Many of us belong to several professional memberships, as well as all the personal memberships we use in our everyday life. Do we take advantage of all our memberships have to offer? Let’s be honest— probably not. Our members likely do not either. In order to help members wring out every drop of their membership value, we need a plan of action.
Step 1: Review your membership benefits to make sure they are relevant and still useful to your members.
At over 100 million subscribers, it’s safe to say many of you likely have an Amazon Prime membership. Something initially spurred you to sign up, right (such as the 2-day shipping perk)? However, there are over 20+ other benefits that members may not be aware of that can get lost in the shuffle, while most are only utilizing 1 or 2 of the more well-known benefits.
Associations are no different, something you offer sparked your members to sign up. But how many are actively participating or utilizing everything your association has to offer? Are they aware of all that comes with membership or are some benefits just not relevant to them? Your association may benefit from focusing on and promoting key benefits, instead of a menu of items that will be overlooked.
Step 2: Analyze how you are communicating the perks of being a member.
According to the 2017 MGI Membership Benchmarking Report, 37% of Associations report having difficulty in communicating membership value or benefits. Are current benefits easy to find and succinctly displayed on your website? Members should not have to wade through all the information they receive to determine where the value in their membership lies, so it is important to make this information easy to find and digest.
Know the varying demographic makeup of your members and ensure your information is reaching each segment. When you highlight benefits periodically throughout the year, use multiple methods to ensure you are reaching everyone. The more tech savvy Gen Y members likely want to have easy access to everything online, while your other members may still prefer traditional methods.
Step 3: Getting members involved.
We always hope members will attend association events and participate without prompting. However, do consider reaching out personally to members to encourage their involvement. A study cited by ASAE states that 31% of non-volunteers said, “no one asked” as a reason they hadn’t volunteered and 42% said, “they did not know what was involved with volunteering”. An engaged member will not only reap the benefits of membership but will have a stake in the association and champion it to potential members.
Hopefully by incorporating a few of these suggestions your members will increasingly take advantage of the valuable resources and opportunities provided to them by their association membership.