Before We Ask Members to Renew

An association can offer a long list of benefits and still struggle to explain why someone should renew.

That list tells us what the organization provides. It tells us much less about what a member can use, whether it helps with a current problem, or how much effort it takes to find the right person.

I would look closely at that experience before commissioning another campaign. A clearer renewal message may help. So may fixing the unanswered inquiry, the difficult registration process, or the committee opportunity that a newer member never hears about.

A benefit has to reach someone's working life

Research involving 13,229 members of 18 professional associations found that perceptions of personal and professional benefits were positively associated with intentions to renew and recommend membership. A separate study of 1,980 members of an accounting association also linked satisfaction with benefits and customer service to membership satisfaction and renewal intentions.

These were survey studies. They measured associations and reported intentions, rather than proving that a particular benefit caused someone to renew. For me, their practical relevance is that the member's experience deserves as much attention as the association's inventory.

Consider a hypothetical member who needs help understanding a professional issue. The association has an excellent resource, but its title uses internal terminology, it sits three levels down on the website, and the member cannot tell whether it is current. The benefit exists. Access to it is weak.

Or imagine an early-career member interested in leadership. The nomination process is technically open, but every example of a successful candidate has decades of experience and a personal invitation from a director. An open application alone may do little to explain how that person can participate.

Those examples point to decisions about information, service design, and governance. They require more than better promotional language.

Make fewer assumptions about quiet members

Attendance is easy to count. The meaning of an absence takes more work.

A member might value the association's advocacy while rarely attending an event. Another might read resources regularly but have little control over their work schedule. Someone who has stopped responding may be disappointed, overwhelmed, or simply using a service we do not count as engagement.

I would resist assigning a motive before asking. The person who does not attend every meeting can still have a thoughtful view of the association. Their experience may reveal a barrier that your most active volunteers have learned to work around.

Start with a few short conversations across different experiences: a recent member, a long-standing member, someone who lapsed, a person who uses one service heavily, and someone who seldom participates. Ask about an actual recent need. Broad questions about satisfaction often produce broad answers.

These are questions I would use:

What were you trying to get done the last time you contacted us?
Where did you look for help, and what happened?
Was there anything you expected from membership that you could not find?
What would make one of our services easier to use in your circumstances?

A small set of conversations will not represent your whole membership. It can help you identify questions worth testing more widely. Record whom you heard from and where the gaps remain, especially when the most convenient people to contact already know the association well.

Try one service all the way through

My recommendation is to follow one member need from first contact to a useful result. Choose a service the association already promises. Have someone unfamiliar with its internal systems attempt to use it, with appropriate access and consent.

Begin where a member would begin: a search, an email, a renewal page, or a recommendation from a colleague. Notice where the person has to guess. Record the time, extra contacts, confusing terms, and points where they could reasonably stop.

Then ask staff what happens behind the scenes. Does the same inquiry arrive in several inboxes? Is one person manually correcting registrations? Do members need personal connections to receive a timely answer?

The exercise should reveal a process, not become an appraisal of the staff member trying to keep it working. A strained service may reflect an unclear assignment, a system limitation, or a promise the organization has not funded.

Choose one change and a sensible measure. If the problem is finding current guidance, simplify the path and check whether members can complete the task. If it is an unanswered inquiry, agree on responsibility and a realistic response standard. If it is access to volunteering, explain the selection process and test a smaller, clearly described opportunity.

Give the board a member experience to consider

A renewal rate deserves attention. So does the story behind it.

Bring directors a concise account of the service you examined: the need, the barrier, the proposed change, and what it will require. Include evidence that challenges the board's assumptions. A long-standing director's experience of the association may differ considerably from that of a member without established relationships.

The board can then make an informed choice about resources, priorities, and what the association should promise. Staff can improve the service within that agreement.

Before the next renewal cycle, ask your team to name one promise members find difficult to use. Work on that promise, then describe the improvement plainly. A member should be able to recognize their own needs in the association's account of its value.

References

Ki, E.-J., & Wang, Y. (2016). Membership Benefits Matter: Exploring the Factors Influencing Members’ Behavioral Intentions in Professional Associations. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 27(2), 199-217. Read the source.
Markova, G., Ford, R. C., Dickson, D. R., & Bohn, T. M. (2013). Professional Associations and Members’ Benefits: What’s in It for Me? Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 23(4), 491-510. Read the source.