Creating memorable and engaging member experiences can be incredibly challenging due to competing priorities at each stage of the journey which can be time consuming to manage. However, membership organisations have a key competitive advantage: data.
Users are expecting to give over personal details as part of their contract with your organisation. So personalisation, as it can be automated relatively easily, can be both a cost and time effective method of creating a member-centric user journey.
But how do you maximise this opportunity to create an incredible member experience from start to finish? When considering personalisation, the key is to map out the entire membership journey. And although each organisation is different, there are three broad phases of the user journey you should focus on: ‘before membership’, ‘during sign up’, and ‘membership’ phases.
Before membership phase
A member’s experience prior to joining is possibly the most vital stage of their online journey with your membership organisation, as it directly influences the growth of your member base. Yet at this point there is little to no personal data on an individual, and any attempts to capture personal data so soon is likely to be a ‘turn off’ for your prospective members this early in their journey.
First you need to define what is meant by a personalised experience. It doesn’t have to use personal data about an individual. Instead, you can tack and analyse their behaviours and actions when interacting with your digital platforms to help create a more targeted, personalised experience. As such you could focus on targeting specific content based on previously visited pages using smart recommendation engines (such as Recombee) or implement an intelligent remarketing campaign to entice members back to your website via your social media profiles. This subtle use of personalisation can increase your chances of converting visitors to members.
During sign up phase
A membership organisation can ask much more specific questions than other products or services without seeming invasive, naturally lending these experiences to feel more personalised. For example, you could ask questions about a member’s qualifications or address. But how about personalising this phase during sign up? A multi-step sign-up process is a great way of achieving this as you can gradually personalise the experience as you gain more data from the member. For example, an organisation such as the National Trust could present information about their nearest properties after a user enters their address. Alternatively, a qualification-based membership organisation could inform a member of how many university alumni are also members. These small details can help humanise and customise your members’ experience, right at their moment of conversion.
Membership phase
This phase is traditionally where membership organisations focus their personalisation energy, and for good reason. You can now combine the data collected from user actions, such as page views, along with the personal data offered up by users from their membership information to create truly personalised experiences mapped across all devices and platforms. From creating fully personalised member dashboards where you can present the latest information that is relevant to their membership and browsing history, through to customising newsletter content based on their membership level, this combination of action data, and personal data has limitless potential and can be a key driver in membership retention.
There are of course many more phases that make up a full membership user journey. But regardless of these phases, membership organisations should consider personalisation as an excellent tool for both growing their membership base, whilst also ensuring that they create an experience that retains their current members as well. By breaking down the user journey into its identifiable parts, you can ensure that you tailor your approach to maximise its effectiveness.
If you’re interested in how user journey mapping can help improve your members’ experience, you can download our free Member Journey Mapping Tool. It’ll help you map out every single member touch point so you can start personalising their experience today and increase your engagement rate tomorrow.
Distinction is a digital strategy agency that partners with membership organisations on their digital transformation journey. From delivering engaging online member experiences to digital marketing tactics that consistently increase member acquisition and retention rates, our active strategy approach is member-centric and delivers constant progress against business KPIs.
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