Retention through Automation for Membership Organisations

Welcome to the third in our mini-series of articles created to empower membership organisations and associations to make the best use of their website to acquire and retain members.

In article one we discussed the value gap between members’ perception of the benefits they receive and the benefits and opportunities actually provided to them. In the second, we exposed a range of website strategies to retain members.

All three articles are available as an eBook, you can download the full eBook below.

Unchain Your Resources

Conversing with members in a personal way is a resource-intensive task for Member Organisations & associations.

Many might know the processes they need in place but being able to dedicate the right amount of staff for the required time is seldom possible.

Automated email campaigns, informed by the high-quality data secured when members first join, can be tailored to everyone. The content can match their interests and distribution can be timed to suit their preferences.

Considered automated marketing prevents members from being bombarded by irrelevant content, boosting engagement, and increasing their perception of value from their membership.

An automated system also reliably measures engagement and ensures internally-set member communication deadlines are not missed, all with fewer staff resources.

Full Control

Personalisation goes beyond customised dashboards and content though.

Members need to be able to easily control their relationship with an organisation, including how often and what topics they are contacted about.

This means implementing an online system whereby members can join whenever they want and be reminded to renew. Given 16% of members – which rises to 27% of millennials – simply forget to renew, an automatic reminder could be used to reinforce the ROI of membership or engage them on a forthcoming development within the organisation.

An automated system that allows members to join whenever they wish and select how they want to pay the membership fee removes the pressure staff face with manual systems.

Having a Membership Engagement Plan boosted membership renewals for 51% of Membership Organisations.

Membership Organisations should also establish an automated communications framework for events to ensure the members attending feel valued.

Creating templates for booking confirmations, itineraries and travel information mean updates can be sent at scheduled times.

Having a coordinated, pre-prepared events communications plan means attendees are kept informed and reduces the likelihood of members having to contact staff for information.

Building an online system where staff can easily submit formal documents and automatically upload them to an identifiable location on the website is crucial. This ensures staff can easily complete this task and that updates are posted online in a timely manner.

Creating such a space, where members can easily search for the documents they need, enables them to maintain their desired level of oversight.

Take Action

To provide a seamless online experience to members, it is crucial to select a Digital Partner who employs user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) best practice into their website design.

By relying on research-based behavioural science that has identified how readers scan a website, a Digital Partner like Granite 5 can ensure the most important content, features or buttons are always in prime position to drive the desired action.

With dozens of successful projects completed, a Digital Partner like Granite 5 also possesses practical experience and legacy project data that stops Member Organisations creating websites that put users off.

Keep It Simple

Intuitive navigation buttons and calls-to-action positioned ‘above the fold’ (the part of the webpage seen without needing to scroll down further) provide clarity to users.

This gives website visitors (potential and existing members) the perception of the organisation as reliable, trustworthy, and willing to engage.

Every process on a Member Organisation’s website needs to be straightforward. This especially applies to membership sign-up forms, which should be concise while also gleaning important information.

To improve click-through and conversion rates, Membership Organisations’ website visitors need multiple opportunities to navigate the website or to perform a task.

Personalised features on a Membership Organisation website or dashboard do not need to be overly complicated: Simple features, such as welcoming a member by chosen name when they log in build rapport. More complex member profile personalisation features encourage a longer relationship.

Member acquisition can be incentivised by showcasing exclusive-to-member benefits and exclusive web content on web pages publicly visible.