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The MemberClicks Blog

Regardless of what industry you work in or what your particular role is, it is SO easy to get lost in your day-to-day.

We need to send out that email.

Have the lanyards come in yet?

Is everything in place for tomorrow’s webinar? How many registrations do we currently have?

The list of “need-tos” goes on and on and on and on…

But you know what that often leads to? Association burnout.

Let us guess: Member turnover on your mind? No matter the season, every association professional worries over the loss of a hard earned member. Harder still is catching those members who come into your association for one sole reason and then slip away without even a goodbye.

If you’re looking to catch these folks before they leave, check out these five methods you should try to retain those one-and-done members of your association.

Member retention is likely in the back of your head at all times. But the problem is, there are a million other things going on in your head as well! Member engagement, event planning, the day-to-day logistics of running your association - the list goes on and on.

But let’s take a moment to refocus on member retention. What are a few things you can be doing throughout the year (not just at the end or beginning when renewal season rolls around) that can really help bump up member retention at your association? Here are a few ideas and best practices:

If your association is like most, you have that one committee that just can’t keep the attention of your members and ends up feeling like a struggle to even keep afloat. Feeling lost at what to do?

Take a look at our four tips that will help bring life back into your “black sheep” committee and regain your members interest!

Webinars are a GREAT way to engage members and potential members...as long as you can get people to register.

To drive registrations, your webinar must be interesting, convenient, and valuable. Now the trickiest part of that series is probably the “interesting” part. What makes a webinar interesting, aside from the topic? Well a major factor is the format.

To keep your members (and potential members) on their toes, consider experimenting with these fresh webinar formats:

Negative feedback isn’t anyone’s favorite thing, but it’s a necessary evil to go through in order to grow. Same goes for our organizations! After all, if something is causing member satisfaction to go down, wouldn’t you want to know?

When a member decides to leave your organization, ask for their help just one last time, and have them complete an Association Exit Survey. Here are some questions to consider asking, and the takeaways you can learn from their answers:

Who doesn’t love another reason to celebrate! If you’re looking for another fun way to engage with your organization’s members, have you considered publicly recognizing a day all about your industry? Most industries already have a specific calendar day dedicated to their craft, so your first step is already covered!

But wait, how do you actually celebrate this day with your members (remotely!) all over the world? And how will this help you with membership awareness, engagement, and retention? Don’t worry! Check out these three steps you should take to start implementing an appreciation day that your members won’t forget!

Referrals are honestly the best way to recruit new members: For one thing, it means the members that are talking you up are loyal and engaged. On the flip side, the new members being referred are likely to come into membership excited and ready to engage, too.

Creating a strategic referral program really boils down to the good ol’ five W’s:

With so much already on your to-do list, it can be a little overwhelming to start brainstorming new ways to increase your donation total from the previous year. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration.

How do you want to target your members AND their industry friends? What about targeting those folks outside of your industry? Or reaching out to business partners in your industry? How do you make your fundraising efforts seem sincere?

While all of these questions will help you determine how to direct your message, it still doesn’t show you how to actually implement these best practices. Take a look at five tips to help you simply boost your association’s online fundraising efforts.

If you’re in the association space, it’s hard to go a week without hearing the term “GDPR” thrown around. That’s because the enforcement date is quickly approaching: May 25.

Now we don’t want to add more stress to your plate, but if this is a topic and regulation your association has been grappling with, allow us to help. Here’s what you need to know about the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation: