8 Ways to Keep Up with Members During the Great Reshuffle
Every day on LinkedIn, I see someone announce they’re searching for a job or starting a new job—signs of the Great Reshuffle we are in. People are no longer tolerating unresponsive employers; they’re finding better jobs. Whether you’re a trade association or professional society, you don’t want to lose touch with these members and customers on the move.
A Proactive Data Strategy Helps You Stay in Touch With Members and Customers
I wish association CEOs would tell their staff that accurate data is everyone’s responsibility, not just the membership department’s. Without clean, complete data, no one on staff can keep up with the changing behavior and interests of members and customers, send them relevant content and marketing messages, and deliver the value they seek. Every association should have a cross-departmental data governance team who oversees efforts to collect, maintain, and use data.
You should be able to configure your AMS with business rules that prevent incorrect formatting of contact information fields and the creation of duplicate records. You need AMS reports that filter data by empty fields so you can spot missing information, such as addresses, emails, parent company, billing contacts, and key contacts.
Regularly review bounced email reports. Decide how you will handle hard bounces (bad domains or email addresses), which might mean a company went out of business or the member no longer works there.
8 Ways to Maintain Up-To-Date Member and Customer Data
Member and customer data has a short shelf life. I wonder if the associations I belong to know how my interests have changed over the past year. Since some of them continue to send me irrelevant emails (and I continue to delete them), I doubt they do—and they haven’t even asked. Members develop new interests and needs because of what’s happening at work. Their responsibilities change, they get promoted or switch jobs. You can only keep up with members and their expectations if you have a proactive data strategy.
#1: New Member Onboarding
Joining your association should be a quick, barrier-free process. Wait until new member onboarding to ask for their:
- LinkedIn profile URL, which is useful if you lose touch with them
- Work and personal email addresses
- Home mailing address
- Mobile phone number
Tell them why you ask: in this employment climate, you need a back-up communication method. Reassure them you’ll only use one email/mailing address at a time and will only use their cell phone as a last resort.
Go beyond the “in order to serve you better” message when collecting other data like position, career stage, and interests. Tell them how their membership experience will change.
#2: Renewals
After a member renews, explain how they can update their profile information and/or their online membership directory listing. Once again, tell them why you ask. Members are more likely to keep their profile updated if their contact or company information is displayed in an online directory. I think a print directory is a waste of time and money since the information is out of date as soon as it’s published.
#3: Newsletters
Insert a personalized section in newsletters that says: “According to our records, your job title is [XYZ]. Click here to update if incorrect.” When the recipient clicks the link, they’re directed to their member profile where they can update their title and other fields as well.
#4: Online Interactions
When members complete an online transaction, such as a registration, download, or purchase, invite them to the member portal to update their profile. Every quarter, schedule a pop-up message that asks online community members to update profile information, such as their interests, career stage/job role/position, or back-up contact information. You could also add images with this call to action to the member portal home page.
#5: Update Profile Campaigns
An annual awareness campaign reminds members how easy it is to update their profile, including their interest inventory and subscription preferences. Explain why they’d want to do it—what’s in it for them? Create a brief video tutorial showing them how to get started.
A few years ago, a conference I attended had a lounge where members could get a professional headshot. But, before getting their photo taken, they had to verify and update their profile information on one of the lounge laptops – such a smart idea!
#6: Recruitment Lead Generation
If your membership or sales staff actively recruits members by looking for prospects in the news, have them look for relevant changes too, for example, job departures, promotions, hires, resignations, and mergers and acquisitions.
#7: Student Members
Since college email addresses are deactivated upon graduation, ask for a second email address when a student joins. For student chapters, ask the chapter leader to collect graduating students’ personal email addresses. In return, send each student a congratulatory graduation certificate along with information about membership options.
#8: Trade Association Members
Require company members to name three key company contacts who take responsibility for maintaining company member data. In the member portal, these contacts can edit employee records, update titles, add new staff, and delete former staff. Schedule quarterly reminders to ask key contacts to direct new staff to the member portal where they can update their interests and other information.
You may have more success if you prioritize specific job functions, rather than ask key contacts for a list of all employees. Target job roles that would be a good audience for your content and programs, or candidates for volunteer roles. You might get a better response from key contacts if they only have to fill in the names and email addresses for a list of job responsibilities, such as sales, business development, marketing, HR, etc.
Make sure these key contacts know how you use member data to provide resources that help members improve their job performance and ensure the company gets plenty of ROI for their membership dues.
When an employee is added to the database, send them a welcome email. Introduce them to the association, explain why you have their contact information, and tell them about relevant free resources and benefits.
Nurture your relationships with these key contacts. If they’re responsive and keep the roster up to date, reward their efforts with a promo code for something they might appreciate. Or, if they’re in an administrative role and wouldn’t be interested in association programs or publications, send them a gift card. You want them to feel valued as liaisons since they can be helpful in talking up the association.
Members and customers will pay more attention to your emails if they know you know them. Accurate, up-to-date data will help you provide the information and resources they need and prevent you from wasting their time.
Watch a demo of MemberSuite’s member portal to get a sneak peek of some of our top features to keep your members engaged, and their data up-to-date.