Membership bodies and associations are likely to know the overall number of members they have and how many people engage in their activities and events. But do you truly know who your members are and how they engage across your organisation?
In our experience, even the most sophisticated organisations across all sectors often struggle with this 360-degree view of their stakeholders. But this data and insight should be the starting point for all your strategy planning. It’ll help encourage new members you recruit to an event or product to engage even further and at a deeper level.
The Member Value 2025 Project states: “If the expectation of member value is not met there will be major future implications on member recruitment, retention, engagement, participation and growth.” So, how do you know if you’re providing value?
One way to understand if you’re delivering value to your members is to look at what they’re currently doing using the data assets you already have at your disposal. A deep dive into your CRM data can reveal more about who your members are, how they engage with you and why.
Looking at patterns and trends in this data will begin to tell you where your members are gaining value and where they aren’t. By identifying those who you retain easiest, you can seek out key attributes or behaviours that differentiate them and look to see how you can replicate this across the rest of your base.
WHO?
Age, gender and geographic location will tell you much about who your stakeholders are – even names can be very revealing. These metrics should be readily available in your CRM system. More demographic and lifestyle information can also be added to your existing data to provide a more encompassing view of your members.
This word cloud shows very clearly the likely demographics of one of our charity client’s supporter base just from the typical names they hold.
HOW?
Delving further into your CRM data will tell you how your members are currently engaging with your organisation. If you record how and when members access the benefits on offer you’ll gain a view on who’s engaging with what product or service and to what degree.
How often are people attending your events? Are they accessing learning resources or documents you provide? What services are members finding the most useful?
Building a transactional view of all the touchpoints your members have with your organisation can reveal surprising insights about how they interact and derive value from you.
Our recent work with a membership organisation showed only half their members attended an event in the last two years.
WHY?
Whilst it’s unlikely it’ll tell you why your members do what they do, your CRM system should hold information on when, how and why they originally signed up. What was the message that piqued their interest and where did they hear about you?
All these factors can have a significant effect on the likelihood of retaining your members, the ways they may engage and the value they could bring. In turn, this will lead to differences in the ways you communicate with your members, the information and offers you put forward and the level of your relationship with your stakeholders.
Data shows a decline in membership sign ups in recent years, which is likely due to a change in marketing and the focus of recruitment activity.
Essentially, to flourish as a membership organisation, you need to recruit new members, ensure they’re the right fit and engage them in meaningful ways to drive retention and value – all of which will hopefully lead to a growing, healthy organisation.
We all know this but how do you know if you’re doing it right? Talking to your members will, of course, reveal much of the answer. But when and where you’re unable to reach everyone, the data hidden within your CRM system can hold the key to a deeper understanding. You just need to the right tools to unlock these hidden treasures!
Members aren’t all the same and it’s impossible to engage everyone in the same way. Scarce resources (time and money) mean you must focus your efforts on driving optimal engagement.
Focus attention on those most likely to respond and make sure you’re getting key messages across, at the right time and place. Sometimes, this will be cross-selling further valuable propositions. Other times, it’ll be about nurturing members by providing valuable information. Or it may even be leaving them be because they’re no longer likely to engage.
Wood for Trees has helped many organisations gain a deeper understanding about their supporters through delivering and optimising valuable data and insight. Contact us here if you’d like to find out how we can help you discover the value you’re providing your membership base.
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