3 Tips to Engage New Members

You’ve heard me and many others say before, that engaging your members in your program of work, is the easiest way to improve your member retention.

So what are you doing, for not only your first year members, but also your base members too?

Here’s three quick things you could implement very easily, not only to welcome new members, but will also help on the back end when it comes to retention.

In fact, I know you’re already doing the first one.

New Member Kit - we’ve all got the thank you letter, web sticker and some form of the Chamber member plaque/sticker, but what else are you including in your new member kit?  Do you include a schedule of your upcoming programs or a copy of your mission statement?  The goal of your new member kit should be to make your new members feel welcome and to get a sense of what the Chamber will do on their behalf and the business community at large.

Special Invitation - pick an upcoming program or event for them to attend and make sure you have a buddy system where they are met at the registration table and that buddy will stay with them throughout their first event they attend.  Nobody wants to attend an event and feel isolated.  Formalize this in a way that works best for your Chamber.

Personal Phone Call - this is so easy to do and it gives the personal touch that any new member will appreciate.  The goal is to check-in and see how they are doing, ask if there is anything you can do for them and then end the call with a simple “Thank You” for being a member.  And by the way, the CEO needs to make this call.

If you do these three things to engage your new members it will be a good starting point to improve their engagement with the Chamber and it will help with your first year retention rates.

8 Tactics to Redefine Your Member Value Propositions and Experience

I recently attended a great session by Peggy Smith on how to redefine your member value proposition and experience.

I’ve written on that subject matter before and you can go HERE for that blog post titled What's Your Brand.

Her view on the Value Proposition is all about expectations and experience.

  • Expectations - outcome driven, logical, meets needs, everyone has it, tangible. 
  • Experiences - influences decisions, emotional, above and beyond, subjective, intangible.

She goes on to talk about how expectations are tied to the reason why your members join.  Traditional value propositions are the new expectations.  She states we are shifting to experience-driven value propositions.

During the session she asked each of us to share our mobile device and asked the other person to find where you can join that persons organization.  Wow!  While some organizations made it easy to join, others had a hard time finding any link anywhere on the mobile device.

Peggy talked about focusing on the following 8 Tactics to redefine your member value proposition and experience.

Meet Expectations with Mobile - everyone is on a mobile device so it's important that you have a mobile responsive website.  What that means is your website adapts automatically to the users device (i.e. desktop, iPhone, iPad, etc.). The research tells us that 4 out of 5 consumers are using their smartphone to shop.

Simplicity Meets Design - again research is telling us that your members have an 8 second attention span.  Do you have a clear navigation for your members and potential members and a clear call to action on your website. Focus on usability, accessibility and the ease of interaction as a guide.

Simplify the Onboarding Process - first impression is key, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.  How many clicks does it take for a potential member to join?  Do you have a welcome campaign that goes beyond the thank you letter?  Do you give them a gift?  Maybe a pen with your logo, mouse pad, what do you have that you could give in addition to your plaque.

Get Social - networking is the #1 reason why members join your organization.  Do you have an online community?  Do you have a daily strategy to connect with your members, and by the way, consistency is the key with your strategy, whether it's a daily or weekly connection.  Having said that, most will tell you A daily habit is definitely the way to go!

Personalized Marketing - the ability to segment your membership by their demographics, lifestyle geographic and behavioral traits.  Are you getting them information that is important to them based on the above criteria?  Are you responding to their pain points.

Live Interaction at Events - do you have a mobile event app that allows for  ongoing interaction throughout your meeting in real-time?  Getting people to post to their Twitter and Facebook accounts is a way to get the event out to the community beyond those who are attending.  Are you using Gamification to get your attendees active in your live event?  What a great marketing tool.

Make it Easy - does your website have a member portal where it tracks the actions of your members and when they come back to your website relevant information will show up.  This is where you'll want to get your CMS provider involved to help you in this process.  The other question is are you automating your processes?  Membership renewal.  It's been stated that 29% of associations offer automatic renewals.  At the end of the day, eliminate unnecessary tasks.

Agile is the New Lean - go to strategyzer to get the business canvas for membership and the value proposition mapping.  Start on your member profile side first.

Keep in mind the above 8 tactics while your working with your membership engagement.

For more resources on membership from yourmembership go HERE.