When you are looking to make changes to your organization, the first place you often turn is to your members. Understanding what they want and how they feel about potential changes helps you to determine if you are spending time and energy in the right place. However, the most difficult obstacle is often the process of surveying members and actually receiving a response.
So, how can you get members to welcome surveys and provide their valuable feedback?
Associations run on volunteers. Depending on your industry, however, volunteers might be hard to come by. People are often working full-time jobs, taking care of their families, and maintaining a social life outside of all of that. This schedule does not always leave much time to volunteer additional time to an association, not to mention that members might belong to multiple associations!
Once we get members in the door, our next step should be getting them engaged with the association. They will not be renewing if they step into a community that feels like a bunch of online profiles rather than real people supporting the same mission. You may already be putting in efforts to get members involved, but it never hurts to review your processes. Here are a few tips to bring those profiles to life.
Despite the numerous forms of communication that have popped up over the last decade, email is still high on the list of ways to contact your members. Because of this, however, members are receiving emails from brands, other associations, colleagues, etc. In order to ensure they are reading your emails, you must be strategic and thoughtful.
