One of the challenges for any membership organisation is how to attract, engage and retain members, and ensure they value the different elements of the package they receive. For many organisations, this means highlighting existing benefits that members get and demonstrating how these help or protect them in running their business.
“This works best when organisations use their resources well,” says Paul Bateman, head of partnerships account management at Markel. “This means advertising them, getting them in front of the membership and making sure that people understand the value of what they’re getting.”
A good example is explaining the value of a legal helpline, which can provide access to fully qualified lawyers who are available around the clock at no extra cost beyond the membership payment, he adds. Members can also gain access to people who specialise in certain areas, such as the self-employed or topics such as IR35.
As well as a dedicated legal helpline and online Business Hub, Markel provides a tax and VAT helpline, connecting members with specialists who can provide advice to small businesses and corporate clients. In the past this has helped small businesses cope with issues such as registering for VAT and the purchase of a van for business use.
Demonstrating added value through services
In a competitive landscape, where people could potentially be members of other organisations, being able to demonstrate added value through such services can help those bodies stand out, says Ryan Carter, senior business development manager at Markel. “Many associations are looking to differentiate themselves now,” he says.
“If you can demonstrate that using a service can recoup a significant part of the cost of membership, that adds tangible value on top of the other reasons why they may be members, such as continuous professional development or qualifications.” This is particularly important with younger members, he adds, who place less value on traditional member benefits such as conferences and networking events.
Membership bodies have an important role to play in ensuring their members understand the benefits they are getting, says Bateman, although providers such as Markel can work with them to produce guides and other forms of content.
Examples here include fact sheets, online or print articles, or providing spokespeople to feature on webinars or podcasts, and the approach can be tailored according to age profile or type or member. “Someone who is 20 needs the same legal advice as someone who is 50, but how they access it and work with it is different,” says Bateman.
Bateman suggests a good starting point for membership organisations looking to engage more members with the benefits on offer is to approach particular groups within the membership with relevant content.
An example here would be targeting start-ups with information on the support they can receive, such as advice around intellectual property. “It means that when someone visits the site, they see or hear that bit of information first,” he explains. “That comes about from research and knowledge of your audience.”
Consistency and education are key
But it’s important that any effort to engage members is ongoing, he adds, giving the example of an organisation which had a particular push on a particular benefit, which led to a spike in usage before reverting back to normal figures. “Humans have a short retention span,” he says. “If you tell them about a benefit and they have a particular problem at that time, they will use it. But six weeks down the line they won’t necessarily remember it, so they look for another solution even though their membership organisation already offer it. You need to consistently remind members of the benefit they get and how they can access it.”
Sometimes talking about an issue that members might face can be more effective than highlighting a particular benefit or service. “If you can talk about someone who has had a problem and was able to resolve it, it can help to contextualise it...make it more visual,” says Bateman. “Using examples can be more powerful than just quoting the value of a service.”
Membership bodies can also demonstrate the risks of not having certain services in place, which can help with retaining members. “This is particularly the case with insurance, which is a much less frequently used service but can prove to be costly if people don’t have it,” he says. Statistics around the number of members who have needed to claim can help with this, he adds.
If benefits are properly communicated, it’s possible to get to a point where they are a key reason why people become and remain members, says Carter. “When people do you use benefits, they see the value in them,” he says. “The key thing is educating them on what they have got, how it works and how it will benefit them.”
Insurance and support helplines are key member benefits offered by many member organisations. To find out more about how Memcom’s headline partners Markel could help your organisation offer benefits that your members value, and communicate this effectively, visit https://uk.markel.com/services/partnershipsor contact Charles Coburn charles.coburn@markel.com