It’s good that we had practice during the pandemic because we’re in uncertain times again. No one knows how the economy, AI, geopolitical issues, Gen Z, and a host of industry-specific challenges will affect the near future of associations.
However, one thing is certain: to come out strong on the other side, associations must prioritize the member experience. Membership is the essence of associations. It won’t matter what else you do if you don’t get that right.
Despite these unknowns, trends, and opportunities are emerging for associations with the foresight and capacity to seize them.
Lay the Foundation for Enhancing the Member Experience
Associations have always operated with limited resources—lean is your way of life. But with new technologies like AI, even small staff associations have access to previously unaffordable capabilities.
However, you still need a healthy budget for new resources. A high member retention rate saves money since recruiting a new member is five times more expensive than retaining one. Long-term members also help the bottom line by:
- Regularly paying dues
- Purchasing education, publications, and event registrations
- Helping to recruit, onboard, and retain members
- Volunteering
The tools have changed, but foundational member retention practices still deliver results. Regularly assess each member segment’s membership value proposition. No amount of marketing will help if you’re not delivering what they need and value.
Map each segment’s journey to understand their member experience from discovery to renewal, pain points encountered along the way, and opportunities to exceed their expectations.
Use member data to personalize member engagement with tailored emails that deliver relevant content and recommendations. A single, shared 360-degree view of members, like the one provided by Salesforce Customer 360, which integrates website and email analytics with member data, makes this data-driven membership strategy possible.
Retention rates are often dragged down by first-time members who don’t renew because they didn’t receive the value they expected. Boost new member retention with customized onboarding campaigns.
During the first few months of membership, learn more about them, encourage them to fill in their profile to declare their interests and customize their emails, and show them how to achieve their membership and career goals.
Deliver a More Satisfying Online Member Experience with Platforms, Not Products
Salesforce research found that 88% of customers say the experience is as important as its product or services. Whether they visit a company or association, members expect all online interactions to tie together smoothly. It doesn’t matter where the website ends, the learning management system begins, or how the association management system (AMS) enters it. They don’t care if everything works the way they expect.
With single sign-on (SSO), a member logs in once and navigates easily through digital spaces. AI-powered content spotlights and recommendations based on past interactions personalize their user experience.
Effective technology directly correlates with member loyalty and engagement. Disconnected tools result in a disjointed online experience, so associations increasingly choose AMS solutions within a larger technical platform, like Salesforce. With a platform-based approach, members enjoy smooth interconnectivity between your membership, event, and engagement tools.
Associations can dedicate more resources to the member experience when a unified platform helps them save money and time behind the scenes.
- Scalable, flexible, and agile technology that facilitates expanding the platform over time or building multiple solutions more quickly
- Stronger insights based on data pulled from across the organization
- Enhanced security provided by the platform developer
- Greater product stability since platform companies are less likely to be purchased and then make dramatic feature or system changes
- More automation and AI opportunities
Apply AI to Member Engagement
Members are using AI at a faster rate than their associations. They expect you to catch up and keep up. Once you do, AI is a game-changer for member engagement, making what was once impossible possible.
AI chatbots and AI-enabled searches help connect members with information. Agentforce, a configurable custom AI agent, guides members through renewals and event sign-ups. Einstein Search for Knowledge helps members get answers to questions quickly. These agents train on your existing CRM knowledge base and custom instructions.
Predictive AI tools, like Einstein Studio Prediction Builder in Salesforce, help you understand marketing trends and engagement patterns to identify members at risk of not renewing.
Content generation tools, like Claude and ChatGPT, help create targeted marketing emails, social media copy, member personas, and marketing plans quickly.
Design Events that Truly Engage Members
Events have always been a top marketing and engagement channel with a long-lasting impact for associations.
- Deeper loyalty from members who leave with new friends and good memories
- New members recruited through on-site marketing and membership/registration bundles
- Strengthened community
- Post-event engagement with attendees
- Reliable first-party data
But event trends, after a post-pandemic recovery, are looking iffy again. In many industries, members question the value of traveling to events when they can network and get continuing education credits online. Late registrations are causing significant anxiety for planners.
Members expect useful content at events but go to be around other people. Planners design experiential events beyond the typical passive experience in keynotes and sessions. They offer programs that create memorable interactions and build stronger connections between attendees and your association.
Experienced planners rely on data throughout the event planning process. Data helps them define their target audience segments and understand their education and networking needs, preferred topics, session formats, and types of speakers.
This data is drawn from across the association, including:
- Post-event surveys
- Webinar, online and in-person learning program, and recording views and attendance
- Member polls and interest inventories
- Email opens and clicks
- Website page visits
- Community discussions
When you understand the needs of members and industry professionals, your content, speakers, and session format will resonate.
Planners are creating more opportunities for structured networking and conversations in conference programs, both formal and informal. Event apps help attendees connect via AI-driven recommendations.
After the pandemic, everyone rushed back to in-person events, but the pendulum is swinging the other way. Associations realize that hybrid and virtual events are more accessible to people who can’t or won’t attend in-person programs.
Help Members Advance in Their Careers
Members prioritize career advancement, yet associations underinvest in it. Career development resources are not only a valuable member benefit but also an effective membership recruitment tool. Help members (and prospective members) learn the skills, earn the credentials, and meet the people who will help them get a job and get promoted.
Career development programs help people who want to enter or get ahead in their industry and employers facing talent shortages. Supplement your online job board with career resources, such as AI-powered resume reviews.
Survey members to understand what career advancement services they value most. 79% of association members said they want access to peer data, such as salaries, benefits, and job structure, to benchmark their careers, but only 19% of associations offer it.
Provide networking opportunities, such as:
- Virtual roundtables on timely topics
- AI matchmaking
- Online cohort programs
- Individual and group mentoring programs
Offer continuing education and credentialing programs for every career stage:
- Introductory programs and microcredentials for recent graduates, early-career professionals, and career changers
- Specialized programs and microcredentials for mid-career professionals
- Leadership and management programs to help fill employer and association volunteer pipelines
Invite employers to serve on an advisory council that helps guide decisions on new programs, like skills-based microcredentials.
Investing in education and career development programs makes your association a trusted guide throughout all phases of a member’s career. The importance of this role can’t be understated, given the declining trust in established institutions. Over 93% of professional society members and over 89% of trade association members believe their association’s role as a trusted source will be very or extremely important in the future.
Understanding your members’ needs and aspirations strengthens trust. AI-driven personalized engagement and platform-based solutions deliver a human-centered member experience, a principle we specialize in at Fíonta.