2015 MeMbeRship MaRketing - SHRM Connect

SURVEY CONDUCTED BY:Marketing General Incorporated

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF:Erik Schonher, Mba, CeM Vice presidentAdina Wasserman, phDDirector of ResearchTony Rossellsenior Vice presidentMegan Cole, phD Market Research analystRachelle SmithMarket Research assistant

WWW.MARKETINGGENERAL.COM

2015MeMbeRship MaRketing

BENCHMARKING RepoRt

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703.739.1000 | [email protected]


625 north Washington street, suite 450 • alexandria, Virginia 22314

summer 2015

Dear Colleague,

i am pleased to present you with the 2015 edition of Marketing general incorporated’sMembership Marketing Benchmarking Report.

For the seventh consecutive year, Marketing general incorporated (Mgi) has conducted itsannual Membership Marketing benchmarking survey to analyze and track the strategiesand tactics that membership organizations use to recruit new members, engage andrenew those members, and reinstate lapsed members.

this year marked yet another record participation rate of some 914 individual, trade, and combination associations—a testament to the value and importance placed on the information provided by this report to the entire association community.

every year, we strive to ensure that the questions are timely, relevant, and reflect theinformation you, our readers, seek. For 2015, we changed some of the questions toprovide you with a greater understanding of not only what channels are being used butwhich are the most effective at acquiring and retaining members. our focus for this yearis on member engagement and the expanding use of social media.

i want to express my appreciation to the respondents who give both their time andinformation, without which this report could not be produced. i also wish to express mygratitude to the thousands of association and membership professionals around the worldwho have requested copies of the report or have downloaded it from our website overthe past six years.

every Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report represents the combined efforts ofour research and creative teams. therefore, special appreciation goes to erik schonherwho headed the entire project, adina Wasserman, ph.D., Megan Cole, ph.D., tonyRossell, and Rachelle smith for developing and implementing the survey and thenanalyzing and reporting the data. and to kimberly humphries, aleda ahmed, billschaffner, Julia goswick, and their teams for overseeing the design, production, anddissemination of the report.

i am sure you will find this year’s report of value and help in accomplishing yourmembership goals, and i invite your questions, thoughts, comments, and suggestions on this and future reports.

best wishes,

Richard Whelan, CDMpresident, Marketing general [email protected]

44 WWW.MARKETINGGENERAL.COM 703.739.1000 | 800.644.6646 | WE GROW MEMBERSHIP

For the seventh consecutive year, Marketing general incorporated (Mgi) is proud to present ourannual Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, which explores the membership marketinginitiatives and outcomes of 914 participating associations, an increase in response of 5.6% over last year.

our research yields a broad base of strategic and tactical information, including primary challenges togrowth; changes in dues; uses of social media; successes in recruitment and engagement; tactics inrenewals and reinstatement; marketing budgets; changes in membership categories; and more.

this year, we changed some of the questions to provide you with a greater understanding of not onlywhat channels are being used but which are the most effective at acquiring and retaining members. a focus for this year is on member engagement and the expanding use of social media.

OBJECTIVES

the purpose of this study continues to be the development of meaningful benchmarks by which theleadership of individual membership organizations, trade associations, and combination associationscan evaluate their own membership marketing strategies and tactics.

| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY |


55WWW.MARKETINGGENERAL.COMWE GROW MEMBERSHIP | 800.644.6646 | 703.739.1000

THE DIRECTION OF MEMBERSHIP MARKETING

this year can best be described as a more “moderate” year as opposed to the previous year’sdescription of “growth.” this year, 46% of the associations report membership growth, a decreasefrom 53% reported in 2014. of associations that increased in membership, 72% saw increases in newmembers and 37% saw increases in renewal rates.

this drop in membership growth from last year is countered by the number of associations reporting a decline in their membership from 27% in 2014 to 24% this year.

interestingly, the number of associations reporting that the size of their membership remained thesame dramatically increased to 28% from 16% in 2014.

as to the question of which associations experienced the greatest growth, trade associations seem toexhibit less volatility than individual member or combination associations. additional analysis of thedata by market served indicates that those associations serving members in the areas of health care,engineering, and real estate have seen the most growth.

in looking at growth over a five-year period, we find that:

• Forty-nine percent show an increase in membership over the past five years, a decrease from54% reported in 2014. For those associations reporting a growth in membership counts, themedian growth rate was 15%.

• similar to 2014, about one-third of associations (31%) show a decrease in their membership overthe past five years. For those associations reporting a decrease in membership counts over fiveyears, the median total percent decline is 10%.

sixteen percent report no change in the number of members, a dramatic increase from 10% reportedin 2014.



KEY INDICATORS

the primary components of membership growth for any association are member acquisition andmember renewal. Review of these key indicators can quickly indicate the financial health of anyassociation as well as provide guidance as to what changes, if any, are necessary.

Member Acquisition

there is a sharp increase in the percentage of associations that are maintaining the number of newmembers acquired (34% vs. 21% reported in 2014). While the percentage of associations indicating anincrease in newly acquired members continues its downward trend from previous years to 44% (2014 -58%; 2013 - 63%), the percentage of associations reporting a decline in new member acquisitionincreased to 15% from 13% in 2014.

survey participants remain consistent with previous years reporting that word-of-mouthrecommendations (49%) and email (32%) continue to be ranked among those channels consideredmost effective in recruiting new members. Where the differences become most apparent are with thetype of association, as individual member organizations continue to rank direct mail (28%) in the topthree most effective channels for new member acquisition, trade associations rank personal sales calls(34%) above email (22%), and combination associations rank their website (26%) as the third mosteffective channel behind word-of-mouth (46%) and email (34%).

how many emails to a member (in a week) are too many? When asked how many emails membersreceive from the respondents’ organization each week, the median answer is three emails per week.

When asked why members join, the majority note that the top membership driver is networking withothers in the field (23%). Differences between the types of associations become apparent with thesecond reason why members join: individual member associations cite continuing education (15%);trade associations mention advocacy (15%); combination organizations report that members join foraccess to specialized and current information (14%).



MEMBER RETENTION

What may well be driving much of why this year is considered “moderate” over previous years ismembership renewals.

Forty-four percent of all associations state that their renewals remain consistent with last year. this is a dramatic increase from the trends set in previous years (2014 - 36%; 2013 – 30%; 2012 – 33%; 2011 – 37%; and 2010 – 27%).

only 22% of the associations note an increase in their renewal rates (down from 31% in 2014), whilethe number of associations reporting a decline in renewals (24%) is slightly lower than in 2014 (27%).

in 2014, the mean membership renewal rates for individual member organizations, trade associations,and combination associations were 76%, 85%, and 80%, respectively. this year, we observe a positivechange for individual member and trade associations (79% and 87%).

Regarding association renewal programs, a multi-media approach remains the preferred tactic. themedian number of mail contacts in a membership renewal series is three for an individual memberorganization and two for trade associations and combination associations.


CHALLENGES TO MEMBERSHIP GROWTH

Renewal rates, as a metric, measure the association’s cumulative ability to effectively develop andmanage the relationship with their members. therefore, an analysis of the reasons why members don’trenew is important to begin to appreciate what the association can actually do to positively impactmember retention.

executives from all three types of associations agree that lack of engagement with the organization isthe top reason why members don’t renew. similar to previous years, a review of the top reasons for notrenewing could be summarized as membership is too costly and/or members lack engagement.


aside from staffing issues and budgets, the top challenges that associations face are a difficulty incommunicating the association’s value (33%) and a difficulty in attracting and/or maintaining youngermembers (18%).

one solution associations are implementing to address these challenges is the use of private socialnetworks. For associations reporting more participation in their private social network, 53% report anincrease in membership over the past year compared to 22% whose membership declined.

similar to last year, the top three goals for associations continue to be increasing member engagement(68%), increasing membership retention (67%), and increasing membership acquisition (62%).


increasing member engagement is top of mind for the majority of associations. the first deliberatestep in developing a strategy is creating a plan. sixty-eight percent of associations report having amembership engagement plan. What’s interesting to note is that associations with increases in overallmembership over the past year were also more likely have a strategic initiative for increasingengagement.

through the use of tactics aimed at driving engagement, more than half of the respondents have seenincreases in member activity in the following:

• participation in public social network (77%)

• participation in young professionals program(67%)

• participation in private social network (64%)

• attendance of webinars (59%)

• number of visits to members-only section ofwebsite (56%)

• attendance at annual conference/trade show(54%)

• attendance at professional developmentmeetings (52%)

• number of members who acquire or maintaincertification (51%)


ADDITIONAL FINDINGS

DUES

We recognize that the amount for basic annual membership dues varies by the type, focus, and size ofan association. taken as a whole for this study, the median annual dues for basic membership is $193for individual member associations, $673 for trade associations, and $195 for combination hybridassociations. the majority of associations increase their dues as needed, as opposed to annually, everyother year, or never.

SOCIAL MEDIA

associations’ main reason for using social media is communication and engagement with site users.the metric most often used by associations to measure the impact of their social media is the numberof followers, likes, or fans.

WORDS OF WISDOM

given their success in previous years, we increased the number of open-ended questions from five to nine:

We have noted some of the most interesting strategies, best practices, and comments throughout the report.

1. Describe an acquisition or recruitmentstrategy that your association has employedthat has been successful.

2. What goals do you hope to accomplish usingyour online community? have you seen thesegoals realized?

3. in what ways have you been able to increaseparticipation in your online community?

4. Describe an engagement or retention strategythat your association has employed that hasbeen very successful and/or from which youlearned something valuable.

5. Describe how you have used social media foryour association in a very successful manner.

6. if you could freely say anything to yourmembers, what would you say?

7. With regard to your association, what keepsyou up at night?

8. if there was one hurdle you could remove tomake your association run smoother, whatwould it be?

9. in your own words, what are the mostimportant or successful lessons you havelearned in the area of membership marketing?



INTRODUCTION

SURVEY OBJECTIVE

this is the seventh consecutive year that Marketing general incorporated (Mgi) has conducted itsannual Membership Marketing benchmarking survey. the report will highlight strategies and tacticsthat membership organizations use in recruiting new members, retaining current members, andreinstating lapsed members.

every year, we review the contents of the previous survey to evaluate the usefulness and success of questions to determine which will be removed and what new questions will be added. We alsoinclude suggested questions from previous survey takers to ensure that the survey remains relevantand on-trend.

METHODOLOGY

the 2015 Membership Marketing benchmarking survey was conducted online. it launched on January 8, 2015, and remained accessible through February 17, 2015. email invitations were sent toassociation executives who subscribe to Mgi’s monthly newsletter, MGI Tipster; had downloaded the2014 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report; or had completed the survey the previous year. a link to the survey was also available through the Mgi website. Finally, individuals who requested toparticipate, but were not included on one of the above mentioned lists, were sent a link.

RESPONSE RATE

email invitations were sent to 8,458 individuals. of those, 192 emails bounced, bringing the total to8,266. a total of 746 executives completed the survey and 355 partially completed the survey,bringing the total responses to 1,101. the resulting response rate is approximately 13%, on par withthe response rate from 2014.

ANALYSES

as is our practice, we include only one response per association so as not to duplicate answers in ourdataset. if more than one person from an association completed the survey, we used the data that wasmost complete, and/or the data from the respondent whose responsibilities most closely relate tomembership marketing. We require that an association or company name be provided for this reason. if no association or company name is included, the data is not used. net duplicate associationsubmissions, a total of 914 unique associations participated in the current study.


REPORT LAYOUT

the data in this year’s report will be presented differently than in past years. Comments and repeatedrequests for specific data have prompted us to evaluate how we provide the information so that it ismost useful and relevant to our readers. this year, all data will be segmented by type of association:individual Membership organization (individual), trade association (trade), or associations with acombination of both types of membership (Combination).

We have also included some best practices shared by participants in the survey. We believe this willprovide insightful information for all readers.

The sections included in this report are:

seCtion 1: Association Statistics

seCtion 2: Awareness and Recruitment (Acquisition)

seCtion 3: Engagement, Renewal, Reinstatement (Retention)

seCtion 4: Social Media

seCtion 5: Challenges and Goals

seCtion 6: Dues and Membership Structure

seCtion 7: Managing Your Association

seCtion 8: The Demographics of Your Association

seCtion 9: Words of Wisdom



| SECTION 1 |

• Forty-six percent of all association types reportan increase in membership over the past oneyear period, with trade associations reportingthe most gains.

• one-quarter of individual member associationsreport a decline in membership over the pastyear, while one-third of combinationassociations indicate membership hasremained stable.

• not surprisingly, associations reporting anincrease in members over the past year aresignificantly more likely to report increases inmembership over the past five years, andincreases in new members and renewals.

• associations reporting renewal rates of newmembers above 60% are also more likely to report increases in membership over thepast year.

• For a majority of associations, the amount of increase or decrease in membership over the pastyear varies at most by up to 5%. the median increase for associations is 5% to 6%.

• of the associations reporting increases in membership, 44% of trade associations and combinationassociations report increases of 6% to 25% in membership over the past year, compared to 32% ofindividual member associations.

ASSOCIATION STATISTICS

How has your membership changed in the past ONE YEAR period?


• the median decrease in membership for associations varies by association type, with individualassociations reporting the least amount of decline (4%) and combination associations the most (7%).

• of the associations reporting declines in membership over the past year, individual and tradeassociations are more likely to report losses of up to 5% compared to combination associations(69% and 63% vs. 48%).

• of the associations reporting a decline in membership over the past year, 50% of combinationassociations report declines of 6% to 25%.

Over the past FIVE YEARS, how has the total percentage of your membership changed?

• half of individual member and tradeassociations report overall increases inmembership over the past five years.

• three in ten associations of all types haveexperienced declines in membership over the past five years.

• associations citing increases in the last year inoverall membership, new members, andrenewing members are significantly more likelyto report overall increases in membership inthe past five years.



• the median increase in membership for associations over the past five years is 14% to 16%.

• of those associations reporting increased membership over the past five years, 50% of individualmember organizations cite increases of 11% to 25% compared to 35% of trade associations.

• about one-third of combination associations report membership increases of 26% or more over thepast five years (34%).

• For those whose membership has decreased over the past five years, the median decline across all associations is 10%.

• in addition, one-third of associations with combination membership report declines of up to 5%.

• about two-thirds of individual member (69%) and trade associations (64%) cite declines between 6% and 25%.


In the past ONE YEAR, how has your NEW member acquisition changed?

• there is little variation in new memberacquisitions based on association type.

• More than four in ten associations reportincreases in new members over the past year,and at least 30% report that new memberacquisitions have remained stable.

• associations reporting renewal rates at orabove 80% are significantly more likely toindicate their new member acquisition hasimproved.

• similarly, associations showing increases overthe past year and the past five years, as well as increases in overall renewal rates, aresignificantly more likely to report increases innew members over the past year.

• the median increase in new members variesby association type, with trade associationsreporting the highest percentage of newmembers (10%) compared to individualmember organizations (6%) and combinationassociations (9%).

• Most associations report new member

increases of up to 5%.

• at least two-thirds of individual memberorganizations (69%) and trade associations(67%) cite improvements in new memberacquisition of up to 10%.



• the majority of individual member associations and trade associations that report declines in newmembers saw decreases of up to 5%, while more than half of the combination associations (57%)cite declines of new members of 6% to 25%.

In the past ONE YEAR, how has your member RENEWAL rate changed?

• the majority of associations report thatmember renewals have remained unchangedfrom the previous year. individual member andcombination organizations are slightly morelikely to indicate they’ve experienced nochange in renewal rates.

• Just over 20% of associations indicate theirrenewal rate has increased over the past year.

• trade associations are slightly more likely toreport declines in renewals compared toindividual membership associations andcombination associations (27% vs. 24% and 22%).


• For associations reporting a decline in theirrenewal rate, a majority report only a 5%downturn or less.

• additionally, trade associations andcombination associations are more likely toreport decreases of 6% to 10% in renewals,compared to individual member organizations.

• Close to three-quarters of individual member and trade associations and two-thirds of combinationassociations report increases of up to 5% in membership renewals over the past year.



What is your overall membership renewal rate?

• trade associations have the highest renewalrates, reporting an average of 87%.

• individual and combination memberassociations report average renewal rates at79% and 77%, respectively.

• associations reporting new member renewalsat or above 60% are significantly more likely tohave overall renewal rates that are above 80%.

What is your renewal rate for first-year members?

• individual member and combinationassociations report new member renewals atover 60%, while trade associations, onaverage, boast new member renewals atalmost 80%.

• associations with overall renewal rates at 80%or higher are more likely to have new memberrenewals at over 80% as well.

What is the percentage of your current market penetration?

• estimated market penetration for all associations is over 40%.

• individual member and trade associations tend to report a higher market penetration thancombination associations.

• associations with overall renewal rates at or above 80% tend to have a higher market penetrationthan those with lower renewal rates (means: 47% vs. 35%).

• similarly, associations with new member renewal rates at 60% or higher have significantly highermarket penetration than those with new member renewal rates under 60%.


AWARENESS AND RECRUITMENT (ACQUISITION)

What are the top ways in which you create brand awareness for yourorganization? Select up to THREE choices.

| SECTION 2 |



• For all associations, the most effectivemethods for creating brand awareness includeemail, the association website, and word-of-mouth recommendations.

• For trade associations, however, theassociation website and memberrecommendations are more effective thanemail for creating brand awareness.

• Direct mail is considered a more effectivemethod for creating brand awareness forindividual member organizations compared toother types of organizations.

• For trade organizations, association-sponsoredevents are an effective vehicle for generatingbrand awareness.

• trade associations with fewer than 500members report that association-sponsoredsocial networking is an effective tool forproducing brand awareness.

• associations with combination membershipsreport that promotion of their organization attheir own conferences/conventions has beenhighly effective.

• associations with renewal rates at or above80% indicate that word-of-mouthrecommendations are one of the top methodsfor creating brand awareness.

• Content marketing, newly added this year, ismentioned by 5% of associations as aneffective method for promoting awareness.

What recruitment marketing channels get your organization the most newmembers? Select up to THREE choices.


• Word-of-mouth recommendations and email are rated as the top marketing channels foracquiring new members for all types of associations.

• For individual member organizations, direct mail is considered one of the top marketingchannels (28%).

• trade organizations rate personal sales calls as the second most effective recruitment tactic (34%).

• Combination member associations indicate that their website is one of the top channels foracquiring new members (26%).

• Chapters are also cited as an effective recruitment tool for individual member organizations (16%), whereas exhibiting at other conferences is a strategic recruitment tactic for tradeassociations (12%).

• twenty-three percent of associations reporting an overall five-year membership increase aremore likely to cite cross-selling to non-members who buy products or attend conferences asan effective recruitment method.

• associations with renewal rates at 80% or higher are more likely to consider word-of-mouthrecommendations as an effective tool for recruitment (56% vs. 44%).

• similarly, associations with operating budgets up to $1 million are more likely to rate word-of-mouth marketing as highly effective compared to associations with larger budgets.

• associations with budgets of over $5 million and those that have more than 20,000 membersindicate that direct mail is an effective tactic for member acquisition.

Recruitment marketing channels, cont’d.

For individual member organizations, direct mail is considered one of the top marketing channels.



What do you believe is the ONE TOP reason members JOIN your organization?

• networking in the field is considered byassociation executives to be the top reason forjoining the organization. this is especially truefor trade associations compared to individualor combination membership organizations(30% vs. 18% and 25%, respectively).

• executives for individual membershiporganizations are significantly more likely toindicate that members join for continuingeducation.

• trade association executives report thatmembers join to support the advocacy effortsconducted on behalf of the industry.

• executives from combination membershiporganizations are more likely to indicate thatmembers join for access to specialized orcurrent information (14%), and to learn bestpractices in their profession (10%).

• associations with operating budgets of lessthan $5 million are significantly more likely to cite networking as a membership drivercompared to organizations with larger budgets.


BEST PRACTICES

ACQUISITION/RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES

Describe an acquisition or recruitment strategy that your association has employed that has been very successful, and/or from which you learned something valuable. Provide details so that others may learn from your experience.

• Celebrate membership milestones—it’s a great “excuse” to promote the size, scope, and offeringsof the organization. When we reached 6000 members, we made a big splash, thanking themembers and recruiting new. We had a microsite and offered generous prizes for members andnew members to participate in association activities. We’ll do it again when we reach 7000members...and 8000 and 9000...

• Cross platform marketing. Combine email and print mail, follow up with email reminders.

• educating our local chapters on how to encourage invitees to accept the invitation to join hasworked for us. it is the strength of the local chapter and the conviction of the officers and/or facultyadvisor that make all the difference.

• having a members’ page on the website that only members can access, which contains a wealth ofresources and papers on Labour Law from all events held around the country. Judgments andnewsflashes are sent out to members.

• Lead generation program—advertising in Facebook and Linkedin and offering something ofsubstance for providing their contact information.

• our most successful recruitment effort was a direct mail/email recruitment campaign thatencouraged non-members to “stand” with the organization and support the efforts of theprofessional organization to advance the specialty. the word “stand” proved to be very powerful in recruiting non-members. We included images of current members in the direct mailbrochure/postcard to help non-members make a connection with someone that either lived in thesame area as them or looked like a familiar face to them. We wanted to represent the diversity ofour membership while still focusing on the point that the organization represents all physicians inthis specialty. it was very successful.

• this year, we focused on training the chapter leaders who are recruiting the membershipcandidates and their only face-to-face contact. We developed a kit with materials (brochures,posters, guide and CD) for the officers to use. it was also partnered with webinars and trainingsessions from our Membership staff for the officers to improve their current recruitment plans and processes.

• Refund of event cost when non-members who attend an event join.

• We run a “golden ticket” promotion that allows non-members that attend our annual Meeting tosign up for a free trial year of membership. they can sign up online before the meeting or duringthe meeting, but they have to opt in, so they know they’re getting a free year of membership.typically 20%–30% pay for a membership the following year.



• Most associations, regardless of type, have aseparate strategic engagement initiative ortactical plan in place.

• three-quarters of trade associations have adistinct strategic initiative or tactical plan topromote member engagement, compared toabout two-thirds of individual member orcombination associations (73% vs. 68% and64%, respectively).

ENGAGEMENT, RENEWAL, REINSTATEMENT (RETENTION)

Do you have a separate strategic initiative or tactical plan to increaseengagement?

| SECTION 3 |


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

• email welcome is the most common communication method used to help onboard or engage new members.

• Many associations use mailed welcome kits as a top communication method for onboarding newmembers. this is especially true for trade associations.

• associations with renewal rates of 80% or higher use in-person new-member receptions ororientations more so than associations with renewal rates less than 80% (25% vs. 18%).



In the past fiscal year, how has member engagement and participation changedwithin each of the following areas? Please indicate N/A if a particular item is notoffered or not relevant to your association.


• individual member associations report the greatest increases in member engagement andparticipation in their public social network (78%), their young professional program (66%), and theirprivate social network (63%).

• similar to individual membership associations, trade associations report increases in participation intheir young professional program (75%), their public social network (73%), and their private socialnetwork (71%).

• Moreover, combination associations indicate participation in their public social network (78%),attendance of webinars (63%), and participation in their young professional program (61%) haveincreased over the past fiscal year. For combination associations, attendance of webinars hasincreased more than individual member and trade organizations.



• For all associations, book and directory purchases have decreased the most over the past fiscal year(22% for trade and combination associations and 17% for individual member associations).

• trade and combination associations are significantly more likely to report that member attendanceat the annual conference or trade show has increased over the past fiscal year.

• associations with less than 80% renewal rates are significantly more likely to report decreases inmember attendance at annual conferences or trade shows, in attendance at professionaldevelopment meetings, or in participation in mentoring programs.

• individual membership associations are significantly more likely to indicate that donations to theirassociation foundation or paC have declined (17% vs. 6% for trade and 5% for combination).


What goals do you hope to accomplish using your online community? Have you seen these goals realized?• 1. engage with members;

2. tool to share information and documents; 3. increase participation by students and Young professionals; 4. Resources for committees to share minutes, agendas and project info; 5. blog to spark conversation around hot topics.

• improved retention; greater engagement. it is a struggle to measure and tie back to individualretention to know if it is a driver.

• increase community engagement, participation, leading to higher retention. a small percentageparticipates, but of those that do, they are more likely to renew.

• both individual membership organizations andtrade associations upgraded their benefitspackage to include digital publications.

• twenty-five percent of trade associationsadded member research to their newprograms, benefits, and services.

• additionally, 25% of combination associationsincluded public social media in their benefitspackage.

• associations that report an increase inrenewals are significantly more likely to haveadded member research in the past year,compared to associations reporting declines orno change in member renewals.

What new programs, services, and/or benefits have you added to your benefitspackage this year? (Check all that apply.)

BEST PRACTICES

ONLINE COMMUNITIES



• Member engagement; connect members to each other, communicate information to members,make it easier for volunteers to connect with their volunteer communities (chapters, committees,interest groups). i think when we started, we had higher expectations for how members wouldembrace the community. We have since lowered our expectations and appreciate the smallersuccesses. our all-member open forum has seen a lot of discussion and is the go-to place formembers to get advice. our smaller volunteer communities have had varied participation levelsand have probably not enticed the typical lurker to get more involved.

• our motto is, “We don't measure logins... we measure lives changed.” We know that ourcommunity is not a starbucks, but a public Library where members zip in and out to grab theresources they need. as long as we see we see that the connection to members, online discussionsand access to resources are strong, we are serving our mission.

• We noticed for those who participate in our online community, we have a 3% increase in ourrenewal rates.

In what ways have you been able to increase participation in your online community?

• encouraging members to post questions; asking volunteers to post on a regular basis to keepcontent fresh; create networking groups as defined by position or industry needs/issues; created a community for our annual meeting attendees; had a contest so members would win a prize forupdating their profiles; added more content to the community.

• Financial challenge—donor gave $20k which we ‘earned’ via $5 for each like; we exceeded thegoal. We’re following and commenting on influencers too.

• by sharing real-life examples of how members directly benefitted from participating in the community.

• Driving members to post in the community. Making governance and committee materials availableonly in the community.

• increased focus on member moderators. at launch we developed a series of questions and posts to get conversations started and engage members in discussions. extensive moderator trainingprograms with videos, FaQs, instructions and their own community to provide support andcontinue training.

• online communities do best when the volunteer leader actively serves up content or stimulates the conversation.

• promote our groups on our site, in email messages, monthly letters to chapter leaders, and aconsistent strategy of posting relevant content on a daily basis.

• We‘ve been more aggressive on twitter and Facebook encouraging members to participate onthose platforms.


Is membership renewal based on a fixed calendar date for all members or an anniversary date from the start of the membership?

• a majority of individual member andcombination associations use membershipanniversary dates for membership renewals(54% and 65%, respectively), whereas 52% oftrade associations use fixed calendar datesfor renewals.

• associations with 80% or higher renewal rates

are significantly more likely to use fixedcalendar dates (55% vs. 18%).

• associations with new member renewal ratesabove 60% are also significantly more likelyto employ a fixed calendar date renewal system.

After a membership expires, how long is your association’s grace period for accessing member benefits?

• on average, a majority of associations offer a grace period of up to three months aftermembership expires for accessing member benefits.

• one-quarter of combination associations (25%), and about two in ten individual member (20%)and trade associations (18%) do not offer any grace period for expired members to accessbenefits.

• associations with 80% or higher renewal rates are more apt to provide members a two- to six-month grace period for accessing member benefits after membership has expired (63%).



For each member, how many of each of the following membership renewal CONTACTS do you have in your renewal series? Please enter a number and not a range.

• Data show most associations reach out tolapsed members more often through emailthan through direct mail or phone calls.

• the median number of renewal contacts foremail is three to five, while direct mailcontacts drop to two to three. associationstend to call lapsed members only once ortwice to renew membership.

When do you start the renewal effort?

• the majority of associations begin their renewal effort two to three months prior to expiration.

• associations that report a decrease in membership renewals are more likely than those whoreport an increase to start their renewal efforts four months prior to membership expiration.

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


• about one-third of associations end their renewal efforts two to three months after expiration.

• a higher percentage of individual membership and combination associations report renewalefforts end approximately three months after expiration, while trade associations are more likelyto indicate that they do not stop contacting lapsed members for six months.

• twenty-one percent of individual member and trade associations do not stop contacting lapsed members.

Which of the following marketing channels generates the most membershiprenewals? You may select up to THREE choices.

• overall, email marketing is the top marketing channel for generating the most membershiprenewals for all association types.

• For both individual member and combination associations, direct mail also produces a highnumber of membership renewals.

• trade associations report that staff phone calls produce substantial membership renewals.

• interestingly, associations with renewal rates lower than 80% are significantly more likely toreport email marketing as one of the most effective channels for generating membershiprenewals (82% vs. 74%), while associations with renewals topping 80% are significantly morelikely to indicate that staff phone calls are highly effective for renewals (43% vs. 25%).

• associations with new member renewals above 60% are also significantly more likely to use staffphone calls for renewals compared to associations with fewer new member renewals.

• twenty-five percent of organizations whose new member renewals are at 80% or higher employpeer member contact as a successful renewal tactic, compared to 10% of associations with lowernew member renewals.

When do you end renewal efforts, cont’d.



Do you offer any of the following renewal options? (Check all that apply.)

• across all association types, installment renewal payments are one of the most common renewaloptions offered.

• the second most common renewal option for trade associations is the renewal bill-me plan.

• associations with renewal rates lower than 80% are significantly more apt to offer multi-yearrenewals (46% vs. 22%) and early-renewal discounts (25% vs. 15%).

• associations with renewal rates higher than 80% are significantly more likely to offer installmentrenewal payments (52% vs. 29%), renewal bill-me plans (21% vs. 12%), and automatic annual eFtrenewals (16% vs. 8%).

Do you offer a student membership?

• eighty-seven percent of trade associations do not offer a student membership, compared to themajority of individual membership (78%) and combination associations (61%) that do offerstudent memberships.

• small trade associations (100 members or less) are more likely to offer student memberships (57%).


What percentage of your student memberships ultimately convert to fullmemberships? Slide the bar to the appropriate percentage. If you are unsure, check “Not sure.”

• For 52% of combination associations and 31% of individual member organizations, fewer than20% of student members convert to full membership.

• individual membership organizations are more likely to have students convert to full membershipcompared to combination associations. in fact, 13% of individual member organizations convert80% or more student members compared to 4% of combination associations.

What do you believe are the top reasons members DO NOT renew theirmembership in your organization? You may select up to THREE choices.



• associations identify lack of engagement withthe organization as the most common reason for lapsed membership.

• other common reasons for lapsed membershipamong individual membership andcombination associations are that employersno longer pay for dues and members leavethe field, industry, or profession.

• on the other hand, two of the three mostcited reasons for lapsed membership fortrade associations are that members couldnot justify the membership costs with anysignificant Roi (return on investment) andbudget cuts/economic hardship of thecompany.

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

• trade associations are more apt to report thatthey continue to contact lapsed membersindefinitely compared to individualmembership or combination associations(46% vs. 23% and 32%, respectively).

• one-third of individual member (33%) andcombination associations (34%) cease theirattempts to reinstate lapsed members aftertwo years, compared to 21% of tradeassociations who cease after a longer time.

What channel generates the most reinstated lapsed members?

• both individual membership and combination associations agree that email is the most effectivechannel for reinstating lapsed members.

• not surprisingly, trade associations report phone calls as being the best method for generatingthe most reinstated lapsed members.

• associations with renewal rates of 80% or higher indicate phone calls generate the mostreinstated lapsed members (31% vs. 17%), while associations with lower renewal rates reportemail generates the most lapsed members (50% vs. 36%).


Describe an engagement or retention strategy that your association has employed that has been very successful and/or from which you learned something valuable. Provide details so that others may learn from your experience.

• the newsletter has been instrumental in driving traffic and engagement. it includes digital or online programming and also created marque event programming for both onsiteengagement and to extend reach via content to those not in attendance.

• First-timer and new-member meetings before each regular monthly program to talk about theorganization and what they can get out of it.

• We maintain a 97% retention rate through a combination of phone, email and snail-mailcommunications. We are very diligent and this process starts immediately after onboarding.Most lapsed members have had administrative changes or have closed or in some cases theyno longer see the benefits of member rates and networking. the (association—name omitted)membership also holds a prestige and unparalleled opportunities for networking at pD andconferences. Membership offers access to a powerful network of educators and decisionmakers with the capacity to change outcomes for students at scale.

• We started sending out a survey to our canceled members. We got more reinstatements fromthat survey email than we did from sending dues renewal notices and letters.

• set up an automated email campaign to send weekly, then monthly introducing new memberbenefits and engagement opportunities, depending on how they entered the organizationand/or topics relevant to their job titles. this auto-generated campaign is also used forrenewal messages.

BEST PRACTICES

ENGAGEMENT OR RETENTION



• the majority of participants say that theirassociations use Facebook and twitter.

• trade associations are significantly less likely to use Facebook than individual member andcombination associations.

• Combination associations are significantlymore likely than individual memberorganizations to report that they use theassociation’s blog.

• associations whose membership has increasedover the past year are significantly more likelyto report using Youtube than those whosemembership decreased or stayed the same.

• associations with a renewal rate below 80%are significantly more likely than those withhigher renewal rates to indicate that they usegoogle +.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Which social media does your organization officially use? (Check all that apply.)

| SECTION 4 |


Of the social media outlets that you use, please indicate how often you use them for the following activities.

• For all types of associations, social media ismost often used to promote associationevents. individual member and combinationassociations also use social media to provideassociation news (38% and 35%, respectively),whereas trade associations use social mediamore for generating awareness for theassociation (37%).

• associations reporting an increase in renewalsare significantly more likely to very frequentlyuse social media to generate awareness oftheir association than are those who report adecrease in renewals (42% vs 30%).

• Combination associations are significantlymore likely than other types of associations toreport they often use social media to promotespecific association benefits, services, andprograms (33% vs. 25% for individual memberorganizations and 19% for trade associations).

• associations reporting an increase in newmembers are more likely to report they veryfrequently use social media to promoteeducational opportunities and certificationprograms (29%), to provide how-to information(13%), and to promote membership in theorganization (11%).




What are your association’s main reasons for using social media? You may select up to TWO choices.

• across all association types, participants report the main reason they use social media is tocommunicate and engage with site users, followed by recruiting new members and influencing keyopinion formers through their social media accounts.

• Combination associations are more likely than individual member or trade associations to use socialmedia to recruit new members.

• associations with a renewal rate of less than 80% are significantly more likely than those with ahigher renewal rate to report that their association uses social media to recruit new members.



How frequently do you provide content updates on each of the following social media channels?

• trade organizations are the least likely toreport that they update content on Facebookmore than once a day.

• individual member organizations are mostlikely to indicate that they provide contentupdates on Linkedin once a week.

• approximately half of all participants say thatthey provide content updates on Youtubeonce a month.

• instagram is not yet a highly used social mediasource for the association world.

• associations with a renewal rate at 80% orhigher are significantly more likely than thosewith a lower renewal rate to report that theyprovide content updates on Linkedin once a month.


How do you measure your association’s social media impact? (Check all that apply.)

• the majority of participants report that theymeasure their association’s social media impactby the number of followers, likes, or fans.

• trade associations are more likely thanindividual member organizations andcombination associations to report that theydo not measure their association’s socialmedia impact.

• individual member associations are most likelyto report they measure social media impactwith analysis of comments made by othersocial media users (26%).

• associations reporting increases in newmembers are more likely to measure socialmedia impact by the response of a targetaudience to the announcement of a specificevent or press release (46%).

• associations with a new member renewal ratebetween 60% and 79% are significantly morelikely than those with a lower rate to indicatethat they measure their association’s socialmedia impact by the response of their targetaudience.



Which department in your association is responsible for your social mediaprograms? (Check all that apply.)

• participants are most likely to report thatcommunications or marketing departments areprimarily responsible for their organization’ssocial media programs.

• individual member organizations aresignificantly more likely than trade associationsto report that the marketing department isresponsible for social media programs (45% vs. 35%).


Which department in your association is responsible for your organization’swebsite in terms of the strategy for design, design changes, and architecture? (Check all that apply.)

• the marketing department of individual andcombination associations is primarilyresponsible for the association’s website,followed by the communications department.it is the reverse with trade associations.

• trade associations are significantly less likelythan individual member organizations andcombination associations to report that the it department is responsible for theassociation’s website.



Describe how you have used social media for your association in a verysuccessful manner. Provide details so that others may learn from yourexperience.

• all magazine and newsletter articles are blogged to our website—which then auto-tweets the blogs. blogs provide original content which greatly adds original content all the time to our website.

• posting Videos on You tube for the general public has improved awareness.

• social media has been of critical importance for our event marketing efforts and the growth of our government associates.

• We augment our quarterly meetings with publications in the social media using primarilyFacebook, twitter, email newsletters and blogs.

• We created a guerilla branded website that is primarily for consumers. it has a Facebook and twitter presence. the numbers have been going up as consumers become more aware of the sites.

• We have a closed Linkedin Community and use it as a tool to recruit members by sendingthose who want to join and aren't members a message with membership information.

• We thank all new and renewing members on twitter. Lots of favorites and shares from these. it shows the members that you care and are thinking of them.

• We encourage members to tweet at our conferences and have even become nationaltrending topics on days at our annual conference. We also offer to help members at largeevents set up their own twitter accounts if they aren’t familiar with it, to help them becomepart of the online conversation. We also showcase member-only content on the public socialnetworks to help show the value to non-members and reinforce our value proposition to ourcurrent members.

BEST PRACTICES

SOCIAL MEDIA


What are your organization’s TOP THREE biggest challenges to growing membership?

• the primary challenge is communicating value. this is especially true for combination associations.

• Combination and individual member associations struggle with attracting and maintaining youngermembers. trade organizations mention industry consolidation/industry shrinkage and insufficientstaff as some of their top challenges to growing membership.

• organizations with renewal rates of 80% or higher are significantly more likely than those withrenewal rates under 80% to report that one of their main challenges is declining member/employerbudgets (21% vs. 14%).

| SECTION 5 |

CHALLENGES AND GOALS



What are your association’s top membership goals? You may select up to THREE choices.

• all associations report that one of their topgoals is to increase member engagement.

• individual member and combinationassociations are most likely to report that theirorganizations’ top goal is to increasemembership retention.

• trade associations are most likely to indicatethat one of their associations’ top goals is toincrease member acquisition.

• associations with overall renewal rates or new member renewal rates under 80% aresignificantly more likely than associations with higher renewal rates to indicate that one of their top goals is increasingmembership retention.


What is your average open rate on the following types of emails?

• all three organization types’ lowest open rateis for membership acquisition campaigns.

• individual member associations have asignificantly higher open rate for newsletterscompared to combination associations.

• associations with a higher renewal rate (above80%) report having a significantly higher openrate for association news than those with lowerrenewal rates.

• trade associations report a significantly higheropen rate for membership renewal campaignscompared to individual member organizationsand combination associations (51% vs. 39%and 38%, respectively).

• associations with new member renewal ratesover 80% have a significantly higher open ratefor association news than those with lower newmember renewal rates (39%).

On average, how many emails does a member receive from your association in any given week? Please do not include emails from your online community.

• across all three association types, participantsreport that their organization sends membersan average of four emails per week.

• associations with renewal rates at or over 80%send significantly more emails in a week thanorganizations with lower renewal rates.

• the largest individual member organizations

send significantly more emails per weekcompared to smaller associations.

• associations with an operating budget of over$20 million send significantly more emails thanthose with a smaller operating budget.



DUES AND MEMBERSHIP STRUCTURE

What membership categories does your association offer? (Check all that apply.)

• individual and combination associations are most likely to offer individual basic and student memberships.

• trade associations are more likely to offerassociate and vendor/supplier memberships.

.

• individual member organizations are twice aslikely to offer a transitioning student/recentgraduate membership compared tocombination associations (22% vs. 11%).

| SECTION 6 |


On average, how much are your basic annual membership dues? Do not put a range.

• the median annual dues for individual membership and combination membership organizations arejust under $200. the median dues for trade organizations are almost $700 annually.

• Forty-one percent of trade organizations report that their annual membership dues are over $1,000annually. however, most trade organizations have a sliding scale for dues (57%).

• individual member organizations with fewer than 5,000 members have significantly higher basicdues than those with more members.

How often does your association raise membership dues?

• the majority of associations, regardless of association type, report that they increase membershipdues as needed.

• Respondents from trade organizations are significantly more likely than those from individualmember organizations and combination associations to report that they raise dues annually.

• associations with renewal rates at or above 80% are significantly more likely than those with lowerrenewal rates to raise dues annually (31% vs. 12%).



When was the last time your association raised membership dues?

• trade and individual member organizations aremost likely planning to raise dues in 2015 (39%and 24%, respectively).

• one in three combination associations raiseddues in 2014 (30%).

• associations with renewal rates at or above

80% are significantly more likely than thosewith lower renewal rates to report they plan to raise membership dues this year(36% vs. 18%).

What was the average percentage of your last membership dues increase across all membership categories?

• over half of participants across all association types report that the average increase in dues isbetween 3% and 10%.

• participants from associations with renewal rates under 80% report a significantly higher percentageof dues increase than those from associations with renewal rates over 80% (means: 11% vs. 8%).

• participants from associations with the smallest operating budgets (under $1 million) report thattheir last dues increase was significantly higher than those with operating budgets over $1 million.


Please indicate, on average, what percentage of the membership dues arepaid by each of the following. Total has to add to 100%.



• For individual member organizations, anaverage of 62% of membership dues are paid in full by the member. For combinationassociations, an average of 38% of dues arepaid fully by the member.

• in trade organizations, on average, 90% ofmember dues are paid in full by the employeror company. For combination associations,about 53% of member dues are paid by themember’s company or employer.

• associations with renewal rates under 80%report that a significantly higher percentage of dues are paid by individual members(means: 51% vs. 34%).

• associations with renewal rates at or above80% report that a significantly higherpercentage of membership dues are paid in full by employers or one’s company (means: 60% vs. 44%).


Does your association have chapters?

• trade associations and combinationassociations are most likely to report that theydo not have chapter membership (81% and56%, respectively).

• Fifty-eight percent of individual memberorganizations do have chapters. however, only one-quarter report that chaptermembership is mandatory.

• associations with a renewal rate under 80% aresignificantly more likely than associations witha higher renewal rate to report that they haveoptional chapter membership (34% vs. 21%).

• associations with a new member renewal rateover 80% are significantly more likely thanthose with lower renewal rates to report thatthey do not have chapters (68%).

How would you describe your membership dues structure?

• a similar percentage of individual memberorganizations report that either everyone paysthe same membership dues (44%) or thatmembership dues are based on specificattributes (43%). individual membershiporganizations are significantly more apt toreport that everyone pays the same amount in dues.

• seventy-seven percent of trade associationsand 52% of combination organizations reportthat dues are based on certain attributes suchas company size or revenue.

• associations with renewal rates under 80% are significantly more likely to report thateveryone pays the same membership dues(39% vs. 25%).

• those with a new member renewal rate lessthan 60% are significantly more likely thanthose with higher new member renewal ratesto report that their membership dues arebased on a tiered structure of increasingbenefits (22%).



MANAGING YOUR ASSOCIATION

What is your organization’s annual operating budget?

• across all association types, approximatelyfour in ten participants report that their annualoperating budget is between $1 million and$4.9 million.

• Combination associations tend to have smaller

operating budgets than individual member or trade associations.

| SECTION 7 |


Over the course of the past fiscal year, how much did spending on thefollowing marketing programs change?



• Most association budgets seem unchanged from the previous year.

• For those reporting changes, executives from all associations mention increases in their budgets for awareness and branding, and recruitment. trade and combination associations show largerincreases in their awareness/branding budgets (32% and 31%), while individual memberorganizations report the largest increases in their recruitment budgets (28%).

• trade associations have increased their member engagement budgets more than their renewalbudgets, while individual member and combination associations have increased renewal budgetsmore than their engagement budgets.


• trade and combination associations spend themost on awareness and branding, whereasindividual member organizations spend themost on recruitment.

• individual member organizations reportspending significantly more on renewals thancombination associations.

• individual member organizations reportspending significantly more on reinstatementthan those from trade and combinationassociations.

Over the course of the past fiscal year, excluding staff costs, how much didyou spend on the following membership marketing programs? Do not put a range.



What types of analysis do you use to measure the effectiveness of your membership marketing campaigns? (Check all that apply.)

• Regardless of association type, participants primarily use response rate analysis and Roi to measurethe effectiveness of their membership marketing campaigns. individual member and combinationassociations are more likely to use each of these methods compared to trade associations.

• associations with a renewal rate of less than 80% are significantly more likely than those with a higherrenewal rate to report using Roi (39% vs. 30%), source code or keycode capture and analysis (31% vs.20%), and/or cost of acquisition analysis (23% vs. 16%).

• individual member organizations with the most members (over 20,000 members) and/or with the largest operating budgets are significantly more likely than those with fewer members orsmaller budgets to use almost all of the different types of analyses to measure the effectiveness oftheir marketing campaigns.

What types of research tools do you use to measure member needs? (Check all that apply.)

• associations with a renewal rate of 80% orhigher are significantly more likely than thosewith a lower renewal rate to report that theyuse focus groups to measure member needs(38% vs. 27%).

• organizations with operating budgets below$1 million (54%) are significantly less likely toreport using quantitative survey research thanassociations with larger operating budgets.


DEMOGRAPHICS OF YOUR ASSOCIATION

What best describes your personal job function? (Check all that apply.)

• the majority of participants work inmembership (62%), and just over one-thirdwork in marketing (36%).

• twenty-two percent of participants areresponsible for communications for theirassociation.

| SECTION 8 |

The findings from this section will provide insight into who participated in the 2015 MembershipMarketing Benchmarking Survey.



What best describes your association’s industry?

• the majority of respondents represent associations in healthcare (19%), white-collar professionalservices (15%), and education (12%).


What type of membership offering best describes your organization?

• a majority of participating associations identify as individual Membership organizations (iMo).

• Just over one-quarter of associations are trade associations (26%).

• a growing percentage of associations report they have both individual memberships andcompany/organizational memberships available.

How many paid members are in your association?

• the majority of individual member and combination organizations report fewer than 1,000 members.

• not surprisingly, individual membership organizations are more likely to have a greater number ofindividual members than combination associations.

• Combination associations tend to also have fewer company/group members than trade associations.



WORDS OF WISDOM

| SECTION 9 |

If you could freely say anything to your members, what would you say?

• anything! inform them better on our programs so they know exactly where their dollars are going.ask them what theY value so we can measure if we can bring that value to them (greater focus onthem and not us).

• belonging to an association is not just about a monetary return on investment. Many times youmake connections, both personal and professional, that you will have for life and will pay off inother ways. in addition to networking and connections, continuing education keeps the brainhealthy and sharp, allowing you to be more efficient in your role.

• i would tell them that they are the best marketing we have and we need them to ensure the futureof the organization. please step up and help us out with promotion.

• i’m not sure i would say anything. it would be more of asking questions…

• investing in your association is an investment in your career. Jump in with both feet. get in on theconversations, volunteer, learn, go to the conference and push yourself beyond your comfort zone.

• Membership is like a gym membership. if you don’t go to the gym you won’t see any results. Log into our website, attend a meeting, and see the results of your purchase.

• Remember that this organization exists to serve you and support your business success, but wecan’t do it alone! We need your participation to keep us on the right course—and deliver what youneed. and we need more of your non-member business associates to get involved, too, andsupport what we do—because otherwise, without this association, the business environment wouldbe far worse than what you enjoy today.

• Volunteering and participation is one of the best ways to recognize the value in your membership.aside from participation, attitude is also key to a successful association.

• Your membership is your personal journey.


With regard to your membership, what keeps you up at night?

• attracting and retaining members.

• Challenges to revenue sources, including dues, sponsorships, regulation.

• Creating new ways to add value to the membership.

• Developing, creating, implementing and MeasURing an effective, efficient membershipdevelopment strategy. We seem to have the developing part down. technology issues sometimesplague us in the “creation” aspect. Lack of staff resources (i.e., time) has plagued us in terms ofimplementation (although with the hiring of a new membership coordinator this year, hopefully thatwill change). and we don’t measure anything. My biggest frustration is to “sell” to our presidentthe need to more effectively measure the cost of the campaign against the cost it takes to service amember we gain from that campaign...

• inability to get the right information to the right member/or prospect. Lack of data integrity andstandards for new data have resulted in a database full of duplicate information, outdated contactinfo, and queries that are riddled with typos and non-standardized formatting (some uppercase,some lowercase, abbreviations, etc.).

• Lack of adequate stats, decline in membership numbers, trying to figure out the best mix ofbenefits/value to offer a diverse group of members with often very different priorities.

• the future of association relevance. in our marketplace, we are seeing more for-profiteducation/conference providers that don’t have to worry about the service to the member as awhole. they can direct their money to producing their events, without concern for the long-termhealth of the industry. We have to split our time, money and focus on producing events, education,industry research, publications, and so on. our concern is that the audience doesn’t know thedifference, and do they still care that there is that difference?

• We have an aging membership and need to find ways to get the younger people involved in theindustry and the association. also coming up with new value added services.

• With a 98% retention rate each year...i sleep really well at night. We work hard at this thing calledthe association WoW factor.



If there was one hurdle you could remove to make your association runsmoother, what would it be?

• become more data-driven.

• a more user-friendly interface for our database.

• Develop a better sales strategy that marketing could better support. We need more peopleresources to do that.

• effectiveness of communicating with members.

• i would add great membership reporting.

• More staff. We each wear so many hats, it’s hard to excel and offer the best service to our membersand prospects.

• our aMs system is very cumbersome, but our investment in it is so huge that changing it isprohibitive. offer online joining and renewals and dues payment by credit card. better segmentingof the membership and communication.

• technology issues hold us back. i’d love to fix the issues so that the membership experience is top notch.

• We desperately need a database that allows our membership staff to easily keep track of keyindicators and record things like member activities and contacts so that we can look at engagement.


In your own words, what are the most important or successful lessons you havelearned in the area of membership marketing?

• You can’t be all things to everyone, so determine what people find most valuable and your keyareas of strength and put your biggest efforts into these things.

• Don’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. take risks. Learn from mistakesand victories.

• early engagement is especially critical for retaining first-year members. need to reinforce the valueof joining for members in their first year...

• it’s the Data. evaluate what members say they expect and want; what you’re doing right and/orwrong, then change accordingly. Research does you no good if it sits on a shelf.

• keep trying new things—and test, test, test. sometimes what you think will happen turnsout differently.

• Measure your results—you can learn from the past. never assume what the member wants—alwaysask so they have “buy in.” Find the one connection that makes your organization vital to their lives.

• never stop marketing. it’s kind of like your golf game—you have to keep working on all parts of it—be it retention, recruitment, engagement (like putting, chipping and driving)—because if you ignoreone part, the whole game suffers.

• one size does not fit all. segmenting/profiling is critical.

• Recruitment and member acquisition is only the first step in the process, but far from the mostimportant. the lion’s share of energy should be spent on members after they register/join.

• the outreach to members and former members requires skill and tact.

• You’ve got to spend money to recruit new members and to retain current members. You cannotexpect to come out ahead the first or second year. in fact, it may take two to three years or morebefore you reap the benefits of your efforts.

• the basic tenants of membership marketing are true—communicate frequently and communicatepersonally, and always be looking for new member areas. also, as a membership marketingprofessional my biggest concerns are membership numbers. it’s great if higher membership leadsto higher revenue, but at the end of the day i care more about the overall membership count than i do about the revenue.


703.739.1000 | [email protected]


625 north Washington street, suite 450 • alexandria, Virginia 22314

FOR MORE INFORMATION:703.739.1000 | 800.644.6646WWW.MARKETINGGENERAL.COM

ABOUT MARKETING GENERAL INCORPORATED Marketing General Incorporated is the nation’s largest marketing agency working exclusively withmembership associations. During the past 36 years, MGI has helped hundreds of associations andrelationship-based organizations increase their membership, improve retention, enhance memberengagement, grow revenue, and gain new insights through market research and analysis. Additionalinformation can be found at www.MarketingGeneral.com or by contacting us at 703.739.1000.

Erik Schonher, MBA, CeM, Vice PresidentErik Schonher is Vice President of Marketing General Incorporated. He is well known throughout the association industry as an experienced

strategic planner and a seasoned tactician who is renowned for thinking “outside the box” to develop membership acquisition, engagement

and retention programs. He oversees the Research Department and has developed hundreds of comprehensive programs for many

individual member and trade associations. A sought after speaker for ASAE events including the Annual Conference, MMCC and Great

Ideas, he is the author of many professional articles and white papers on membership marketing and regularly hosts webinars and meetings

that examine membership marketing best practices, research and analysis, and communication theories.

Erik can be reached at 703.706.0358 or at [email protected].

Adina W. Wasserman, PHD, Director of Market ResearchAdina W. Wasserman, PhD is Director of Market Research at Marketing General Incorporated. Dr. Wasserman is renowned for pioneering

the concept of Indispensability Measurement for associations. In addition, she has created engagement measurements including the

Customer Relationship Index and the Communications Effectiveness Index. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of

Michigan, Ann Arbor and completed her master’s and PhD in social psychology at Florida State University.

Adina can be reached at 703.706.0373 or at [email protected].

Tony Rossell, Senior Vice PresidentTony Rossell is Senior Vice President of Marketing General Incorporated in Alexandria, VA. A frequent writer and speaker on

membership marketing topics, he is a contributing author to two books, Membership Marketing (ASAE 2000) and MembershipEssentials (ASAE 2008). He also writes the “Membership Marketing Blog” and has over 25 years of experience in helping

organizations grow their membership.

Tony can be reached at 703.706.0360 or at [email protected].

Megan Cole , PHD, Market Research AnalystMegan Cole is a Market Research Analyst at Marketing General Incorporated. Over the last seven years, Megan has completed numerous

research studies that employed both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, many of which led to conference papers, published articles, and

even a book chapter. While completing her graduate studies, Dr. Cole regularly taught undergraduate communication courses in quantitative

research methods, as well as advanced research methods. Dr. Cole earned her PhD in Communication from Arizona State University, and her

bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida.

Megan can be reached at 703.706.0364 or at [email protected].

Rachelle Smith, Market Research AssistantRachelle Smith is a Market Research Assistant at Marketing General Incorporated. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of

North Florida. While pursuing her degree, she worked on numerous research projects, and is familiar with both qualitative and quantitative research

methodologies. Before working with Marketing General Incorporated, Rachelle worked as a Program and Management Assistant for Naval Facilities

Engineering Command Southeast (NAVFAC SE) in Jacksonville, FL, where she was responsible for the fiscal organization for her department.

Rachelle can be reached at 703.706.0366 or at [email protected].

A special thanks to Aleda Ahmed, Kimberly Humphries, Bill Schaffner, and their teams for their help in the production of this report.

Documents

2015 MeMbeRship MaRketing - SHRM Connect