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Member-based organisations are waking up, some with a bump, to the reality that in today’s world they can no longer automatically rely on the loyalty of established members or that they will renew their subscriptions next year. So why are more people questioning the value of membership? It’s easy to blame the economic downturn. It’s equally easy to conclude that organisations are not providing enough benefits to be attractive, but the simple truth is that if people want to be a member enough, they will pay for it. The question is not ‘are we offering enough benefit?’ but ‘are we offering the right kind of benefit?’
There are some very clear rational and emotional differences between being a member of an organisation and being a customer of a business.
a) Members tend to align with a brand for deeper reasons of affinity and benefit
b) Membership is less about product or service and more directly about credibility and status
c) They feel more a part of the organization and that they can be actively involved with it – sometimes at considerable investment in time
d) Members are more likely to feel part of a club made up of likeminded people – they have a ready made sense of belonging
e) In some cases, members believe that they ‘own’ the organisation. It can become their driving force
f) Members will think longer and harder about whether to relinquish membership than consumers do about brands – they are less fickle
g) Membership is the ultimate challenge in long term relationship building and loyalty because the ‘offers’ do not substantially change
h) Membership is more akin to a businesses relationship with its shareholders than customers
Whilst gaining new members is a central pillar of most organisations marketing and brand strategies, the need to retain and grow the ones already in place – won over considerable investment of time and cost – is now understood as an imperative because membership is no longer regarded as ‘money in the bank’ year on year.
In some regards, it is easier to nurture an already established relationship than to encourage new uptake and possibly switch. Gaining new members tends to rely on timing and correct insight – the strength of your targeted message/offers/benefits at a moment when the target is becoming disaffected with their current relationship. Inevitably this means lower ROI if the timing is wrong. Some targets switch because they are already positively aware of your brand – this has probably been developed over time and with considerable investment in marketing and brand development activity.
Some professional bodies invest in nurturing student membership through university partnerships, presence at events and regional student programmes. Whilst this can use a substantial part of marketing and recruitment budgets, time and resource, the aim has always been to create a ‘cradle to grave’ relationship – initial engagement and support through education and entry to a given profession, followed up by ongoing development, qualifications, CPD, events and knowledge provision.
The established member may be working as a brand advocate by speaking well of you or even actively working on the organisations behalf. They are certainly easier to talk to (they are already engaged with you), however this is offset by the time and financial investment needed to keep their relationship with you positive and growing – you need to keep them happy and the longer they are with you the more demands they will make and greater expectations they will have. As they become more comfortable in the relationship they will inevitably become more demanding, critical and vocal. They will expect more and will take more for granted. If they remain happy they will be your biggest advocates. If they become disaffected, you may not only lose them – probably forever, but also create a critic of you.
Many organisations have over the years offered their members more and more – in many professional bodies this has led to a loss of focus on the real reason why members become members – qualifications, professional credibility, awareness, understanding and respect from the ‘public’, privileged knowledge and ability to work. The ancillary offers have taken over and the more members are offered, the more they expect and demand. In turn this has led to increases in member drop off, as organisations have failed to deliver on these increased expectations. Members become disaffected with the ancillary offers rather than delighted with the ‘real’ benefits of membership. Some organisations have desperately tried to deliver on these offers, at substantial cost financially, investment in new people – member/customer services, events management, PR, commercial operations, marketing etc. and diversion from the ‘real’ work of the org.
In a sense, members are being turned into customers and the organisations themselves are driving this forward – to their own detriment. And they are doing this at a time when members have an increasing amount of organisation choice – competition – and less available funds to spend on membership fees. In addition, one of the major historic attractions to these organisations – privileged knowledge acquisition – has been eroded by easy internet access to ‘free’ knowledge from world leading sources.
One glaring piece of evidence to support all this is the significant drop off and lack of uptake in membership from younger age groups (under 35), particularly in professional bodies. These organisations are no longer seen as the ‘must belong to’ priority that they once were. As a consequence, some member orgs are increasingly seen as out of touch, not commercially astute and stuck in a bygone age – causing further barriers to uptake.
Many professional bodies, Institutions and member-based not for profits have been around for many years without substantial change. A few have evolved their offers – additional qualifications, CPD programmes, accessibility to documents and papers, events and venue hire, restaurants and cafes etc. and some are now re-evaluating member offers in the face of member drop off. Many have been slow to react to a changing world and the effect this has had on their, and their members, position in it. Others have reacted by reducing membership fees, relaxing membership criteria and regulation and offering gimmick based incentives – all of which have reduced the power of their number one attraction – credibility and high status. Some have even changed their governance and structure to increase a perception of accessibility.
Very few have addressed the central issue of what they mean to people – the public, professionals, members, education, governments etc. – in today’s internet based global world of easy access to competitors, knowledge, communication, peers and resource. What is it that provides members with real and relevant advantage over non-members? What is deliverable and sustainable without risking damage to brand, high status (in some cases, Charter and impartial, public responsibility), expectations and operational efficiency? What will win out against increasing numbers of real and virtual competition for member’s cash?
These are fundamental questions that when answered can not only direct what an organisation offers it’s current and future members (retention AND recruitment) but potentially determine future organisational direction, strategy and conduct. Proper analysis, insight, and strategic understanding of this type can also lead to solutions about one of the main barriers to organisational development and change – the established member base itself or, as I’ve heard more than a few CEO’s and Chairmen of professional bodies describe them, the ‘old guard’.
One way or another if, even after taking natural churn into account, membership renewals are in decline, there is only one reason – they just don’t value you enough. Even after all the things you have done for them.
There are many reasons why members choose to relinquish membership. Here are a few old chestnuts;-
1) The organisation no longer reflects their views or effectively represents them in their world – it is out of touch
2) Not enough is being done to raise their status, credibility and advantage to justify the cost of association with you
3) The organisation is either not addressing important issues effectively and is resistant to change, or is changing too much, too fast – this is a seemingly no win situation
4) The knowledge, advice and support that they gain can be found elsewhere and less expensively. They do not get enough privileged or unique insight
5) They no longer feel special
6) They do not get enough good and valuable communication from you – or they get too much that is not valuable
7) They are unaware of how much the organisation is working on their behalf
 They feel that they have been let down by you – even if in reality they have not.
9) They do not get enough ‘free’ stuff. Or they are offered too much and feel that THEIR organisation is being cheapened.
10) They are unaware of the benefits on offer and assume that there aren’t enough to justify the fee
11) They believe, rightly or wrongly, that there are greater benefits somewhere else
12) They do not believe that THEIR money is being used in the right way
In reality, the reasons to relinquish membership are probably based on a combination of these, and other, factors. Generally, members do not choose to leave lightly and they make very considered decisions.
For a better understanding, do what many organisations fail to do – talk with your membership – they will welcome it. The prudent and objective analysis of your member’s comments is vital because you will probably get as many reasons for disaffection as there are members. This analysis needs to be part of your evaluation of if and how the organisation needs to change, not all of it.
Whilst as stated, some organisations fail to talk with their members, others do something far worse. They listen, then panic, then create ill-considered changes based solely on member’s comments. This may pacify the membership for a short while but it may cause substantial long-term damage to the organisation itself because, and this may come as a shock, the member base is only one part of the organisation. It is probably not why the organisation exists (very few Royal Charters include the phrase ‘service the wishes of the members’) and therefore should not solely determine the organisations direction.
Member-based organisations have something that most businesses can only dream of and have invested much in trying to acquire – genuine, substantial and deep rooted loyalty. ‘Know your customer’ and ‘ create effective CRM programmes’ are mantras chanted in businesses the world over. In member-based organisations, this knowledge should be implicit and relationships should not need to be created because everyone is in the same world already. But like any other relationship, the deeper it goes and the longer it lasts, the more there is at stake and the more it needs to be carefully worked at. The world and members aspirations change over time and organisations need to adapt or face the inevitable – messy divorce.
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written on September 2nd, 2009 4:54 pm
For further thoughts on institution brand and marketing see http://purplefrog.co.uk/?p=685