization that we forget how important it is to retain current members. In order to have long term success, focusing on member retention should be at the top of your list. Below are a few tips on how to maintain that relationship and keep members coming back year after year.

1.     Make onboarding a positive and welcoming experience. Make a good first impression on your members. Provide them with all the resources they need whether that is a “welcome package” or a contact for them to connect with. Take a look at the benefits members receive from your association and make sure these are all touched upon as the new member onboards. It also never hurts to add a little fun to this process. Include a small gift that relates to your industry or has your association logo on it or host a happy hour for new members – in person or virtual!

2.     Survey members. Staying in the know on what your members want or need out of the association at a given time, is the best way to make them happy. Survey members at milestones of their membership such as 1 month, 6 months, a year, etc. You can also reach them when you are trying to make a decision as a board. Don’t assume, work to understand.

3.     Be flexible with membership. If circumstances like COVID-19 arise, it is important to understand how that may affect members and their ability to pay for membership. Allow flexible options like pausing membership for a temporary amount of time or discounted membership types.

4.     Communicate with members the way they want to be communicated with. If you have several types of emails that go out each month, allow members the option to subscribe to the emails they want to hear about rather than overwhelming them with communication that is not applicable.

5.     Provide incentives for long term membership. Give members something to look forward to as they grow within the organization and reach milestones of 5, 10 , 20  years! Recognize long term members at your annual meeting, provide a gift for long term members when they reach a certain point, the options are endless. Making these members feel appreciated will encourage others to reach this point.

6.     Survey members on their way out. Understand why members leave the organization by sending an exit survey. Ask open ended questions that will help you to understand how to better improve your organization.

Always continue to recruit new members but don’t forget to take some time understanding and pleasing current members. Provide members with a reason to stay and always reiterate the benefits of being part of the association.

Hosting Virtual Member Gatherings

The world adjusted quite quickly to meeting virtually. It is nobody’s ideal scenario but does the trick until members can come together again. If you are planning on holding a member happy hour or get together, try these tips to make it a successful gathering. 

1. Have a defined purpose. Make sure members understand the purpose of the meeting. The purpose could be to reconnect, discuss how everyone and the industry are being impacted by COVID-19, to play games like trivia or bingo. It does not matter what the intent of the meeting is as long as it is something members could benefit from and relates back to your association’s mission in some way. Explaining this to members in the invite, will encourage more people to come and provide a better understanding of what they are joining. 

1. Create a plan. Once you have a purpose, create a plan on how to facilitate the meeting. Virtual meetings can be awkward and having someone to keep the meeting running smoothly will make members more comfortable and open to coming back for more. Having an ice breaker is a great way to start the meeting and get everyone involved. From there, a schedule of events or discussion points will keep the meeting moving along. 

1. Understand the technology. Whether it is Zoom, Google Hangouts, or one of the many video platforms out there right now, it is best to do a trial run. Make sure that everything works well and that the platform has everything you need it to offer.  

1. Set some guidelines for attendees. Make sure your attendees are also familiarized with the technology. Explain the importance of muting themselves when they aren’t speaking and how to utilize the chat program. This will allow everyone to better communicate with one another. 

Making these virtual gatherings as professional and smooth as possible, will encourage attendees to attend future meetings. People will be less likely to register again if it feels as though you are fumbling through an unplanned gathering.