7 reasons to optimize your member engagement

The digital landscape is evolving rapidly. While this journey takes members forward, membership organizations and associations often struggle to keep up. In this blog, you’ll discover how to meet member expectations, create outstanding digital experiences that drive engagement and retention, and why understanding your digital maturity is crucial.

In recent years, the pace of digital transformation has accelerated dramatically, fundamentally changing how we buy, communicate, and engage. Membership organizations have had to adapt quickly to shifting member needs and behaviors, embracing digital solutions as an essential part of their strategies.

The independent professional network MemberWise recently published its Digital Excellence Report, exploring the state of digitization in the membership sector. While 95% of organizations agree that members now expect an "interactive, engaging, and valuable online experience," only 35% have a digital strategy, and just 25% have a data strategy. Less than half use automation tools for key tasks, which isn’t surprising, as 58% still rely on customized (outdated) CMS systems.

Member engagement and retention should be top priorities for every association. In a truly digital world, where members are accustomed to companies delivering personalized experiences, you can fall behind quickly if you don’t understand your level of digital maturity. Let’s explore some of the key challenges membership organizations face in today’s digital-first, digital-now world and why improving the member experience is becoming an urgent priority.

Key challenges for membership organizations today

The membership sector faces many challenges, but leveraging the power of digital experience platforms (DXPs) can enhance digital maturity and provide an engaging member journey.

Sky-high member expectations
Members are used to the VIP treatment from companies like Netflix and Starbucks. They expect engaging and interactive experiences with rich media and gamified content tailored to their personal interests and needs. They are accustomed to advanced self-service tools and online FAQs, giving them more control over their accounts. Many membership organizations lack the systems to deliver these experiences.

Multichannel demands
Offline channels are losing effectiveness in the membership world, and organizations recognize the need for a coherent multichannel approach to engagement. However, achieving consistency across channels and collecting member data from various sources is challenging, especially with disparate systems and siloed data.

Inability to optimize the member journey
Members want instant gratification: if something takes too long to find or process, they will disengage. Member platforms need to be more user-friendly than ever, and the technology they’re built on must not hinder load times.

Neglecting retention
Membership organizations often focus heavily on acquisition but struggle with high churn rates after the first year. It’s crucial to clearly communicate the value and benefits of membership to existing members to improve renewal rates. Organizations that don’t fully understand their members or why they joined are likely fighting a losing battle.

Falling behind on data regulations
Protecting member data must be a core aspect of your digital efforts. Balancing privacy with delivering personalized experiences is tricky. Without tools to ensure compliance, organizations risk facing serious issues.

Measuring ROI
Even membership organizations with personalization tools may struggle to measure ROI effectively. Your analytics capabilities need to clearly show what resonates with your audience and what doesn’t. A cross-channel approach is essential to link conversions to the right member journey.

Optimizing technology
Manual and repetitive processes will only slow down marketers, preventing them from capitalizing on opportunities and delivering relevant experiences. Your systems must empower marketers to independently attract, nurture, convert, and retain members. A CMS alone is no longer sufficient.

Harnessing the power of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance member engagement by providing personalized content recommendations, predictive analytics, and automated support, while also offering deeper insights into member behavior and needs. However, effectively implementing AI tools that integrate seamlessly with existing systems and ensuring employees are adequately trained to utilize these technologies is challenging. Finding the right balance between AI efficiency and a personal touch is essential, as members still value meaningful human connections.

Seven essential strategies for delivering outstanding member experiences

Creating exceptional digital experiences is no small feat. Membership organizations must adopt an outside-in, value-driven, and member-centric approach to their acquisition and retention efforts while supporting their digital strategies with robust tools that enhance their digital experience maturity. Here are seven ways to achieve this:

1. Deeper member insights
    A lack of understanding of your audience’s needs and motivations can create a gap between perceived and actual member intent. This leads to low conversion and renewal rates. Only with a 360° view of your members can you tailor messaging that resonates throughout their membership journey. If your systems don’t communicate, member profiles will remain fragmented across websites, e-commerce platforms, apps, event bookings, and social interactions, making it impossible to offer a consistent, let alone personalized, journey.
   
   
2. Marketer-friendly tools
    Investing in advanced marketing tools is great, but can your marketing team use them effectively? Marketers need to be fully self-sufficient, capable of managing, creating, and publishing content across multiple channels without technical assistance (or breaking the website). They should be able to run, automate, test, and optimize marketing campaigns independently.
   
   
3. Optimized email campaigns
    User-friendly, customizable email templates can boost your marketing efforts by engaging and motivating members. With marketing automation tools, you can send timely invitations, reminders, and messages to reduce first-year churn and trigger targeted email campaigns based on website interactions. Personalization tools ensure each member feels directly addressed, while A/B testing functionalities optimize email performance. Built-in GDPR compliance guarantees you only contact members who’ve given their consent.
   
   
4. Personalization through segmentation and personas
    Use your extensive member data to segment your audience into groups with similar characteristics and provide them with relevant content. Assigning personas allows you to adopt a more targeted and tactical approach, continually addressing individual member needs and guiding them through renewal processes.
   
   
5. Exclusive member areas
    Members want to feel valued and special. Member zones provide a "home" within your brand and a sense of exclusivity. These areas are ideal for FAQs, self-service tools, and gamified content, inviting members to earn trophies and rewards for engagement.
   
   
6. An omnichannel approach
    Members want to interact with your organization across multiple channels and devices, so ensuring a consistent experience is essential. DXPs are designed to facilitate seamless member journeys across all touchpoints.
   
   
7. A frictionless member journey
    Technology and processes must support your engagement efforts. Easy login, registration, and payment processes are crucial, alongside fast-loading pages and intuitive navigation.

Why understanding Digital Maturity is crucial for associations

Digital maturity refers to an organization’s ability to effectively use digital tools and technologies to enhance operations and member interactions. It’s not a fixed endpoint but a continuous journey toward optimizing digital tools and technologies for member engagement and internal processes.

By assessing how effectively they collect and use data, integrate systems, and personalize member experiences, organizations can identify their current standing and the next steps to take. This self-awareness enables informed decisions about which digital tools and strategies to invest in, ensuring they meet the evolving needs and expectations of their members.

Organizations that understand their digital maturity are better equipped to choose and implement the right tools to remain relevant and competitive in a fast-changing digital landscape.

Explore your current level of digital maturity with our Digital Transformation Roadmap, which provides a clear picture of where your organization stands in delivering exceptional member experiences and what steps to take next.