The world has changed so rapidly, members digital expectations are growing fast, the need to deliver targeted, valuable information is critical for attracting new members, increasing member retention and therefore potential future revenue.
Do you have an end to end view on your members and understand their expectations?
Knowing where to start is half the battle, it is not always about ripping and replacing the systems you have. A clear view of your organisations’ objectives and business requirements is the key to your growth and digital future.
Member Needs and Expectations
Members needs have changed so rapidly over the last 15 years, gone are the days when a simple monthly generic hard copy newsletter or a face to face event will suffice, now they need to be able to consume content, pay subscriptions and book and pay for events all on-line. The desire for content has also changed, regular insight into what is happening, news, expert opinion are seen as a necessity – but in snackable bite-sized chunks. Members are looking for targeted content, in fact, a survey conducted by Adobe has shown that 49% of those surveyed cite content relevance as the key to getting their attention.
Member Targeting
Using data to segment your members can help you increase the relevancy and value of the information you serve and thus increase engagement. Understanding what information they are consuming, interacting with or just ignoring will help you create engaging content.
Creating categories relevant to your organisation can help with this, for example, we have helped clients look at their members in 3 groups, thus increasing the satisfaction level within each group, through a better understanding of their engagement.
We recently ran this in a large association within the finance area, allowing them to create a more informed communication plan for their membership base.
Skimmers
Shallow users of their membership but happy to pay fees both for education and accreditation. Very low maintenance for the organisation.
Dippers
People that dip into activities, they require a bit more hand-holding but again they are not high maintenance.
Divers
This segment demands a lot and is fully engaged in their membership.
All three groups are very important to the organisation, by creating these segments using the data collected they can provide each group with the right level of support and content – resulting in increased member satisfaction and engagement.
Data relevancy
There is not often a lack of data collected in an organisation, but understanding and interpreting what is there is the challenge – this, in turn, creates a lack of confidence. Your website is the face of your organisation and should be able to capture the information you need, whilst talking to your CRM system.
In a recent study from MemberWise, it states that 46% of organisations are tracking their members while in the member area, but only 12% feel that the extracting value/business intelligence from this data. Whilst the tracking figure is up year on year and a positive sign, analysing the data for business value is lagging far behind. Driving member engagement is a top priority, so using this data effectively to help target and personalise content has never been more important.
MemberWise also states that more than half of the people surveyed are reporting the web analytics to senior management which again is a promising statistic, while only 10% are focused on the engagement scores as part of the process. Using data effectively does demand you have the right tools but also the analytical skills to translate the detail in actionable insight. If this is done with a more regular cadence, this provides you with the data to back up and drive decisions.
We have written several articles that may be of interest on your digital journey. Never be afraid to ask, we are always happy to offer unbiased advice and recommendations.
Chrysalis Digital provides a digital transformation service designed to help build a more agile, efficient and innovative organisation. With its broad cross-sector experience Chrysalis has helped many organisations map their digital path and through careful planning and assessment, choose the right technology partners. Chrysalis Digital is 100% agnostic when recommending CMS and CRM suppliers to its clients.
If you need any help with the next steps in your journey please call Ben Sturt on 07469 768990 or email info@chrysalisdigital.co.uk