Member Retention: Engaged Members Retain Themselves

About This Episode
Member retention is not the very first step of member experience. Renewal is determined in the first 30-90 days. How do associations ensure that members will retain themselves?

Our special guest, Chris Vaughan, Membership and Marketing Consultant answered this question and more during this exclusive podcast interview. Chris explained how retention is not a communication channel but an engagement channel and why engaged members retain themselves.

About Our Guest 
Chris Vaughan is a high-level strategy, technology, and marketing consultant for growth-focused associations such as AARP, IEEE, AMA, and SAE International, with over 20 years of experience. His expertise has also been sought out by select Global 500 companies, including Google, IBM, and Allstate.

He used to lead strategy at a big consulting firm, but left and launched his own firm to help associations grow membership and revenue. He is an expert in market research, strategic planning, and marketing strategy that can help deliver increased revenue, growth through innovation and an engaged and loyal membership.

Full List Of Questions We Asked Chris
Tell us about yourself and what you do?

You mentioned Member Engagement leads to Retention, can you explain why this is?

What are the top challenges associations face with member engagement?

Let’s talk about the Lifetime value, and why it is important?

It costs more to acquire new members than to keep existing members. Do you find this?

About your new fly-zone for the first 90 days, what communication do you recommend?

You mentioned the first 90 days are key, is there one golden strategy that words?

You mentioned engagement scores. We can get fancy and track everything. What do you recommend? Track every try of engagement or bullet it out?

You mentioned having 3 main buckets for topics? What is your approach?

Do you recommend making a few phone calls to inform your survey?

For large associations, we recommend calling 10 people to help you inform your understanding of your unengaged members. What do you think of this?

What are programs that are actually working?

How would you combine tech for associations in an ideal way?

Is there a manual way to do engagement scoring?

Do you have a formula or ratio you recommend to determine a reasonable budget for associations to invest in keeping their members happy?

What is the secret to getting boards to approve a budget for tech?

Audience Questions 
We will never have all members fully engaged, where do we focus our efforts?

Are there simple tactics that can be implemented with little cost and effort?

What can we learn about members who are not engaged in the first 60 days?

How can we best engage members so they retain themselves?

If your goal is to expand membership to underrepresented communities, how would you find out what they are looking for?

How do you deal with Zoom fatigue?

How to build a membership communication strategy?

Closing Questions
Key takeaway for the audience?

Can you share a personal habit that has contributed the most to your success?

How can people get in touch if they have any questions?

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

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