10 Ways to Reduce Member Churn
Member retention strategies to keep members around for the long haul
Struggling with member churn? Get practical member retention strategies built for small associations to improve loyalty & reduce drop-off.
While it may seem that recruiting new members is the highest priority, member retention is arguably as important given that it can cost 5 times more to attract new members than it does to retain an existing one. Retaining members is the foundation of an effective membership program and certainly one of the greatest challenges for associations.
In this guide you will find 10 strategies to help your association keep your greatest asset—your existing members.
In your members’ eyes, the value your association provides will grow and change as they move through their careers. They have different needs as they move from a student or new graduate into their early career, and then mid-career and to early retirement.
To keep members around for the long haul, it’s important to continually evaluate your organizational strategy to ensure you are providing value throughout their member journey. Consider what your members are doing and what they may be looking for from your organization in each phase of their career. Once you have thought through what members are looking for in each stage of their careers, you can begin to apply that knowledge to your member programs, services, and communications.
By understanding your members’ needs, you can deliver a better member experience. Learn as much as you can about your members, and don’t make it a one-time thing. Plan to continually gather information about members interests and needs, and then use it to inform your services and programs.
Discover why members joined. Knowing this information will tell you where your members are coming from and what they want and need from your association. This information can assist your recruitment activities and deliver immediate value upon becoming a member. An easy way to learn this information is to ask in your new member application.
Your members look to your association to be the leader, especially when it comes to the latest industry information and trends. To capitalize on your members’ desire to stay informed, make your website and member portal the go-to place for the latest information, trends and regulations. Also, provide your members with a place to discuss and provide advice and learning experiences from one-another.
In addition to distributing your association’s content, share articles from industry leaders, popular industry latest industry news from multiple sources will help you develop trust with your members. They will think of you as the industry source for reliable information and a partner that helps them reach their goals.
As an association, you have a critical role to play in keeping your members prepared and at the cutting edge of skills needed to allow your industry to advance. As the skills sought by fast-moving employers become increasingly hard to come by, it is your responsibility to help sustain a workforce up to the call of duty.
Professionals in your niche must be able to turn to you to refresh and reskill. In return, you must be sure to address your members’ preferences for learning in a variety of ways.
Audit your professional education program to understand what learning formats may be beneficial to add. There’s microlearning, live streaming, live webinars/broadcasts, guided learning courses, career pathing and more. You need members to think of you for their lifelong learning.
Showing your members that your association understands and is keeping up with their expectations is a great way to develop loyal members and keep members renewing year after year. 79 percent of members view “targeted, valuable content” as important. Using data to segment messages by audience, individual, interests or prior actions taken can be one of your greatest assets when it comes to engagement and retention.
An out-of-date Code of Ethics can be a dangerous retention problem. Studies have found Code of Ethics as the first or second most important renewal driver since 2016.
Personalization that members are most interested in receiving:
Recommendations on continuing education related to the interests/needs
Information about specific programs related to interest/needs
Information about products or services related to interest/needs/past purchasing habits
Relevant job opportunities
Your association’s career center is more important than you think. Job opportunities are important for acquisition, as well as retention – especially among those early in their careers. But association professionals do not see job opportunities as important as members do, nor do they say they offer a great member experience in this area. (Only 12 percent of professionals say their organization is doing very well delivering job opportunities.)
Your members want career growth and are looking for you to provide this value. With the right technology and some proven techniques, your online career center can be a triple threat for your organization – a driver of recruitment, retention and revenue.
Your Code of Ethics describes what brings your members together as a profession and is the foundation of their shared expectations of each other. Members are proud to belong to an association which provides a framework and standard for their industry. Keep your Code of Ethics updated and relevant. This is a must-have for retaining members.
Put yourself in your members’ shoes and review your renewal process from their perspective. The easier you make it for members to renew, the more likely they are to do so.
Remove the cost barrier
Studies found the best time to attract new members is early in their career stage (as a student or between one and five years into their career). But price can be a barrier to renewing, especially for those early in their careers or those in-between jobs. Consider offering a monthly or quarterly dues payment option. Installment payments can make membership seem more affordable to members. An immediate investment of $1,200 versus $100 a month for one year could be exactly what your member needs to continue their membership.
Offer auto-renewal
Life gets busy, and sometimes we fail to do things we intend to do. Your members are no different. Research found that 13 percent of lapsed members simply forgot to renew. One of the best ways to address this issue is to offer an option to automatically renew membership, with the membership fee charged to the member’s credit card
Here are two simple things you can do today to make it easy for members to remain a member:
Associations and events go hand-in-hand. Events have long been an important part of membership and revenue growth strategies. Advances in technology and evolving preferences and needs of members has made it easier for events and socializing to occur digitally. To provide value to the most members, diversify your event offerings.
Provide your members with the opportunity to learn, participate and socialize with one another through a variety of events such as virtual, in-person or a hybrid event. Combine those events with paid and free events and you will reach more of your membership. While free events may seem like a step in the wrong direction in terms of non-dues revenue, they can be a great way to boost member engagement and retention.
When members can engage with their peers and your association during an event, this helps cement their relationship with your association. Also, members who attend association events are more likely to renew so give them plenty of ways to participate both in-person and virtually.
The first interactions with your organization make a lasting impression on new members and provide the “hook” needed for you to build a relationship that last for years to come. Onboarding is the critical period in the retention journey. Your retention program doesn’t start 90 days prior to renewal, it starts with onboarding. Have a plan. Create a formal member onboarding process by mapping out the first year of membership from the member’s perspective. Associations with an official onboarding plan experience higher renewal rate than those that don’t. Develop a communications strategy. Instead of including every possible bit of information in your new member welcome email, create multiple communication touchpoints your new members will incrementally receive after they sign up. Ask for feedback. Verify that you are meeting the new member’s expectation. The answers will help you refine your member experience.
Member retention is not a simple process. It’s a journey that starts from the moment a member clicks “Join”. Retention is about providing the value and meeting your members’ expectation. By arming yourself with the tips and information in this guide, you’ll be well on your well to keeping your greatest asset – your existing members.
About Momentive Software
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