Engaging Today’s Members

In one of the breakout rooms in yesterday’s monthly Prometheus Consortium First Tuesday Zoom, we focused on member engagement.

Some of the usual topics came up – member-centric (versus association-centric) engagement, the unassailable math of online community success, specific issues and trends in the particular professions and industries participants’ association serve – but there were a few fresh takes, too.

Make way!

Older members need to make way for younger members, and that’s not always comfortable.

There may be a generational issue here. One participant noted that there used to be a relatively even distribution between age groups, but that seems to have changed. She called out a “missing middle” of people in their 50s, and we talked about the fact that there are just fewer of us GenXers to go around. But that leaves a bigger gap where more experienced members are afraid to trust members who are MUCH younger with big decisions.

Another gap shows up around the issue of being a digital native (or not). Millennials and GenZ are VERY much digital natives and Boomers are not. GenX is the “transition” generation, and we’re not there to translate. Digital natives solve problems differently than their more analogue elders, and that can be challenging as well. Another participant pointed out that the best way to respond to that is to give your digital natives the outcome you’re seeking and then get out of their way on how to get there. You might learn something.

Solve the right problem

When members lapse, it’s really important to understand WHY they are lapsing before you start throwing solutions out. We talked about several scenarios:

• Members have lapsed because they’re super-busy and forgot or didn’t notice the renewal notices coming.
• Members have lapsed because the association isn’t communicating member value effectively.
• Members have lapsed because value is actually lacking.
• Members have lapsed because they’re actively upset about something the association is – or is not – doing.

If you think you’re, for instance, solving a communications problem when it’s actually a value problem, your retention and reinstatement efforts will be ineffective (you’re just trying to sell me on something I don’t use or want). Likewise, if you think members are upset but they’re actually just over-booked, you’re going to provide the wrong solution, and maybe a costly one (developing new benefits) when a simple tech solution is the real answer (setting up an easy way to sign up for auto-renewal).

What are you doing to ensure there’s space for everyone at your association? What are you doing to ensure you really know what’s going on with your members, current, lapsed, and prospective? 

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash