Explosive Growth for Associations Through Better Membership Management

About This Episode

In this episode, we talk about how to create a member-focused culture where decision-making focuses on your membership and creates an active association where members want to be. We re-define member engagement, discuss the continuum of engagement for different types of members, and how lean start-up methodology can help associations thrive in a resource-poor environment. We walk about the user experience of members and if your association's ways of connecting with members are internally-focused — highlighting your board, your team and your achievements — or member-focused, offering member awards, opportunities, and even group discounts for good measure!

About Our Guest

Elizabeth Weaver Engel has more than 20 years of experience in association management, including membership, marketing, communication, sponsorship, fundraising, technology planning and implementation, social media and internet strategy. We are lucky that she shared so much so freely in this episode!

Full List of Questions We Asked Elizabeth

Associations complain about member engagement all the time — what do you think associations are doing wrong with their membership engagement?

If Associations are designing member engagement on a continuum with the understanding that their members will have different needs at different times in their careers, can you explain how members move back and forth along the continuum?

If we are looking at our membership in general, is there a way to segment our membership to better design benefits for them?

When trying to figure out who the association’s “sometimes” members are, how do you find out more about them and what is important to them? How do we create benefits for them?

Do you have any advice on how associations can bridge the gap to gather the membership anecdotes from the front-line membership staff to the C-level executives?

Who should be responsible for bridging the gap between departments to help the spread of information and experience to make more informed decisions? I think it should be the membership manager. What do you think?

Oftentimes associations don’t look at the stats and analytics because they are scared of what they will find.

If I am a small association and I don’t have the time and budget to perform and review a large survey, how would you go about collecting data from your members?
Do you think there is room for associations to repurpose and restructure their benefits rather than constantly reinvent new benefits?

Is it better to have many small benefits that many members can access or a few big-ticket benefits that will make a big impact to members?

Since we build membership websites, where do you see membership websites come into member engagement and the user experience of membership?

If an association is looking to improve their member engagement now, what would be one actionable step they can take?

How can associations get the best response from members when they are having a hard time getting a two-way conversation with members?

How can an association provide tangible ROI proof to members who want an investment measurement?

What are some low-cost and high-impact ways to increase your outreach to new audiences?

Do you have a key take-away message for our audience?

Can you share a personal habit that makes you successful in your work?

Special acknowledgement to our guests for providing powerful insights into membership management. 

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