In a webinar hosted by Personify, leading industry experts explored these personas and their member journeys. Which experts you ask? 

• Wes Trochlil, President of Effective Database Management 
• Megan Woodburn, Founder and Co-CEO at Strategic Association Management 
• Nick Ruffin, President and CEO of AMR Management Services 
• Erin Sullivan, VP of Marketing at Personify  

This blog recaps the highlights. You can watch the full discussion anytime, on-demand here.  

What are member personas and why should you care?  

A persona is a fictional representation of a person built on common traits. They’re used to help understand and predict user behaviors and empathetically speak to individuals you don’t know personally. 

In the context of your members, the same use case applies. Understanding personas helps you build interactions that different individuals can relate to. Segment audiences and refine activities for each member’s journey with your association. 

Below is a graphic of the 10 different personas that make up your association. Your members can be any combination of them. People join your association for a variety of reasons and their persona is a big part of why they join.  

Example: The Advocate 

An advocate will join because they’re passionate about the association’s mission. They want involvement and to help raise awareness. They’ll engage in activities such as fundraisers and volunteer opportunities. Their need is to fulfill their purpose as true believer, which is the core of the advocate persona.  

Membership is no longer a one size fits all.

By embracing member personas, you’ll have happier members and boost engagement and retention.  

What the experts say about member personas 

How have you seen levels of engagement evolve or change in associations in recent years?  

After the dramatic changes we saw after the 2020 pandemic, member engagement has evolved. Member expectations have shifted. Technology offers opportunities to run virtual events and build disparate communities online. 

Nick Ruffin noted “the numbers we’ve seen of attendees for a virtual, annual conference is double or triple the numbers they had ever seen in person…it showed that there was this audience that was out there, that for whatever reason, just wasn’t going to come out to a conference.”  

This demonstrates that there’s a persona of members who want to take part and engage. But, maybe just not in person.  

We can give to all members, whether they prefer to engage in person or virtually. Megan Woodburn said it best, “how are we engaging the whole rather than just who has been our typical member or typical registrant at these events?”  

Should evolving engagement trends change how associations run their business and programs? If so, how?    

YES! We’ve acknowledged shifting member expectations. Wes Trochlil noted “members and customers are now saying you need to meet me on my terms and so how are you going to do that?”  

Asking your members what’s working and what isn’t is a great way to boost engagement. Host a focus group, send out surveys and listen to your members when they give feedback.  

Megan warns us to “be cautious about listening to only the loudest voices, make sure you’re doing this thoughtfully. Make sure you’re thinking about the whole rather than just solving one solution.”  

How can we better understand and serve people of all types and engagement levels in an association?  

Nick Ruftin started this off by saying “there’s 1,000 ideas of things we can do, but we can’t afford to do all of them. You could maybe afford to do 2 or 3 of them well. Using the data of what your members actually want and participate in is where you should focus your energy on, in alignment with your strategic plan, mission and vision.”   

Of course, this is easier said than done.  

Wes drove this point home discussing situations where a segment of members seems to not care. They may always be members and have high retention. But they don’t interact, participate in surveys or volunteer. These members don’t engage in the same way you anticipated, but that’s okay. They’ll consume the content they want and participate in a level that works for them. Have your team encourage the engagement of these members and try to boost that engagement. Even if a member isn’t participating now, it doesn’t mean they won’t in the future.  

The hybrid experience is something that has proven to engage all types of members. Erin Sullivan commented, “the post-pandemic member expects a hybrid experience and hybrid is expensive to put on…so you have to prioritize which events and programming make sense to provide a virtual component for, and which ones we want people to join in person.”  

Given the past few years, how are you feeling about events and conferences in 2023?  

Confidence in the events space is extremely high according to our panelists. It seems post-pandemic that people are craving in-person interaction. Megan spoke to this saying “events are back and they’re back strong. If fact we’re seeing about a 10% increase in attendance…a 60% increase in registration.”  

People belong to an association to meet with peers, network, learn and ask questions. Bringing back in-person events provides the perfect platform for all that to happen. 

Which persona(s) do you identify most with?  

Nick, being passionate but resistant to participation, identified as a combination of an advocate and curious.  

Wes felt similar to Nick and is an influencer, giver and advocate.  

Megan agreed that she is a combination of curious, advocate and influencer.  

Erin identified strongly with the connector, as one of her strengths is winning others over and bringing people together.  

All panelists felt their personas evolved over the course of their career. They identified with different personas in different career stages.  

Looking at 2023, what opportunities and challenges do you foresee for associations?  

Taking a hard look at your association is key here.  

Is your association addressing member needs? Speaking their language and offering them relevant experiences will build strong relationships. You’ll ultimately build a stronger program with better retention. 

The technology you use is critical. If you’re not evaluating it every couple of years you may be missing new opportunities.  

Want to hear more? Learn how the American Society of Nutrition used their tech stack to pivot to online meetings and events during the pandemic.  

A huge challenge our panelists identified was a possible recession. This will impact member travel budgets for events. It also speaks to agility and organizations staying nimble in the face of change. 

Looking on the bright side, Nick noted, “this could be an opportunity for associations to network and create value for members. We all survived the 2008 recession, and we have way more resources, tools and technology now.” 

Leverage your technology stack to understand your personas  

A robust association management software (AMS) will allow you to segment member data. By evaluating demographics, preferences, job titles, event attendance and content engagement, you can better understand your association personas. Once you have an understanding you can craft programs and messages that resonate.  Below are a few great technology options to help build engagement and programs for your many personas. 

Learning Management System (LMS)  

An LMS, like Classroom, engages your learning personas. You can provide opportunities to learn and gain certifications through Classroom. Bonus: this provides a good reason for employers to cover employee membership dues!  

Members who benefit most from an LMS are:   

• Researchers
• Climbers  
• Scholars   

Online Community  

An online community, like CommUnity, enables networking and community building. Members can engage and stay informed about your association’s programs. A community is a great way to connect people on specific topics or in geographic areas. You can go as big or as small as you want and let them lead the conversation.  

We’ve heard a lot of success in online communities connecting members in disparate locations – or globally. Or for onboarding young members. If your community syncs with your Association Management Software, even better. This creates more data points you can lean into to work with those personas. 

Members who benefit most from online communities are:   

• Entertainers  
• Influencers  
• Givers  
• Advocates  
• Connectors  
• Mentors

Job Board  

A job board, like Personify’s Job Board, enables members to post and search for jobs. They can also learn about volunteer and research positions. This is great for those seeking career path growth or to grow their association or business.  

Members who benefit most from a job board are:  

• Climbers  
• Advocates  
• Scholars  
• Researchers  

Event Management  

An event management tool (we have a lot of those at Personify) will help you create events members will love. Connect people virtually and face-to-face for professional development, networking, friendship and more.  

Members who benefit most from events are:  

• Influencers  
• Advocates  
• Connectors

To watch the full conversation between Megan, Nick, Wes and Erin click the link below!  

The post <strong>Webinar Recap “The New Member Journey: Emerging Member Personas for Associations” </strong>  appeared first on Personify.

It’s not that they stop caring or believe in our missions any less, it’s just that member engagement can look different at different phases of life.

But there are ways to reach out to members who have gone a little silent and re-engage lapsed members in a way that meets them where they’re at in their lives and membership journey. For example, did you know that, in a recent report, 91% of survey respondents said they are also more likely to do business with companies that appreciate their customers?

And members are more likely to return to communities that are more welcoming and inclusive.

But before we get ahead of ourselves and dive into four steps you can take to re-engage lapsed members, let’s ask ourselves the big question: Why go after members that have left?

Why Re-Engage Lapsed Members?

It’s not just nostalgia. The value of re-engaging lapsed members is well documented, and the value is quantified in the commercial sector. According to Annex Cloud:

• A 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by 25% to 95%.
• Almost 65% of a company’s business comes from repeat customers.
• 82% of companies agree that retention is cheaper than acquisition.

Aside from impacts on the bottom line, re-engaging lapsed members represents “low-hanging fruit” for many organizations. First, he or she has demonstrated a need for your organization at some point. Second, they’re already familiar with your association and your offerings (although there’s always an opportunity to build greater awareness). Third, and perhaps most importantly, if information about the lapsed member is already in your database, your organization has an unprecedented opportunity to both target them with tailored, highly-personalized, ultimately more successful, win-back offers.

Understanding Why They Lapsed

While retention is almost always a focus, lapsed members are a normal part of the member lifecycle, faced by organizations of all types and sizes. Recapture campaigns have limited success as they focus exclusively on converting that member from canceled back to active but, without considering what went wrong and what’s going to be different, your relationship may be destined for a breakup – again.

Understanding why members have let their membership lapse is a critical component for reconciling what originally went wrong and building a strong foundation for a long-term relationship. Perhaps the value you’re delivering is no longer aligned with what they’re looking for. Perhaps they never realized the value in the first place because they weren’t engaging in programs due to lack of interest or convenience. (Are your members already struggling to balance work and family alongside a heavy calendar of in-person association events?) It could be that they just got hung up trying to renew their membership because of a bug on your website.

Take the time to understand your audience. Often your AMS will provide you with insight into not only which members have lapsed but why. This data helps you and your staff have improved visibility into the possible issues at hand, allowing you to pinpoint a specific reason driving a lapse in membership and help you quickly understand how you can make the experience better the second time around.

It can also be beneficial to compare lapsed members as a group to your membership. Other than their membership status, is there anything unique about this group? Are members more likely to lapse at a certain membership tier or in a particular geography? Do they tend to be earlier or later in their careers?

Segment out your members into those who lapsed within the past 12 to 24 months versus those who lapsed more than 24 months ago. Consider launching a campaign to help the latter group rediscover your organization and provide compelling reasons why your organization provides value in the first place.

Re-Engage Your Lapsed Members

1. Have a plan

While lapsed members may represent an easier sell because they’re already familiar with your organization, they’ve already made the decision to disengage. Creating a thoughtful, specific strategy for re-engagement, including the tactics you’ll use and the message you’re sharing is a must. Take advantage of any and all behavioral data in your AMS or constituent management and engagement tools. Review audience-level information about these members to identify which channels work best.

Still feel like you don’t have all of the information you need to create an extensive win-back plan? Consider a single-touch to lapsed members to learn what you could be doing better, remind them of your value proposition and offers a single click to get them back to your website and to get their membership current.

When conducting a win-back campaign or a single-touch email, use it as an opportunity to drive interest in the activities and programming that you have planned for the coming year. These serve as an important reminder of the value of your organization’s membership and may make the difference in whether an individual makes the choice to renew.

2. Show them the value

I can’t speak for your email, but mine is full of “We’ve missed you!” messaging from other marketers. And I’m not opening any of them. Are you?

Remember, the focus of win-back campaigns shouldn’t be only on the renewal. If you hone in on simple, binary conversion, it may deliver a short-term boost to the bottom line but it can also introduce unnecessary risk to your long-term success. Focus on what’s in it for the member. Put yourself in their shoes, using what you’ve learned about why they’ve lapsed, what they need and then showcase the value you know will bring them back into the fold.

It goes without saying that all efforts should be as personalized as possible. Whether it’s including personal details in an email (reminding them of the value they realized going to last year’s annual conference and introducing the exciting changes you’ve made to this year’s events) or giving phone calls from your leadership team, members want to feel special. Make these initiatives memorable and use them as an opportunity to show how much they mean to you. This may be your last opportunity to reengage them- make it count!

If you conduct exit or satisfaction surveys with your members, leverage the findings from your surveys in communication to lapsed members. For example, if your association now offers more professional development opportunities that provide CAE credit, lead with that messaging in the subject line of your win-back communication.

3. Offer a discount

It may be that a member’s renewal happened at a time when finances were tight, and he/she couldn’t stomach the cost of renewing. But a good deal is hard to pass up and may make them think about renewing again. Offer a discount to renew their membership or giving them a deal on event registration may entice them to take a second look.

But, remember that it’s not all about the money. Finances may be part of the reason that the member lapsed but ultimately the perceived value was not worth the association membership fee. So, it’s important to reiterate the value that you provide to members in addition to discounting their membership cost.

4. Keep it from happening again

The best way to re-engage and win back lapsed members is by ensuring they never leave. Leverage technology to be proactive. With the efforts from your pre-campaign planning in hand, apply what you’ve learned to the member data within your AMS or CRM to proactively engage members who may lapse. Take advantage of workflows and marketing automation to create an automated campaign to onboard your members or perform immediate outreach to those whose membership falls off your books. These timely strategies will give members a chance to reengage and rejoin your association.

Finally, make renewals easy. Simplify the process for members to renew their membership and limit the amount of information you are requesting from them. If you see that members start to renew their application online but don’t make it fully through the process, evaluate which steps are causing hiccups and how you can streamline.

Wrap-Up

It’s hard to be on the losing side of a break-up but there are ways to rekindle the feelings that brought these members to your organization in the first place. Ultimately, people want to join your association and stay in it when you provide services they need and enable emotional connections with others in the organization. Take the time to understand who lapsed and why, use those key learnings to develop personalized campaigns to showcase your value (and show them what they’re missing!) and re-engage them now and for the long run.

The post 4 Steps to Re-Engage Lapsed Members appeared first on Personify.

In the ideal event world, event professionals could count on the same exhibitors returning each year. But as we know, churn has always been a reality for every business and lapsed exhibitors happen. In this environment of clear infinite choice, client retention has become even more critical for continued success. 

The bottom line is that it is six times more expensive to win a new customer than to retain an existing one. Keep in mind that even if an exhibitor has lapsed, you still have a relationship with that exhibitor. Don’t ignore the fact that you’ve already laid the groundwork with them. What you need to do now is understand what issues caused the relationship to wane, address those issues, and remind the exhibitor of the things that attracted them to your organization in the first place. 

This topic has been on our minds lately, and we assumed it is on our industry colleagues’ minds as well, so we reached out to them to hear their approaches to winning back lapsed exhibitors. 

Understand Why They Lapsed 

Joe Federbush, president and chief strategist of Evolio Marketing, recommends asking exhibitors why they stopped exhibiting and identifying their target audiences, their objectives, and how they define success. “When you’re armed with this info, you can curate a solutions-based sales approach that’s hard to refuse … or determine maybe your show isn’t a great fit for them after all, “says Federbush.  

Carrie Morin, CEM, and director of Membership and Industry Engagement at the American Society of Human Genetics, also says it is essential to take the time to understand why they lapsed. You can address this question via a questionnaire that dives into the issues. She recommends keeping the questionnaire short but including exhibitors asking why they stopped exhibiting and where they are putting their marketing dollars. If it is going toward other shows, she recommends researching them and identify the gaps between their program and yours. “I like researching competitor shows in any case or shows that are in the space but don’t overlap,” Morin explains. “You never know what kinds of ideas they might inspire.”  

With this valuable information on hand, you will be able to reengage lapsed exhibitors and do so on a very individual level. This knowledge will arm you with information about why they should become active again and encourage them to do so. 

Define Their Target Audience 

“Am I getting access to the decision-makers in my industry?” Every exhibitor that comes to your show wants to confidently answer yes to this question. They want to know that your event will generate valuable opportunities that can help grow their pipeline.

“The easiest way for a lapsed exhibitor to define their targets is to have them take a look at the attendee registration form and have them indicate the specific job roles, industries, and companies they’d like to connect with,” Federbush says.

This step helps exhibitions and trade shows create the ideal exhibitor experience and properly market it to their audience. Organizations need to ask themselves if they are properly communicating the return on objectives to their prospects. 

Federbush goes on to say that sharing a list of previous attendees is helpful. “That way, once targets are defined, you can clearly quantify what percentage of the audience represents their sweet spot.”

Offer Personalized Incentives 

Now that you know why your exhibitors have lapsed and their ideal targets, it is time to provide a highly personalized incentive.  

A universal discount email won’t cut it. You need to leverage three things to make your offer go further: time sensitivity, exclusivity, and personalization. Lapsed exhibitors are more likely to take you up on an offer if it’s only for a limited time and only for them. 

Morin explains that the more closely you work with your exhibitors, the more likely your incentives will succeed. One of her suggestions is to offer a booth-space discount at the next show—but with predetermined metrics, such as the number of leads. Compare former event leads and come together with a certain number. 

Federbush says it is worth sharing previous years’ attendee surveys to align the exhibitor’s types of products and solutions with the attendees’ interest. “Layering attendee interests with demographic data is a bulletproof way to further quantify the exhibitor’s potential success in a show,” Federbush reiterates.  

Another idea is to offer complimentary or discounted digital sponsorship opportunities or enhanced digital content. In our current event climate, the opportunity for exhibitors to leverage the digital space is bigger than ever. From personalized emails promoting their booth space to greater inclusion of video content, these opportunities can provide a wonderful benefit to exhibitors with little or no expense.  

And don’t forget to ask them what they would like. A conversation with your exhibitors is often the catalyst needed to spark a unique sponsorship idea. 

Keeping Your Lapsed Exhibitors 

Winning your former exhibitors back is excellent news. Studies have shown that customers stay longer the second time around. “It may take some time to get some of these folks back, but the work you put into it can pay off in spades and also help deepen your relationships with other exhibitors,” says Morin. “If you invest in them, even just your time, they will likely invest back.” 

However, getting the exhibitors back doesn’t mean you can stop working for their businesses. You need to continually manage engagement, build loyalty, and stay tuned into their needs. 

When the event is over, reach out regularly. Continue to gather feedback and keep your exhibitors’ priorities at the forefront of all you do. One way to easily keep the dialogue going after the event is to invest in an event community.  

“An events community is not just another occasion to connect with your membership, audience, or constituents, “says Rich Vallaster, director of Marketing and Tradeshow Wonk at Personify. “It is a way to stay in front of them year-round. And unlike traditional communities, these pay off with in-person meetings to share those desired experiences.” 

Wrapping Up 

Taking a consultative approach, leveraging current and past data, and offering highly personalized incentives can be the biggest tools in your arsenal for gaining back lapsed exhibitors. A great exhibitor experience is when all these things come together, creating a win-win situation across the board for everyone involved in your event, which is ultimately the gold standard.

The post 4 Steps for Winning Back Lapsed Exhibitors appeared first on Personify.

Want to increase the member loyalty? Take a page from the playbooks of companies like Amazon, Apple, and Netflix. Your association needs to become an integral part of your members’ lives. Making it so they can’t even remember what life was like before they joined. You must build your association into something so indispensable that your members find the idea of not renewing laughable. 

It may sound a bit intense, but competition is fierce for your members. They have a lot of options for where they spend their time and money. Even within the most niche categories, multiple organizations are vying to win the same audience. For example, did you know that there are 70+ national and local associations for those working in the concrete industry? 

Creating member loyalty with key strategies at your side 

We have worked closely with associations for over a decade and heard firsthand which approaches to increasing loyalty are a home run and which can actually push members away. 

In this article, we’ll cover a few of the most effective member loyalty strategies our clients have used to boost member loyalty in their organizations, including the following: 

• Establish your association as the go-to for good content 
• Build an engaged online community 
• Offer an exceptional benefits program 
• Give members a voice (and listen to what they say) 
• Make it easy to renew 

Establish your association as the go-to for good content  

The ability to provide targeted, valuable content is the greatest opportunity for associations looking to improve their member loyalty. 

To capitalize on your members’ desire to stay informed, make your website the go-to place for the latest advice and insights. You will also need to alert members when you have new resources available by: 

• Featuring it prominently on your homepage 
• Promoting it in your newsletter and other emails 
• Post links to it on social media 

In addition to distributing content you’ve created, share articles from popular industry publications and other experts on your social feeds, too. Your members may be overwhelmed by the ocean of blogs, e-books, and infographics out there and if they know they can count on you to be a curator of helpful, relevant content from trusted sources, it will encourage them to stick around. 

Choose an online community platform that engages your members 

Hosting in-person events and regular meetups is a critical part of fostering member loyalty, but sometimes circumstances make that impossible. Even when everything is business as usual, engaged members can be too busy to consistently attend. In addition, geography can play a part in event attendance, particularly in larger states. 

While members in these situations certainly appreciate the association and its other perks, they may be missing out on one of the most attractive benefits of membership in a professional association: a sense of belonging. 

Building and maintaining an active online community is an effective way to ensure every individual has the opportunity to build relationships with other members. With online message boards, members have a forum to ask questions, offer feedback, voice concerns, and recount personal experiences with other members all over the country—or the world. You can also create a searchable directory of member-managed profiles. This can help members find others who work in similar roles or share common interests and easily connect with one another. Consider taking advantage of social media and establish a LinkedIn or Facebook group for your association.

Offer an exceptional loyalty  benefits program 

What makes your members tick? What are their motivations? Their frustrations? Their aspirations? Building an extraordinary benefits portfolio starts by answering these questions. This is because exceptional benefits programs provide benefits that are not only exclusive to their members but also personalized to their needs. 

For example, the Austin Young Chamber, a group for young Austinites looking to grow professionally, offers its members discounts on coworking space reservations as well as free admission to workshops hosted by the Baylor Executive MBA program. 

The benefits you provide must be substantial and worthwhile and should demonstrate your commitment to the well-being and success of your members. They should either support their professional goals, personal pursuits, or (ideally) both. Most importantly, your member benefits should act as a tangible representation of your appreciation for their decision to be a member of your organization.

Give members a voice (and listen to what they say) 

While one of the primary responsibilities of your association is to consistently share important news and information with members, just as necessary is allowing members to respond to your communications and express their opinions. 

Facebook and Twitter are particularly helpful for encouraging interactive, two-way conversations between members and your association’s administration. You can also use your social media accounts to poll members. Emailing surveys to your members and/or putting a questionnaire on your website are effective, as well. 

Members should feel comfortable being completely forthright and honest when sharing their opinions about the association. Even if some of their feedback ends up being a bit harsh, it is much better to find out now so you can make any necessary changes before your renewal rates plummet. 

Make it easy to renew 

You may not realize it, but your association’s renewal process may be affecting retention. If the process is cumbersome or time-consuming, it may be enough to push members to reconsider renewing. Your goal should be to make membership renewal as simple and streamlined as possible. 

One idea is to allow members to complete the entire renewal process online. Reduce the paper process of requiring them to fill out a physical form and/or mail in a check. Your members may not even have a stamp, let alone know where their checkbook is. 

You can also offer a recurring payment option for dues. In a recurring payment model, members provide their payment information and are automatically charged at specific intervals. The biggest advantage is that members don’t have to worry about remembering to pay, and you don’t have to worry about reminding them. 

To foster member loyalty in your association, offer an experience that demonstrates that you genuinely value them. Your members should be proud to say they are part of your organization and should want to promote it at every opportunity. If you follow the five tips above, you can build an association of loyal, lifetime members. 

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Callie Hinman is the Content Strategist for AffiniPay, a provider of online payment technology for professional services, associations, and nonprofits. She is a proud graduate of the University of Texas. And staunchly committed to following Ann Handley’s Rule of FIWTSBS (“Find Interesting Ways to Say Boring Stuff”). 

The post 5 Ways Associations Can Boost Member Loyalty appeared first on Personify.

Many YMCA and JCC organizations struggle with member retention, and 2020 has amplified these challenges. A study conducted of 17 YMCAs across the U.S. found that, without intervention, 63% of new members stopped exercising within six months of joining the organization and, unsurprisingly, member termination often followed.

We’re sharing a collection of tips and strategies to help you retain your members, even during these challenging times when in-person activities are limited.

Why Member Retention Matters

As the old adage goes, it’s more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain a current one. How much time does your team spend reaching out to potential new members versus enriching and cultivating relationships with your current ones? And, how often does your leadership team review retention numbers and look for correlations with program usage, differences across facilities, age and gender distribution, and more?

6 Ways to Increase Member Retention…Yes, Even In a Pandemic

1. Prioritize Members’ Needs and Align Programs to Meet Them.

Your members have unique goals and needs and specific reasons that they joined your organization in the first place. This can include a gym with childcare options, group workout classes, programs for seniors, or summer camps for kids. When your members first enroll, leverage surveys and phone calls from your staff to identify their individual needs and guide them to programs that align with their goals.

Some organizations have used journey mapping to identify initiatives and programs that are most valuable to members. Front desk staff may hear comments and frustrations with limited pool access or crowded locker rooms during peak periods but mapping the full member experience may point to optimizing the workout class schedule as an improvement where you’ll get the most bang for your buck.

Additionally, what’s important to members may have changed over the past few months. They may want to know how many people will be in a certain workout class before they come to the facility and what percent of the time they’ll have to spend indoors. Have you shifted your communication efforts to share the information that’s most important right now?

The Y-USA finds that new members are 50% more likely to leave if they don’t make friends and cannot meet their wellness goals. And, if members have few or no interactions with staff in their first month after joining, they are 50% less likely to return the following month. Look for opportunities to make connections between members as well as staff and provide members with easy ways to track their goals and progress towards them. I’ll share more on tracking progress in a moment.

For your existing members, consider ways to keep them engaged with others at the organization. For example, a member referral program can provide a reduced monthly fee to members who recruit their friends or family to join the organization. Both members can take advantage of the reduced monthly rate, they have gained a workout buddy and your membership base has grown.

2. Reinforce the Value That You Provide to Members.

Make sure to highlight the results of your work in personalized emails and member newsletters, reminding them of the programs that are unique to them and that you care about their needs and are working hard to meet them.

This is especially important during the pandemic when members are able to take advantage of a limited number of programs and facilities. Make sure to communicate often about the changes that you’ve made to accommodate social distancing, which facilities are open, changes to processes such as booking classes and more. And, consider providing members with a year-end summary statement of benefits where you quantify the value of the benefits they’ve received.

3. Make Membership Affordable and Streamline the Renewal Process.

Membership affordability is always a concern, but it is particularly relevant this year when many families have lost their jobs, experienced pay cuts or had to prioritize their limited resources. Revisit your membership options to ensure that you can accommodate a range of budgets and options. While in-person interactions are still limited, consider membership options that allow people to take advantage of digital programming only and provide ways for people to pause their membership and resume billing at a future date.

Organizations tend to focus on retention every 12 or 13 months instead of thinking about it on a monthly basis. Instead, evaluate your member retention data and discussions during the time periods when people are making a decision to renew their membership. If the majority of your members are paying their dues monthly, they’re considering the value of that membership each month and not just at the end of their renewal cycle.

4. Is your organization a place where people know your name?

 Sometimes you wanna go

Where everybody knows your name…

Okay, but really. Your staff plays a crucial role in facilitating relationships and helping members feel welcome every time that they walk through the door. Emphasize the importance among your team of getting to know members personally. Remembering first names is important, of course, but it can certainly be difficult. Instead, focus on details that are relevant to that member such as why they joined the organization, their fitness goals, what’s happening in their lives, etc. Front desk staff and trainers can make notes about these details in the member’s record and quickly reference them when he or she shows up for a class or training session.

When a prospective new member is given a tour of your facility, encourage staff to introduce them to other people in the organization. In a socially distant world, you can make introductions via your member community or launching a virtual buddy program. By creating these connections prior to member enrollment, you’ve built a reason for them to come back and instilled a tight-knit community atmosphere in your organization. When that member comes back for their first program or workout, they’ve already met a few people and feel like they’re part of the community.

5. Get Members Plugged In.

Your member community is a powerful tool for member retention. Often, members may feel that they’re solely responsible to keep up their exercise program and training schedule. Find ways for members to collaborate with and support one another as they work towards their goals.

You can host community events and hangouts for targeted groups such as members who joined in a particular month, those recently signed up for personal training, parents of young kids, and more. Encourage people to come early to a workout session, whether it’s in-person or virtual, or stay later to get to know their classmates. Introduce new members to people who frequent your facility often and find ways for staff to engage with all members, both the newbies and veterans.

6. Communicate Often and Help Members Track Their Progress.

Communication can help keep engagement high for some members. Consider accountability programs where members receive notifications when they have missed multiple sessions or are visiting your facility less often. The first sign of a member not being engaged is missing a week or two of workouts. Consider having your staff reach out, ideally someone they already know, to find out if anything has changed with their goals and how your team can support them.

Tracking progress can be difficult and it’s hard to bounce back once you’ve missed out on a few sessions. You can integrate your member management software with tracking programs and apps on a member’s phone or smart watch. The YMCA of the Twin Cities did this by engaging Personify, NetPulse, and eGym to leverage an Apple technology program for their members. Members check into the facility by scanning their Apple Watch and log into equipment at the facility that track metrics and progress in wellness programs. Members are also able to renew their membership using their Apple Watch, which is integrated with all of the member’s information in Personify.

Want to Learn More About Member Retention?

Check out our Endurance Training eBook, which details Personify’s research on young members at YMCA and JCC organizations, and includes their perception of membership, the programs and outreach techniques most effective in compelling them to join and how they prefer to engage with your organization.

The post Member Retention Tips for YMCAs, JCCs and Member-Based Organizations appeared first on Personify.

A denim jacket. A perfect white t-shirt. A little black dress. Or maybe an Eames lounge chair, “The Godfather,” or a 1966 Shelby 427 Cobra. While style is subjective, there are classics that seem timeless, appropriate no matter the season, occasion or date. Such is the case with the classic association email newsletter.

In our Personify Young Members 2.0 research, almost three-quarters of young members report receiving email from their membership organization often, either in the form of a newsletter (72%) or a more personalized message (73%) and both are effective in keeping young members informed and up-to-date.

When asked which marketing tactics young members wish associations used more frequently, email was near the top of the list, with more than one-third of survey respondents (36%) eager for the one-stop-shop convenience of a newsletter.

That’s right, the humble email newsletter.

Tried and true, popular with marketing staff and readers alike.  According to Content Marketing Institute, 83% of B2B marketers use email newsletters in their content marketing strategy. And email newsletters are getting read. Nielsen Norman Group reports that when asked which medium consumers would like to receive updates from, 90% preferred an email newsletter.

Why do newsletters perform so well? Convenience tops the list. Email newsletters offer a convenient, one-stop-shop for all the important updates and information during the week or month. Yet most organizations fail to take full advantage of this useful communication tool, leaving it in the back of their closet forgotten or relegated to being a catch all for a seemingly random pieces of information.

The good news is with a couple of updates, your email newsletter can take center stage once again.

Curating content for your email newsletter

Creating quality content can be difficult and creating a lot of quality content is even harder. But there’s good news, according to Jakob Neilson Research, “…the average time allocated to a newsletter after opening it was only 51 seconds. “Reading” is not even the right word, since participants fully read only 19% of newsletters. The predominant user behavior was scanning. Often, users didn’t even scan the entire newsletter: 35% of the time, participants only skimmed a small part of the newsletter or glanced at the content.”

When it comes to email newsletters, think quality over quantity. It’s OK to minimize the amount of content as long as it is:

• Germane– Directly related to the reader’s interest and topics they care about. When you’re developing, collecting and publishing content for your email newsletter put yourself in your constituent’s shoes. What would you want to see?
• Compelling– Your email newsletter shouldn’t be a duplicate of your association’s website. Think of it more as a flyer designed to get members excited. Think of your copy as teasers, short sound bites that direct the reader to a post on your blog or event information on your website. This ensures your content is scannable but also encourages your members to take action. Use your content as a way to get them to engage with your association!
• Beneficial– Does your content leave your reader knowing more about a topic than before they engaged with your email newsletter? What are their interests and how can you use your email newsletter to reinforce the value you’re delivering to each constituent?

In addition to standard news, updates, blog posts and podcasts there are a multitude of ways to introduce new content into your email newsletters. Share an update from your organization’s CEO or President to make readers feel like they’re in the know. Include relevant statistics and data points in your newsletters as a surefire way to reassure you customers and prove your success. Learn more about your constituents by including a poll or survey (and publish results in the next newsletter). Include a fun Top 10 list for entertaining content your constituents will love. Inspire readers with stories that show impact and how your organization is making a positive change.

The burden for content creation doesn’t have to be carried by your staff alone. Recruit members and donors to share their stories for powerful user-generated material. Highlight the best photos shared on social media. Ask constituents to share their stories, or have experts answer questions submitted to a “Dear Abby”-style advice column. The possibilities are endless!

Creating (additional) connection

Whether in a footer, a header or some other strategic place within your email newsletter, your organization should always include links to social profile pages. Think of your email newsletter as a hub, with the spokes being your other marketing channels. Leverage your email newsletter to direct readers to other areas digital engagement channels like your website, blog or social media sites.

Remember, your email newsletter is not the place for long, thorough content.

Instead, provide a quick summary and then link to your blog for the full-read. Or, include brief summaries and then send readers to your website for more details. This introduces constituents to more of your channels and supports driving deeper engagement with your organization.

Capturing clicks for your email newsletter

You never get a second chance to make a first impression so don’t skimp on your subject line. Why are subject lines so important for email newsletters? Without an effective subject line, the content within your organization’s email newsletter has little chance of being consumed. Here are some tips and tricks for highly effective subject lines:

• Introduce a numerical list of tips and tricks, e.g. 3 Ways to Boost Email Newsletter Performance!
• Use the power of your database to personalize subject lines, such as The latest APA news for Amanda. People are up to 50% more likely to open an email when the subject line is personalized with one of their individualized attributes.
• Pose a question to pique a reader’s interests. Some examples: How many young members are opening your email? Or Do you know where PersoniFest is going in 2020?

Ensure you’re hitting send the right day of the week and the right time of day. Every organization is different – look at what’s working best for you! – but many industries follow the rule that Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be optimal send days, followed by Mondays and Wednesdays.

Email send time is also a critical engagement determiner, with the top four send times being 10 am, 8 pm, 2 pm and 6 am. Confirming that – for better or worse – people go to bed as well as wake up with their inboxes!

A little updating, some accessorizing and your email newsletter will be poised to conquer a whole new audience. Remember to focus on your content, using your email newsletter to drive additional connection and using the right subject line and send time to capture their attention and it will continue to serve you for years to come!

The post 4 Tips for Refreshing your Email Newsletter appeared first on Personify.

All these months of brainstorming meetings with your team have finally come to fruition. Now, it’s time to open the community to your members. You can just kick your feet up and watch the magic happen, right? Not quite.

You are still an active player in your Community and we want you to know what you can expect for the first 90 days after you launch.

You Can Expect to Start Small

Your boss has set high expectations and you want to meet them. Good motivations can set community managers on a course to focus too much on high acquisition rates and elaborate strategies than on a core group of members.

As psychologist Dr. David McMillan says in his article on the Sense of Community, “Faith comes from within the member. Acting on such faith represents a risk and requires courage since humiliation can result if the faith is not validated…In effect, when we believe that we will be welcome, that we fit or belong in a community, we have a stronger attraction to that community.”

We don’t need to mass import 50,000 users into a community and see what happens. We want to find the people who will be the most engaged in your community and focus on making their experience as a new user. How do you do that well in the beginning?

You Can Expect to Facilitate Discussions

In the early days, you will be the one to seed the majority of the content and that is normal. Imagine you are introducing three of your friends to each other for the first time. You are the one who is going to ask questions to help them connect with strangers. We want to utilize these same principles in community by facilitating productive discussions on a daily basis.

You will need to have a content calendar to build out what topics you want to present to your first community members. Make it relevant to what you think they want to talk about in the first few months. Here’s the beauty of community: you don’t have to guess. You can ask your members what they want to discuss. Be open to the possibility that your original path may not be the one you stay on for a year. How do you change course when you just began your journey?

You Can Expect to Adjust Strategies

The first few months are a critical period of observation of your members. What actions are they taking? What patterns are forming? You need to focus on your small-but-mighty group of participants and use them as the foundation. This data may show you need to change the direction of your content or implement a new approach.

For example, a study done by California State University, found that most members who join a support community are not looking for emotional support like one might assume. They are actually most interested in informational support to facilitate patient empowerment. Many online health communities form because they think their members want a dedicated space to talk in forums. They may need to change their approach to build out more robust resource libraries to provide the latest information. Observing your member’s action, listening to their feedback and being flexible with your approach will keep your members coming back to the community.

If you can set your expectations correctly, your community will see growth within those first 90 days and you, as a community manager, will gain insight into your core audience. Now, what do you do after those first 90 days are over?  If you are coming to PersoniFest, we are hosting a session, Looking Back: Lessons from the First Year of Community.

We’ll be interviewing Cynthia Nazario, who has just completed her first year of community management. We’ll talk about the pitfalls that befall some community managers and practical applications you should implement to make your community successful in year one. We hope to see you there!

The post Your New Community: What to Expect in the First 90 Days appeared first on Personify.

As long as nonprofits have been acquiring members so too have they been taking (or at least we hope they’ve been taking) the steps necessary to retain them, to keep them on board and part of the organization.

But it’s a brave new world filled with seemingly boundless free resources and an emerging population of members used to the transient, subscription-based models of things like their gym, streaming media or meal kits. In a previous blog post and in our recently published Young Members 2.0 report we shared the good news, that member not only still relevant but, in the eyes of younger members, is becoming more important. But is that enough to retain them?

Dark Clouds on the Horizon

Ensuring an authentic connection with young members is, unsurprisingly, an important indication of how difficult it will be to retain them and of their overall satisfaction with their membership. It is a culmination of your engagement efforts, where the rubber meets the road.

When asked if their association seemed out of touch with younger members, both Millennials and Generation Z respondents were more likely to agree than disagree, with African-American respondents in particular suggesting their associations were missing the mark (25 percentage points higher than average). Almost half agree that their experiences with associations have been “underwhelming.”

More concerning:

• Almost half of respondents in this study agree with the statement, “There isn’t a strong return on investment when it comes to participating in associations.”
• One in three respondents and two out of five Millennials agree with the statement, “I have no idea how being in association actually benefits me.”

In a word? Ouch.

Why Are They Leaving?

Only 40 percent of young members report their experience is “worth the dues (I) pay to be a member.” These perspectives show in questions asked to young members about retention.

In our report, almost one-fifth of all young members have let a membership lapse in the last year. When asked why, young members told us:

We also asked young members what is it that associations don’t get about asking them to renew their membership. Here’s some of what we heard:

• “They need to increase the value of benefits if they are increasing fees”
• “Sometimes the process is too lengthy when they could produce an online form instead of a paper membership form.”
• “They typically don’t ask if there is anything that they could do better”
• “Sometimes I need a payment plan”
• “The more they push or use sales pitches, the more they’re are losing me as a customer”
• “I would automatically renew if they targeted my age better with more members of my age and our shared interests incorporated as well.”

Recapturing the Magic

How can you overcome the retention hurdle with young members? The good news is that although the data in our study is pretty eye-opening, the steps you can take to mitigate the risk that you’ll lose them in the retention process are pretty straightforward and benefit all of your members:

• Reinforce the value you’re providing every step of the way. Consider taking a page out of the consumer sector and provide members with a year-end summary statement of benefits, quantifying the value of the benefits they’ve received.
• It’s been said before but bears repeating: Make membership affordable. Explore opportunities to align your existing membership offers with the preferences of subscription-savvy young members with monthly billing options.
• Make renewals easy with a streamlined, online process and automated workflows to send proactive reminders.

While membership is viewed as important by young members, the need for membership organizations to articulate a clear return on investment in order to stay relevant has never been clearer. Leaders interested in attracting, and retaining, young members must not only prove the real-dollar value of their membership but also coach young members in internalizing what membership means and in bringing this message to their own leadership teams and other prospective members.

Interested in learning more about what this means for your organization? There’s still time to join us for Personify’s upcoming webinar, February 27^th, where we’ll take a deep dive into the data to understand how to build awareness with Millennials and Generation Z and what you should be thinking about to drive conversion with these prospective young members.

Reserve your spot today.

The post Young Members 2.0 Lessons in Retention appeared first on Personify.

After many years in the nonprofit sector, and more than several working specifically with associations, I have yet to meet anyone who loves talking about increasing the price of membership dues.

(Ok, maybe finance who is looking forward to seeing that extra revenue hit the bottom line and ensure the financial health of the organization.)

At the core of associations are the relationships with its members, and the trust they’ve established after proving the value delivered as part of membership. Most members understand that, in exchange for the goods and services provided by your organization, they pay a fee which supports your operations, continued growth and service of your mission. But while they’re willing to pay for their membership, are they willing to pay more?

Broaching the topic can be a challenging one, made more difficult by the fact that you often have to rely on impersonal channels like email, direct mail or large annual meetings to make the announcement. Yet every organization will eventually reach a point where they need to raise the price of dues – to fund a technology investment, expand programming or just because the dollars coming in no longer cover the cost.

Many organizations are either working or placing the finishing touches on the 2019 planning process. If increasing dues are on your radar for the year ahead, here are some tips to help the process of introducing the change go more smoothly:

1. Honesty is the Best Policy

It’s tempting to bury a price increase – they don’t tell members their dues are changing until they get an annual renewal notice or attempt to complete their transaction in your online store. There are also organizations who don’t even mention it, changing dues prices without mentioning it in the hopes that the increase will go unnoticed.

These behaviors, while seeming to provide an easier path, undermine the trust that your members have in your organization. Be honest. Tell them about the increase and give them time to understand how it may affect them, especially if the increase is a significant one.

2. Explain Why

Context is the friend of the dues increase. As a nonprofit, members will appreciate associations aren’t trying to drive profit for shareholders but without the benefit of understanding the rationale behind an increase they may jump to their own conclusions.

Provide a fact-based, high-level overview of the reasons behind a dues increase. Reaffirm your commitment to providing them the best experience possible and remind them of the value you’ll be delivering with the additional resources.

3. Offer Options

Some dues represent a large investment for members – especially those who may be early in their career. If your planned increase is a sizeable one, it’s important to understand how the increase impacts different members and may pose a risk to retention efforts.

Should you introduce a new tier that provides fewer features but still creates a place for those unable to afford the new rates? If you do have tiers, do you need to introduce an increase across all levels simultaneously or can you stagger it to minimize the impact? Are installment payments an option or can you instead offset some of the anticipated revenue from a dues increase through the introduction of non-dues resources?

Although nonprofits are different in many regards, price increases are a normal part of business. Customers of all types understand raising prices to address increased costs offer a better experience. However, those changes need to be communicated honestly, presented in the context of value and alleviated by options if and/or when appropriate.

The post Don’t Shoot the Messenger appeared first on Personify.

That simple question opened Monday’s “Research. Solve. Repeat” session at ASAE Annual in Chicago. And while many organizations believe they know the answer, retention efforts or low-engagement levels may reveal a different story.

The good news? Getting back on the same page can be a relatively simple process and one with long-term benefits.

Before you get started, the presenters recommended some initial prework to help set the stage for the research to come. As noted in the presentation, an informed board is a supportive board and one important tool for helping your board (who may not talk to members on a daily basis) develop a strong, foundational understanding of who your organization serves are member personas.

While your board may have good visibility into others who have shared their membership experience or may be at the same stage of their careers, how well do they understand the collegiate members you’re trying to convert into a professional tier membership? Or maybe a demographic with whom they have little in common?

Personas can paint the picture and help provide the context for the full breadth of your organization and the audience its programs serve. It can also refine the focus of any member research you embark on by creating a common vision for what you’re hoping to learn.  But once you have that in hand, it’s time to get started with four straightforward steps for effective member research:

1. Ask the Question: And ask frequently. Develop a business model that includes constituent research when making critical decisions. Take the time to prioritize your questions, ensuring you’re starting with the end in mind, and being thoughtful in what you’re asking. What problem are you trying to solve? Take the time to digest all of the information as well. Early returns on data can lead to inaccurate conclusions and giving everyone the opportunity to absorb member feedback ensures that each stakeholder has total visibility into valuable information.
2. Hear the answer: Listening can be hard, but hearing an answer can be even harder, especially when the answer is one you may not have expected. Prepare to adapt and to respond efficiently and effectively to industries and/or audiences that change quickly.
3. Act on the Answer: Create a culture of leveraging research to solve real problems with data-driven decisions.
4. Listen Again: As the presentation reminds us, there’s always another question to ask! Being proactive instead of reactive provides the opportunity to better align on the big issues, but a regular cadence of surveys and outreach can set the stage for asking additional questions with answers to questions you may not have thought about – especially when the answers are viewed alongside your personas.

Acquisition, engagement, retention. All of these activities, which represents the lifeblood of an organization, benefit from the value member feedback can provide. Research, solve and repeat offers a simple approach to get started!

The post 4 Best Practices for Engaging in Member Research (and a recap of ASAE Annual) appeared first on Personify.