Jul 12, 2016
Why Membership Retention Matters
If you joined an organization but weren’t sure what it stood for, would you feel like you belonged? Probably not. In fact, unclear value is one of the top reasons members don’t renew.
For many membership-based organizations, membership retention is just as important as recruitment. Without a clear membership retention strategy, even the best recruitment efforts can’t sustain long-term growth.
Common Membership Retention Challenges
One of the most common issues associations face is a lack of urgency among members to renew caused by them not receiving enough value in their membership to justify renewal. For this reason, regular communication and a thorough membership onboarding process are must-haves to your membership retention strategy.
Other challenges include:
- Renewals coinciding with busy times like the holiday season or year-end budgeting.
- Members forgetting to renew due to competing priorities.
- Financial constraints at the time of renewal.
Retention Starts at Recruitment
Membership retention is an ongoing process that begins the moment someone joins. Recruit the right members, set clear expectations, and meet those expectations consistently.
Leaders, board members, and committees should all play a role in membership retention, making it a shared organizational priority. There are plenty of ways to involve your Board members and committee members in the process, such as attending a New Member Event at your next conference or sending the member a direct email to welcome them to the organization.
The Role of New Member Orientation
A strong new member orientation helps members start off engaged and informed. Potential members often have only a vague understanding of the organization’s goals, history, and benefits.
An effective orientation should:
- Explain the organization’s mission, vision, and history.
- Outline membership benefits and how to access them.
- Introduce leaders and key contacts.
- Highlight ways to get involved.
Orientation can be an engaging experience. Consider:
- Regular webinars with current members as hosts.
- Interactive games or quizzes to make learning about the association fun.
- Short video tours of your website and benefits to familiarize them on how to access benefits.
Your member orientation doesn't have to be a one-and-done event. Spread out messaging and activities to focus on a singular benefit to make the information easier to digest, and include a link to a place on your website where they can continue learning more if they wish to spend more time learning about the association.
9 Proven Strategies to Improve Member Retention
Here are practical, proven member retention tactics to keep members engaged and renewing year after year:
1. Conduct a New Member Survey – Gather feedback from members and incorporate some of their suggestions from the survey. Whether its annual or quarterly, regularly surveying your members can provide key insights into how your organization is meeting expectations.
2. Create regular touch points – Automate a series of emails checking in with new members regularly. And bonus points for including a personal touch. Drafting templated emails to send to new members is a beneficial way to introduce and/or remind them of your organization's various programs and resources they have access to.
3. Buddy / Referral Program – Encourage members to bring in new members in return for an incentive such as a reduced membership rate or a year free of membership dues.
4. Offer incentive programs – Offer financial rewards for maintaining membership, discounted membership dues for referral/buddy program and additional perks for extended membership.
5. Host a New Member Event – Host a new member event at your Annual Conference, giving them a reason to attend and a way for them to meet other new members.
6. Launch an Online Forum – Create an online community for all members to discuss and share information on the association website. This is a way for members to connect and network with other members such as board members, committee members, fellow new members, special interest groups, and mentors.
7. Send anniversary letters – All members want to be recognized and feel that they belong to the organization. Sending out personalized anniversary letters remind members of their value to the organization. Go a step farther and recognize them in the Association E-Newsletter.
8. Form a Recruitment & Retention Committee – Create a Recruitment & Retention Committee that will be charged solely with getting members renewed while also improving the retention of current/lapsed members and focusing on retention issues specific to the various levels of memberships.
9. Create a mentor program – Assign each new member a mentor who will initiate a personal welcome call and check in regularly with new members especially during the first year of their membership. The mentor will be responsible to integrate new members within the organization by introducing them to other members and encouraging them to participate during their first year.
Summary
Successful membership retention strategies focus on engagement, value delivery, and relationship-building from day one. By combining thoughtful orientation, consistent communication, and meaningful recognition, associations can increase renewals and strengthen their community.