How to Navigate Post-Pandemic Member Engagement
So much has changed over the past year: how we do business, how we work, where we work, how we live, and even what we value. You’re probably already seeing how these societal, workplace and behavioral changes affect member engagement—sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.
How are associations learning about and responding to new member needs and expectations arising from all this change? That is what MemberSuite’s Chief Strategy Officer, Ryan Costello, discussed with Julie Sciullo, CEO of Association Analytics, and Greg Melia, CAE, CEO of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), during our most recent virtual panel: Member Engagement in 2021 – How Associations are Navigating Engagement in the Post-Pandemic Environment
Member Engagement Challenges Are Offset By Opportunities
With everyone suffering from digital fatigue, you can only attract and hold your audience’s attention if you understand their changing needs as individuals and companies. Fortunately, these needs represent opportunities.
Take, for example, “the great resignation.” A wave of people are leaving jobs and changing careers. Greg pointed out that industry employers have to onboard new employees and quickly bring them up to speed. Your association can help them do this. At CXPA, their on-demand introductory course is a top seller for just this reason. Professionals in transition also need job boards, career resources, and certifications.
Member Engagement Catalyst: Digital Exhaust
Julie mentioned another silver lining: digital exhaust—data from digital experiences. You have more digital exhaust than ever, for example, virtual events, community, learning, and social platform analytics. You can see which virtual conference sessions different segments attended and which topics are trending up and down. Your association has the opportunity to glean insights that will help you interact with and deliver value to members how and where they want.
Member Engagement Strategy: Segmentation
You don’t want to talk to all your members all the time. Instead, segment and target communication. Say less overall by conveying information in relevant, small chunks.
Greg suggested you imagine writing an invisible sentence at the beginning of each email: “You are receiving this email because…” If you can’t define why you’re sending that email to that segment, then maybe it’s not relevant. As soon as you send a few irrelevant pieces of information, people will tune you out. Ask “What does this person or segment want to hear?” rather than “What do we want to say?”
Think about member and attendee engagement by segment too. Julie suggests assessing how each audience segment is engaging at your virtual event. How will you keep them engaged after the event? Because of digital fatigue and distraction, if you don’t keep them engaged, they’ll take their attention and business elsewhere.
Let Data Teach You How To Engage with Members
Data helps you measure engagement and provides insight into what’s working and what’s not. Association Analytics has a useful guide, Getting Started with Member Engagement Scoring, that will help you identify activities that move the engagement needle.
Julie warned that what people say they want to do is often different from what they actually do. That’s why you need to interpret behavioral data—what people are discussing, attending, clicking on, etc.—to understand what a person or segment really values right now.
Data visualization tools and dashboards bring data to life. They allow you to see trends, like member acquisition, engagement, and renewal. Julie suggested an exercise to get your wheels turning: identify an assumption you’ve had for a while and find data that either proves or busts that assumption.
Leverage Technology That Helps You Access And Understand Data
“One thing I value about MemberSuite is its open API,” said Greg. “We’re moving into a time when associations want to see their AMS connect with an analytics platform, LMS, digital badge app, and so on. An open API is essential for that.”
Think of your AMS as the hub that allows you to speak out to other tools. That’s why the API is so key: an AMS with an open API is the foundational layer that unlocks data analytical insight and other toolsets.
Julie suggested that when you talk to AMS vendors, have the conversation about API and data upfront before you’re stuck in a long-term contract because you’ll need to leverage the API to pull the insights that drive decisions.
Before the pandemic, Julie said associations used data mostly for operational and tactical purposes. Now she’s seeing a 70%-plus increase in the use of data analytics by the executive team. Data is driving shifts in business and revenue models, reevaluations of value propositions, and the sunsetting of products and services that aren’t delivering value.
Greg pointed out that associations are sticking with some decisions they made in reaction mode early in the pandemic because they’re seeing that employees like not having a commute and members enjoy networking with peers around the world. Instead of going back to the old method of running associations, he said associations must figure out what pandemic initiatives are worth keeping. He suggests finding a hybrid between what you did reactively and what you want to do proactively.
“Data gives you the confidence to stick with or experiment with new programs,” said Julie.
Data reduces the risk of making decisions or staying with a poor decision too long. It provides indicators that tell you whether something is working or not. Dig into the data of different membership segments and see what you can learn. If you persist, data will unravel faulty assumptions and show you how to deliver the value your members and market desire.
Find out how MemberSuite’s robust and user-friendly reporting tools can help you confidently translate data into insight and action.