KNOWLEDGE HUB

According to a recent Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report (2021), the key reason that association members let their memberships lapse is because of a lack of engagement on the association’s part.

At the Dubai Association Conference earlier this year, we had a chance to connect with Ella Robertson McKay, Managing Director, One Young World, who spoke about the importance of engaging association members and providing them with opportunities to contribute to the success of an association. The key to membership retention has repeatedly proven to lie in how successfully you can engage your membership base.

To provide further insight into concrete steps that associations can be taking to enhance member engagement, we’ve identified a few other guidelines that may be helpful.

Understand why members join your association and make sure that requirement is met: While there may be multiple reasons for a member to choose your association, one strong, compelling reason usually overshadows all others. Understanding that your members could have different primary reasons or goals for joining your association is crucial. Before association leaders/ boards set out to assess how they can best provide value and meet member requirements, it is essential that members feel that their primary reasons or goals for joining the association are achievable and understood.

Create opportunities for members to get to know each other: Healthy membership engagement can be facilitated by giving your members a chance to get to know each other. This fosters a sense of camaraderie and helps members feel part of a larger community. Since most other interactions now inhabit the hybrid space, associations should ideally consider hosting in-person and virtual meetings to bring members together.

Build trust with your members and show them their opinions matter: Your members are more likely to engage, participate and interact with your association when they are provided with a strong platform to express their opinion and feel as though their voices are being heard. An online portal where members can give feedback and share their views on what they need from the association is a great place to start.

Engage in community building: Your association members are more likely to feel engaged if their involvement with the association helps them feel like they are contributing to society. One of the key ways to help members feel empowered is by facilitating community-building activities by partnering with relevant organizations with similar goals as your association. For associations to thrive, it is crucial that they prioritize membership retention and a clear-cut membership engagement strategy helps immensely. We hope you find these tips helpful.