Portage Group

AUGUST 8, 2012

It never ceases to amaze me how easily association executives and boards dismiss the need for conducting member research, confident that they have an accurate finger on the pulse of their key stakeholders. Perhaps you make it a habit to pick up the phone or drop in on members periodically to talk to them one-on-one.

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Survey Member Research Committee Process 100

Optimist Consulting

APRIL 18, 2012

Recently, I helped my client The Institute of Biomedical Science carry out a members’ survey. In addition to approving the survey, they were also great ambassadors for the project when they were out and about talking to members. It is amazing what different approaches and methods they will suggest.

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Survey Project Social Media Communications 100

Associations Now

AUGUST 28, 2023

That’s according to Marketing General Incorporated’s 2023 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report , which surveyed 800 participating associations. To tighten understanding and messaging around value, Rossell recommends conducting research with focus groups, executive interviews, and quantitative surveys.

Report 98

Report Recruiting Recruitment Innovation 98

Smooth The Path

MARCH 8, 2016

Match your business goals, your project’s goals, your members’ goals with the right member research methodology. Related posts: Why Survey Monkey is dangerous. Beware of one question surveys for associations. Why no member survey may be better than one member survey.

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Member Insights Member Research Survey Project 60

Smooth The Path

DECEMBER 21, 2015

As a member researcher I see some validity to this statement. Research, particularly qualitative research is very good at naming member problems but members themselves are often hard pressed to articulate the right solution. Data and surveys are both limited. With this I wholeheartedly disagree.

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Member Research Survey Marketing Products 94

Smooth The Path

JUNE 19, 2016

There’s an interesting dance that happens with member research. We ask the questions we think we want to know the answers to but members see those questions and find they would rather answer some other more important questions. Qualitative member research methods do. Related: Please ask members.

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Member Research Survey Project Education 68

Experts in Membership Marketing

MAY 7, 2013

This year we learned that 65% of membership associations that introduced member research in 2012 saw an increase in new members. If your leadership needs it, these results provide a strong rationale to perform member research. 59% saw an increase in membership and 45% realized an increase in renewals.

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Member Research Survey Leadership Report 28

Smooth The Path

MAY 16, 2019

Providing value-based member marketing is far more inconvenient than promotional marketing. In my line of work qualitative, interview-based member research is waaaayyy more inconvenient than fielding a survey. Every day we balance convenience with the engagement work that our members want.

Member Engagement 79

Member Engagement Member Research Innovation Survey 79

Smooth The Path

JANUARY 22, 2019

How do you know if the questions and answers in a member survey are the right ones? Survey participants will select an answer because that is what they are expected to do or because the survey makes them, but the answer they select may not be the right answer. Our point of view is not our members point of view.

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Survey Project Industry Member Research 79

Smooth The Path

JULY 30, 2020

What member feedback to keep and what to toss. Announcing an entirely new methodology of member research. Likely there is a mountain of rich qualitative data that is just waiting for you. Related: Board focus groups tend to be wildly inaccurate.

Member Research 78

Member Research Video Report Technology 78

Smooth The Path

APRIL 7, 2016

Members want to be heard. Implicit in our ask to take an online survey, respond to a member interview, attend a focus group or even when we ask off-handed informal questions like what did you think of the conference? So often members ask, “will I get a copy of the final report too?”

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Member Insights Member Research Survey Report 60

Smooth The Path

JUNE 4, 2017

Because of my Crayola marketing training, I always turn to member research first. Understand members well, and the path to the goal will emerge. When starting a member research project, there are two possible methodologies to select.

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Member Research Revenue Tools Member Engagement 76

Smooth The Path

AUGUST 30, 2016

Just like – what doesn’t make for a very compelling story but, why does – what doesn’t make for very actionable member insights but why does. Think of all the member research you have done whether it is analyzing the data or conducting surveys. Do you want to understand your member’s why ?

Las Vegas 79

Las Vegas Member Insights Member Research Newsletter 79

Smooth The Path

OCTOBER 25, 2017

There was one theme running so strongly through each member research project I could not ignore it. It was that members who engaged very early in their membership were more excited about the association than members who reported that “the association just grew on them.” As of today, we have 143 responses.

Member Engagement 79

Member Engagement Industry Survey Member Research 79

Smooth The Path

AUGUST 2, 2016

Likely members think the value of their membership is more than or less than we think they think it is. Likely members have better or worse experiences with the association than we guess they do. Likely members like the conference more or less than we assume they do. Surveys like this illustrate the point [h/t Velvet Chainsaw].

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Association Success

MAY 28, 2019

To provide context on what considerations we made in our rebrand, we want to point out a few factors that went into our decision: Member Research. In 2016, SMPS engaged a research firm to identify perspectives, opinions, needs, and desires of our members.

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Survey Social Media Marketing Member Research 113

Smooth The Path

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Log into the platform and answer the survey (it will only take you about 20 minutes) and you will have immediate access to personalized comparisons and peer data. By taking the survey, you will also be put on the list to get a copy of the study’s report the moment we publish it.

Member Engagement 138

Member Engagement Member Experience Survey Report 138

Smooth The Path

MARCH 13, 2016

Why no member surveys may be better than one member survey. You analyzed member data and conducted surveys, here’s what is next. The post Data and the Member Story That Resonates appeared first on Smooth The Path. Related links: Data and association decision-making.

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Survey Member Research Marketing 60

Smooth The Path

AUGUST 18, 2016

This group was very diverse and collectively the conversations provided some fascinating early insights and became the basis for this quantitative benchmarking survey. If you are an association leader I invite you to join us and take the survey: The 15 minute Association Leadership Study Survey. All the best, Amanda.

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Survey millennials Leadership Report 60

Smooth The Path

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Start with the segmenting you can do with the association’s data and surveys. Learn who your best members are and how they interact with the association. When you have completed that, let’s talk about qualitative methods of member research to uncover the behavior, preference and problem segments.

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Survey Member Research Industry Member Experience 68

Smooth The Path

FEBRUARY 28, 2017

It is time to discover your members’ stories. Related: You analyzed member data and conducted surveys, here’s what to do next. Do you know that member surveys can be risky? Member surveys miss context.

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Survey Analysis Content Member Research 60

GrowthZone

JUNE 28, 2017

Test your message externally with member research (via a survey or focus groups): Have trends shifted? Have your member’s biggest worries or needs changed? How satisfied are members with the services that you say you do well – that your VP is based on?

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Survey Tools Maine Examples 60

Optimist Consulting

MAY 22, 2014

This report highlighted how the research and data world had evolved beyond the Society’s existing categories and definitions that had traditionally been used. Talking to members. As I mentioned at the top of this post, they convened an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) where the changes were voted in by their members.

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Project Marketing Committee Proposal 100

Smooth The Path

JUNE 30, 2016

Related: Members need association help when they face change or start something new. Did you know that member surveys can be risky? The award-winning process for association innovation. The post One Thing We can do to Prepare for Change appeared first on Smooth The Path.

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Innovation Survey Process Member Insights 74

Smooth The Path

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

The value members perceive they get from the association or their satisfaction in the association? This question was posed by an association executive during a webinar on member research that I recently gave to 140 attendees. Our members may get value from benefits or from experiences or from ideas or conversations.

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Member Research Survey Course Organization 60

Smooth The Path

APRIL 21, 2016

Beware of one question surveys for associations. Should we look outside the association to talk to prospective young members? The post Don’t Ask for Feedback from Members Who Are Too New appeared first on Smooth The Path. Related: Data and association decision-making.

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Survey Member Research Member Insights 60

Associations Now

JANUARY 28, 2019

“The two methods work well together, especially when the qualitative research is conducted first, and the results are used to write the quantitative survey,” she explains. The result is an accurate survey, larger sample sizes, and a final report with the stories, color, and anecdotes to illustrate the findings.”.

Member Research 85

Member Research Strategy Sample New York 85

SCD Group

AUGUST 16, 2015

I’ve written before about the use of surveys and analysis of data and how they can lead associations astray. Strive 4 Five = Bogus Customer (member) research Are your members or donors in the “survey fatigue” category? Poll/Survey Results: Advocacy or Knowledge for Associations?

California 40

California Survey Analysis Member Research 40

Smooth The Path

APRIL 10, 2017

AMS data, CMS data, email data, website data, and even survey data tells us what is going on but not why. I can tell from the data what is happening but until I find out why I cannot reliably correct it. This scenario is very analogous to the kind of situations we find in our associations.

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Survey Cost Member Research Process 100

Associations Now

JUNE 11, 2013

More than half of associations surveyed for Marketing General, Inc.’s s latest Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report indicated positive growth in total membership, new member acquisition, and member renewals this year. which surveyed 695 associations. It looks like everyone has found how to make things work. “It

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Report Survey Member Engagement Member Research 40

Smooth The Path

OCTOBER 2, 2016

First we need to discover our member’s new, most challenging problems. Many associations try to do this in satisfaction/need surveys but respondents to the 2016 Association Innovation Research Study often said that qualitative methods worked better for them. Problems that if solved would be a value to them.

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Innovation Process Project Products 119

Smooth The Path

FEBRUARY 21, 2016

When making a strategic decision on the basis of qualitative data (a member survey, our own data or third party data) ask these questions: Who responded and are these the members we most need insight from? But sometimes they are not. So when we are making really important decisions we want to evaluate how true this data is.

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Survey Member Research Member Insights Strategy 60

Mizz Information

NOVEMBER 18, 2018

This recent update summarizes what the project team learned from their latest member research; this post goes into why they did it and this helpful guide details how they did it. If you want to learn what members value, ask them and then listen. Do virtual town halls or member feedback sessions. Do roadshows.

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Smooth The Path

NOVEMBER 6, 2016

In preparation for other strategic planning processes the association conducted quantitative member surveys but found the results were not all that actionable because there continued to be so many unanswered questions. This was the nagging question one association VP had. It was time to revisit the strategic plan.

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Case Study Project Member Insights Association Value 104

Smooth The Path

APRIL 19, 2016

When you are ready to ask members all of the questions you are so curious about, let’s talk. You analyzed member data and conducted surveys, here’s what is next. It is easy to misinterpret members’ opinions when observing their behavior. Related articles: Slow data vs. fast data.

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Survey Member Research Member Insights Member Experience 60

Reid All About it

JULY 9, 2021

Walk a mile in your member’s shoes. Gain insights and tear down the biggest barriers with digital properties such as your website, member communities, credentialing paths, member surveys, platforms, or any other online member interaction point.?Learn Thu 7/15 at 1 p.m. – AMS Selection in a Post-Pandemic Era.

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Rhode Island Technology Strategy Member Engagement 195

Smooth The Path

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

Hearing member’s stories is such a valuable thing, but these stories can be tricky to hear. Quick heat-of-the-moment online, email or phone feedback from members can be laden with emotion making the creator’s words convoluted or inaccurate. Surveys assume that we know all the possible answers, but we don’t.

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Survey Project Conference Content 60