Membership organisations rightly devote time and energy to listening to their members. Member surveys and consultations provide valuable insights into satisfaction, needs, areas for improvement, and opinions on important subjects and developments within the profession. But often, one group’s voice is missing: non-members.
Non-members may not complete your regular surveys or attending your events, but their perspectives are crucial. Understanding why they have chosen not to join, and what might change that, can be just as important as understanding what keeps current members engaged. Equally valuable is the perspective of lapsed members, who once saw value in membership, but decided against renewing.
Seeing the full picture
If you only engage with members, you are looking through half the lens. Member feedback highlights strengths and weaknesses of the current membership offer, and areas where members want change. Non-members bring a different angle. They reveal potential hurdles, barriers, misconceptions, and awareness gaps that may prevent people from joining to begin with.
By combining the perspectives of members, non-members, and lapsed members, organisations can gain a fuller picture of their market and potential audience which is vital to remain relevant, competitive, and sustainable, whilst growing membership.
Why non-member research is valuable
- Identifying barriers to joining
Non-members can highlight practical and perceived barriers: cost, lack of awareness, questions of relevance, or assumptions that membership is exclusive to certain roles, geographies or experience levels. These insights can reveal where communications or membership packages may need to shift. - Understanding perceptions of value
Members recognise benefits because they have experienced them first-hand. Non-members judge value differently, often comparing with your competitors, or assuming similar benefits can be accessed elsewhere for free. Lapsed member feedback can be particularly revealing if they once saw value, but something changed. Was it cost versus benefit? Lack of time to engage? Feeling that the offer was no longer relevant? Understanding these insights can directly inform how you articulate and strengthen your value proposition. - Spotting untapped opportunities
Non-members can highlight emerging needs or sub-groups not yet served effectively. Sometimes it means tailoring existing services, other times it means identifying entirely new offerings. - Supporting recruitment and retention strategies
Reasons people don’t join or renew today can explain why others may leave tomorrow. Non-member research helps strengthen recruitment strategies and, crucially, retention by pre-empting future challenges.
How to reach non-members
Reaching beyond your current community can feel daunting. After all, they’re not on your mailing list. But there are effective ways to connect non-members:
- Partner with employers and sector networks
- Promote open-access surveys through social media and industry channels
- Qualitative approaches e.g. focus groups, in-depth interviews
- Engage recently lapsed members to understand their reasons, and what could encourage them to return
- Target professionals by sector or role using GDPR-compliant databases
- Analyse competitor organisations and how they engage with similar audiences
From insight to action
Collecting the views of non-members is only the first step. The real value lies in acting on the findings. Insights can inform strategy and strengthen the membership offer, whether by refining messaging, tailoring packages, rethinking eligibility, or developing services that meet unmet needs and overcome barriers to joining.
Research with non-members can uncover previously unknown perceptions, helping move beyond the current community, reconnecting with the wider profession.
A subtle shift in thinking
It’s natural to focus on your membership community, but dedicating some time to those who are outside your organisation or have stepped away, can pay dividends. After all, every current member was once a non-member, and every lapsed member represents a potential returner.
By embracing all perspectives – members, non-members, and lapsed members – you can strengthen your value, grow your community, and ensure your offer resonates across the profession.
At Enventure Research, we’ve seen how listening to non-members can help professional membership organisations refine their strategies, win back former members, and attract new ones. Please get in touch if we can support your research needs.
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