Members join organisations for a variety of reasons.  Educated, proactive membership organisations understand this and are able to identify the different, distinct membership journeys that are available to their members (be they individuals and/or organisations). The easiest way to identify and manage these journeys is through the use of a proactive and sophisticated membership management solution.

Correctly configured membership solutions will be able to use the profile of the individual and/or organisation to identify which membership journey is most appropriate for them and where they are currently on that journey. From that initial starting point, a proactive membership management solution will be able to guide and manage members as they move through their membership journey, and will be able to suggest tools, information, events and other resources that are available to them at each stage of those journeys.

A major professional membership organisation mapped out the typical journey that an individual would take through their professional life – from initial interest, to education, initial employment, career development, professional recognition, to retirement – and then looked at the subtle differences in needs at each stage of that professional journey, and the alignment with their membership grades. This was an enlightening exercise and gave surfaced lots of interesting thoughts and ideas. Not least, was that at the initial stages of their journey (interest, education, and initial employment) having clear guidance and access to experienced professionals (mentors) was highly valued. At the other end of the journey, experienced professionals valued being able to be recognised and to have a way of putting something back into the profession. A mentoring programme is now in the process of being established, and initial feedback is extremely positive.

For the informed membership organisation, being able to identify distinct membership journeys and associated member personas is an essential foundation to delivering a proactive, relevant and timely membership experience.

Knowing what differentiates one member persona from another (for example, a student member from a full practising member, and a standard member from a fellow), and knowing how members can progress between and across personas, is a vital for membership organisations. This information will help shape the communications and guidance they give to individual members at all stages of their journey. Tailoring the communication channels based on their current phase (what to offer face to face, telephone, email, online, and via social media) is key to improving membership engagement and satisfaction.

The Membership Harnessing the Web survey for 2014 quite clearly echoes these thoughts. 80% of respondents saying that “members expect an interactive, engaging and value-driven online experience”, but 66% of those same respondents stating that they are unable to offer the level of online personalisation required, and only 51% of organisations have integrated their web sites with their back end membership management/CRM solutions (a key enabler to this key member journey driven approach). The good news is that the majority of respondents recognise the need to act in this key area, but there is a still a fair way to go for the majority of us to deliver what we know our members want, and expect, from us.

A fully configured membership management solution – including one based on an appropriately constructed CRM solution – will provide the basis for recording where an individual member is on their particular journey and, dependent upon the inbuilt capabilities of such solutions, will be able to proactively manage and guide each member going forward.

In order to deliver this proactive capability, there are a number of elements that the membership solution will need to provide:

  • A powerful, configurable workflow engine that will allow for business processes and journey steps to be identified and actioned;
  • A configurable product and services catalogue, that will include events and training based offerings, that can be tailored to sit alongside the member journeys with appropriate eligibility criteria; and
  • Seamless integration to and from the website and online presences, including social media channels. This will allow members to know where they are on their particular journeys, what is available to them to help them move forward on their journey, and to enable them to engage in their own time and on their own terms.

By offering such proactive membership journey management, and enabling it via your membership management/CRM solution, your organisation will be adding significant value to each segment of your membership base. As a happy by-product, you will also be generating a powerful “single view” of each member’s profile and their transactions with you and with each other.

The proactive membership organisation will constantly review their membership journeys, and the associated products and services available within these journeys, and refine them as necessary. They will “tweak” and enhance their membership management/CRM solution accordingly to keep it in tune with any changes to the journeys, and they will ensure that all member engagement channels are also updated accordingly.

As part of its key annual member survey, a major leisure based membership organisation asked its members what new service would have the biggest impact on their enjoyment of their leisure pursuit and were told by one segment – characterised as “group leaders” – that accurate up to date weather information and suggestions of what to do if the weather isn’t good, would be valuable. This proved to be a minor change to the web site and to the email/SMS based alerting services in place for such members, and has led to an increase in referral based memberships to that organisation.

In summary, knowing who your members are and what their member journeys should be is the first essential thing you must identify. After that, you must select an appropriate membership management/CRM solution that is able to manage such journeys both online and offline and will give you the ability to effectively and efficiently engage with your members accordingly. Periodic reviews and updates of both the journeys and their support via your chosen membership/CRM solution will ensure that you are able to proactively manage your members effectively and efficiently on an on-going basis.

Things to do:

  1. Map out the member journey(s) through their interest area (profession, leisure pursuit, etc);
  2. Look at what characterises and differentiates each “stage” of the journeys ;
  3. Align your current product and service offerings with your stages, and identify new ones that you should have;
  4. Market test your findings via your web site, member surveys, feedback groups, etc. Look at what others in the membership world are doing and “steal with pride”;
  5. Action a strategy to align around the member journeys; and
  6. Ensure that you constantly re-visit points 1 to 5 to keep yourselves relevant, refresh and up to date with your members needs and expectations. If you don’t, chances are someone else will!

This article was written by Dave Langran, Managing Director of Silverbear Ltd.

The Silverbear membership solution is built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This allows our clients to enjoy an open, secure, familiar and scalable IT platform that can integrate into pretty much all areas of a business operation, now and in the future. Our solution ensures our clients build better relationships with their members and communities to secure higher levels of renewal and recruitment all in an environment that is operationally efficient. Better for your organisation and better for your members. Visit http://www.silverbear.com for more information.