2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report by Tony Rossell_Marketing_General_Incroprated

2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

Presented by Tony Rossell

What are the Trends in Association Membership?

2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

• Fourth Year Produced by MGI• Over 691 Participating Associations• Up Front Disclaimer

What not Why Correlation not Causation

Research Goals

1. Gain an understanding of the membership marketing practices of associations

2. Determine the challenges in membership marketing faced by individual membership and trade associations

3. Define what practices they believe are most effective

4. Understand through cross tabulation with new member, renewal and growth numbers what practices correlate with better outcomes

Research Methodology

1. Survey open from January 24, 2012 to March 3, 2012 – 6 Weeks Total

2. 5,862 requests to participate

3. 11.7% response rate with 691 participating associations (one response per association)

4. Margin of error + / - 3.7% with a 95% confidence level

Section 1: Association Statistics

“Is Association Membership Dead or Dying?”

CHANGE IN NEW MEMBER ACQUISITION OVER PAST YEAR — COMPRESSED

2012

(N = 687)

2011

(N = 638)

2010

(N = 405)

2009

(N = 325)

Percentage Increased Overall 60% 57% 42% 49%

Percentage Unchanged Overall 17% 21% 20% 22%

Percentage Declined Overall 14% 16% 26% 21%

Percentage Unsure 10% 8% 12% 10%

CHANGE IN MEMBERSHIP OVER PAST ONE YEAR—COMPRESSED

2012

(N = 689)

2011

(N = 642)

2010

(N = 405)

2009

(N = 331)

Percentage Increased Overall 52% 49% 36% 45%

Percentage Unchanged Overall 16% 16% 14% 16%

Percentage Declined Overall 29% 34% 48% 35%

Percentage Unsure 3% 2% 3% 5%

CHANGE IN RENEWAL RATE OVER PAST YEAR — COMPRESSED

2012

(N = 683)

2011

(N = 638)

2010

(N = 403)

2009

(N = 326)

Percentage Increased Overall 36% 32% 21% 22%

Percentage Unchanged Overall 33% 37% 27% 39%

Percentage Declined Overall 22% 24% 44% 31%

Percentage Unsure 10% 7% 8% 9%

TOP CHALLENGES TO GROWING MEMBERSHIP

2012

(N = 683)

2011

(N = 631)

Membership too diverse; difficulty meeting needs of different segments 26% N/A

Difficulty attracting and/or maintaining younger members 24% N/A

Insufficient staff 24% 16%

Perceptions of the association and/or its culture (i.e., old boy’s network, not

specialized enough, etc.)24% N/A

Insufficient budget 21% 13%

Changing demographics of industry 18% N/A

Weak product or service offerings 18% 13%

Lack of strategy or plan 17% 11%

Competitive associations 16% N/A

Industry consolidation 14% N/A

Inadequate association management database 13% 8%

Inadequate research to understand market 10% 7%

Lack of marketing expertise 10% 7%

Market saturation 10% 9%

Difficulty in converting student memberships to regular memberships 9% N/A

Lack of integration between national and chapters 8% N/A

Misalignment of goals between board and executive staff 4% N/A

Economy 3% N/A

Poor customer service 1% N/A

Other 12% 16%

Section 2: Membership LifecycleTM

Strategies

“What’s working in membership marketing?”

Membership Awareness

METHODS FOR CREATING ASSOCIATION AWARENESS

2012

(N = 683)

2011

(N = 638)

2010

(N = 405)

2009

(N = 599)

Email 94% 71% 67% 61%

Association website 92% 87% 88% 85%

Word-of-mouth recommendations 83% 90% 91% 77%

Promotion to/at your own conferences/ conventions 79% 65% 66% 65%

Advertising in your own publications 72% 48% 56% 51%

Association-sponsored social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn) 71% 51% 56% 35%

Direct mail 69% 62% 66% 76%

Association-sponsored events 68% 57% 56% 37%

Cross-sell to non-members who buy your products or attend your conferences 61% 56% 59% 52%

Exhibiting at other conferences 61% 50% 51% 53%

Public relations 61% 40% 39% 29%

Local events/meetings 60% 53% N/A N/A

Search engines (organic) 48% 45% 47% 34%

Advertising in outside publications 47% 31% 31% 28%

Chapters 42% 38% 46% 39%

Job board 39% 24% 23% 23%

Personal sales calls 32% 25% 22% 24%

QR codes 30% N/A N/A N/A

Accreditation promotion 24% 18% 20% 14%

Telemarketing 22% 16% 18% 18%

Paid banners on other websites 21% 12% 13% 12%

Mobile apps 20% N/A N/A N/A

Search engines (paid or pay-per-click) 20% 14% 20% 8%

Radio or TV 15% 7% 5% 7%

Texting 6% N/A N/A N/A

Other 3% 4% 3% 3%

Do not know 1% 0% 0% 1%

How does your association create brand awareness of your organization?

Top three methods for creating brand awareness.Blue: Upward trend

SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS OFFICIALLY USED BY ASSOCIATIONS

2012

(N = 685)

2011

(N = 641)

2010

(N = 405)

Facebook 86% 91% 75%

Twitter 79% 71% 66%

LinkedIn (Public Access) 56% 53% 59%

YouTube 53% 45% 35%

Association Blog 30% 27% 30%

LinkedIn (Members Only) 30% 28% N/A

Association Listserv 22% 24% 31%

Private Association Social Network 19% 18% 17%

Flickr 15% 15% N/A

Google+ 11% N/A N/A

Wikis 8% 9% 13%

Ning/Groupsite 4% 4% 6%

Second Life 1% 2% 3%

MySpace 1% 1% 4%

None 3% 6% 8%

Other 4% 4% 6%

Which social media does your organization officially use?

Time to Achieve 50 Million Users

1. Print Hundreds of Years

2. Radio 38 Years

3. TV 13 Years

4. Internet 4 Years

5. iPod 3 Years

6. Facebook 24 Months

7. Twitter 12 Months

8. Google+ 6 Months*

* Stephan Scherzer, CEO, VDZ - German Magazine Publishers

Membership Recruitment

EFFECTIVENESS OF MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT MARKETING CHANNELS

Marketing ChannelMost Effective

(N=685)

Least Effective

(N=630)

Word-of-mouth recommendations 54% 3%

Email 37% 11%

Association website 34% 7%

Direct mail 30% 24%

Cross-sell to non-members who buy your products or attend your conferences 20% 7%

Personal sales calls 17% 7%

Promotion to/at your own conferences/conventions 16% 9%

Association-sponsored events 16% 4%

Chapters 14% 8%

Exhibiting at other conferences 10% 28%

Local events/meetings 10% 5%

Promotional incentives 8% 16%

Association-sponsored social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn) 5% 18%

Public relations 5% 11%

Telemarketing 4% 13%

Accreditation promotion 4% 4%

Advertising in your own publications 3% 17%

Advertising in outside publications 2% 25%

Search engines (organic) 2% 8%

Search engines (paid or pay-per-click) 1% 10%

Job board 1% 13%

Radio or TV 1% 11%

Paid banners on other websites -- 14%

Texting -- 5%

Other 3% 3%

TOP THREE MOST EFFECTIVE AND LEAST EFFECTIVE

MARKETING CHANNELS BY ASSOCIATION TYPE

Individual Membership Associations Percentage

Most Effective

Word-of-mouth recommendations 51%

Email 39%

Direct mail 37%

Least Effective

Exhibiting at other conferences 31%

Advertising in outside publications 23%

Direct mail 20%

Organizational/Trade Associations Percentage

Most Effective

Word-of-mouth recommendations 56%

Personal sales calls 37%

Email 30%

Least Effective

Direct mail 34%

Advertising in outside publications 28%

Exhibiting at other conferences 22%

REASONS MEMBERS JOIN ASSOCIATION

2012

(N = 684)

2011

(N = 641)

2010

(N = 400)

2009

(N = 303)

Networking with others in the field 22% 25% 24% 22%

Access to specialized and/or current information 12% 14% 13% 23%

Advocacy 12% 10% 11% N/A

Continuing education 8% 7% 11% 5%

Learning best practices in their profession 7% 7% 9% 8%

Accreditation or certification 5% 4% 4% 2%

Discounts on products or meeting purchases 5% 5% 6% 9%

Association publications 4% 3% 6% 3%

Conferences/trade shows 4% 5% N/A N/A

Prestige of belonging to the association 4% 5% N/A N/A

Access to industry thought leaders 2% 1% N/A N/A

Advancing in their position 2% 2% 2% 4%

Members-only education 2% N/A N/A N/A

Access to career resources 1% 1% 3% 1%

Access to industry benchmark studies 1% 1% 1% N/A

Insurance (Affinity programs) 1% 1% N/A N/A

Not sure 1% 1% 2% N/A

Other 6% 8% 9% 10%

Membership Engagement

COMMUNICATION METHODS USED TO ONBOARD NEW MEMBERS

2012

(N = 685)

2011

(N = 643)

2010

(N = 402)

2009

(N = 337)

Email welcome 72% 71% 72% 62%

Mailed welcome kit 64% 67% 68% 83%

Membership card or certificate 51% 51% 59% 58%

Volunteer or staff welcome phone call 29% 30% 32% 26%

In-person new-member reception or orientation 25% 23% 20% 19%

New-member introductory email series 25% 25% 27% 14%

Special discounts on purchases 24% 23% 23% 17%

Invite to chapter meeting 22% 18% 25% 23%

New-member newsletter (print or electronic) 16% 15% 20% 11%

New-member survey 16% 17% 18% 20%

New-member gift (e.g., gift card, calendar, notepad) 12% 11% -- --

Custom new-member renewal series 10% 10% 11% 7%

Telemarketing welcome phone call 10% 12% 10% 4%

New-member webinars 9% N/A N/A N/A

Early or “at-birth” renewal 4% 5% 4% 2%

No special communication 3% 2% 2% 2%

Other 3% 5% 5% 8%

Which of the following communication methods do you use to help onboard or engage new members in the association? (Check all that apply)

What proportion of your members do you estimate engage with your organization in the following areas EACH YEAR?

AREAS OF ENGAGEMENT

N 0%1%-

5%

6%-

10%

11%-

15%

16%-

20%

21%-

30%

31%-

40%

41%-

50%

Over

50%N/A

Attend your annual conference/trade show 644 1% 12% 13% 11% 12% 11% 11% 6% 10% 12%

Attend at least one of your professional development meetings 663 1% 12% 13% 10% 9% 10% 9% 6% 9% 23%

Acquire or maintain a certification with your organization 666 2% 9% 6% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 8% 57%

Attend at least one of your webinars 658 2% 15% 14% 9% 8% 6% 2% 4% 4% 36%

Purchase a non-dues product (other than previously checked) 655 2% 18% 11% 9% 8% 8% 3% 3% 6% 33%

Purchase a non-dues service (other than previously checked) 658 3% 17% 11% 9% 7% 6% 3% 4% 6% 36%

Purchase or maintain insurance through your organization 658 2% 14% 5% 3% 3% 2% 2% 1% 3% 64%

Purchase a book or directory 653 2% 19% 10% 6% 5% 5% 3% 2% 3% 46%

Participate in your public social network 666 3% 25% 21% 13% 10% 8% 5% 3% 3% 10%

Participate in your private social network 660 3% 20% 13% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 38%

Upgrade their membership 658 2% 16% 8% 6% 3% 1% 1% 2% 3% 58%

Volunteer within your organization 664 2% 32% 21% 14% 11% 7% 4% 2% 2% 7%

Donate to your association foundation or PAC 662 3% 23% 13% 6% 5% 2% 2% 1% 2% 42%

Participate in your young professional program 656 2% 16% 8% 4% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 67%

Participate in your mentoring program 661 4% 18% 5% 3% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 66%

Membership Renewals

3%

4%

7%

22%

38%

22%

3%

3%

6%

10%

23%

34%

23%

2%

3%

4%

11%

21%

40%

18%

3%

2%

4%

7%

16%

37%

29%

4%

Under 50%

50% to 59%

60% to 69%

70% to 79%

80% to 89%

90% or higher

Not sure

2012 (N=685)

2011 (N=643)

2010 (N=403)

2009 (N=337)

What is your overall membership renewal rate?

What is your retention rate for first year members?

10%

13%

12%

19%

17%

12%

18%

Under 50%

50% to 59%

60% to 69%

70% to 79%

80% to 89%

90% or higher

Not sure

(N=682)

MARKETING CHANNELS USED FOR MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

2012

(N = 685)

2011

(N = 644)

2010

(N = 405)

2009

(N = 333)

Email marketing 88% 88% 88% 83%

Direct mail 81% 82% 85% 91%

Staff phone calls 53% 52% 49% 56%

Peer member contacts 23% 20% 24% 31%

Telemarketing 21% 24% 23% 27%

Magazine cover wraps 17% 15% N/A N/A

Board phone calls 17% 18% 15% 28%

Social media contacts 15% 13% N/A N/A

Chapter phone calls 13% 14% 14% 15%

Fax 9% 10% 11% 17%

Employer contacts 6% 8% 7% 4%

PURL 3% N/A N/A N/A

Texting 2% N/A N/A N/A

Renewal app for mobile devices 1% N/A N/A N/A

Other 3% 3% 3% 4%

Which of the following marketing channels do you use for membership renewals?

How many membership renewal CONTACTS (such as mailings, emails, phone calls) do you have in your renewal series?

1%

20%

40%

23%

7%

3%

2%

2%

3%

2%

23%

44%

18%

7%

1%

1%

2%

1%

2%

22%

44%

20%

6%

2%

1%

2%

2%

1%

21%

46%

19%

7%

2%

1%

1%

3%

None

1 to 3

4 to 6

7 to 9

10 to 12

13 to 15

16 to 18

More than 18

Not sure

2012 (N=686)

2011 (N=642)

2010 (N=404)

2009 (N=337)

RENEWAL RATES BY NUMBER OF RENEWAL CONTACTS

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=356)

Renewal Rate1-6 renewal

contacts

7 or more

renewal

contacts

Less than 80% 49% 44%

80% or higher 51% 56%

9%

5%

7%

3%

9%

38%

16%

8%

4%

2%

8%

6%

7%

4%

12%

33%

16%

8%

3%

3%

6%

8%

5%

3%

14%

35%

15%

7%

3%

3%

10%

8%

7%

5%

13%

33%

13%

5%

4%

5%

Immediately after welcoming

Prior to 6 months before expiration

At 6 months prior to expiration

5 months prior to expiration

4 months prior to expiration

3 months prior to expiration

2 months prior to expiration

1 month prior to expiration

The month of expiration

Not sure

2012 (N=685)

2011 (N=641)

2010 (N=405)

2009 (N=336)

When do you start the renewal effort?

RENEWAL RATES BY START OF RENEWAL EFFORT

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=354)

Renewal Rate

Three months

or less prior to

expiration

More than three

months prior to

expiration

Less than 80% 51% 40%

80% or higher 49% 60%

2%

7%

13%

23%

9%

2%

8%

11%

21%

3%

2%

8%

13%

24%

7%

3%

8%

11%

22%

3%

1%

9%

14%

23%

7%

2%

8%

14%

19%

3%

2%

9%

13%

21%

13%

21%

4%

At the month of expiration

1 month after expiration

2 months after expiration

3 months after expiration

4 months after expiration

5 months after expiration

6 months after expiration

More than 6 months after expiration

We don't stop contact

Not sure

2012 (N=688)

2011 (N=639)

2010 (N=404)

2009 (N=336)

Not asked in 2009

Not asked in 2009

Not asked in 2009

When do you end renewal efforts (stop renewal contacts to the member)?

RENEWAL RATES BY END OF RENEWAL EFFORT

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=354)

Renewal Rate1-3 months

after expiration

More than three

months after

expiration

Less than 80% 51% 43%

80% or higher 49% 57%

Do you offer any of the following renewal options?

46%

32%

26%

24%

22%

22%

15%

46%

32%

28%

24%

25%

21%

15%

46%

33%

28%

22%

19%

10%

Installment renewal payments (monthly, quarterly)

Multi-year renewals

Renewal bill-me

Automatic annual credit card renewal

Lifetime membership

Early renewal discounts

Automatic Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) renewals

2012 (N=445)

2011 (N=440)

2010 (N=246)

Not asked in 2010

REASONS FOR NOT RENEWING MEMBERSHIP

2012

(N = 687)

2011

(N = 639)

2010

(N = 400)

2009

(N = 333)

Budget cuts/economic hardship of company 17% N/A N/A N/A

Lack of engagement with the organization 14% N/A N/A N/A

Employer won’t pay or stopped paying dues 12% 15% 25% 22%

Could not justify membership costs with any significant ROI 11% N/A N/A N/A

Lack of value 11% 24% 36% 20%

Left the field, industry, or profession 8% 12% N/A N/A

Too expensive 5% 14% 11% 22%

Forgot to renew 4% 7% 6% 11%

Lack of relevance 3% N/A N/A N/A

Company closed or merged 2% 7% N/A N/A

Disappointment with the benefits/services 2% N/A N/A N/A

Moved 2% N/A N/A N/A

Retirement 2% 2% 4% 4%

Can get materials from other members/other sources 1% N/A N/A N/A

Disagree with the advocacy position in the association 1% N/A N/A N/A

Lost job 1% 3% 4% 3%

Poor customer service 1% -- 1% --

Student memberships do not convert to full memberships 1% N/A N/A N/A

Switch to competitor 1% 1% 1% --

Not sure 2% 6% 2% 4%

Other 4% 9% 12% 14%

BASIC ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES BY RENEWAL RATE

Less than 80% 80% or Higher

Under $50 9% 3%

$50 - $99 21% 7%

$100 - $149 15% 6%

$150 - $199 16% 10%

$200 - $299 11% 13%

$300 - $399 7% 10%

$400 - $499 2% 6%

$500 - $749 5% 7%

$750 - $999 2% 3%

$1,000 and over 3% 7%

Varies by company size 9% 29%

Membership Reinstatement

10%

22%

13%

10%

5%

1%

31%

5%

4%

11%

22%

14%

9%

4%

1%

30%

5%

3%

10%

24%

15%

6%

6%

1%

24%

7%

7%

8%

25%

13%

6%

5%

1%

30%

7%

6%

We don't contact lapsed members

1 year after expiration

2 years after expiration

3 years after expiration

4 to 5 years after expiration

6 to 10 years after expiration

We continue indefinitely to contact lapsed members

Not sure

Other

2012 (N=686)

2011 (N=641)

2010 (N=403)

2009 (N=333)

After a membership lapses or expires, how long do you continue to contact the member to invite them to reinstate their membership?

RENEWAL RATES BY HOW LONG ASSOCIATION CONTINUES

TO CONTACT MEMBER FOR REINSTATEMENT

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS (N=305)

Renewal Rate1-3 years after

expiration

More than three

years after

expiration

Less than 80% 51% 42%

80% or higher 49% 58%

Section 3: About the Participating Associations

MEAN AMOUNT SPENT ON MEMBERSHIP

MARKETING PROGRAMS BY NUMBER OF PAID MEMBERS

Up to 1,000 1,001-5,000 5,001-20,000More than

20,000

Acquisition* $17,643 $34,632 $101,931 $503,470

Retention** $12,711 $19,247 $52,240 $298,896

*Acquisition includes money spent on awareness, branding, and recruitment. **Retention includes money spent on engagement/on boarding, renewals, and reinstatement or win-back.

What association management software (AMS) do you use?

49%

29%

20%

16%

15%

7%

6%

40%

Response rate analysis

Source code or Keycode capture and analysis

A/B split marketing tests

Lifetime value analysis

Computer matchback to prospect database

Recency/Frequency/Monetary Amount (RFM) analysis

Regression analysis

None

N=667

What types of analysis do you use to measure the effectiveness of your membership marketing campaigns?

Questions?