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Taking the conversation digital - does it improve member engagement?
How the digitisation of membership magazines and other communications is affecting member engagement.
• Membership survey
– Andy Clarke
• Case Studies
– Graham Duffill
Who did we survey?
We contacted 20 leading membership organisations to gather information about how they communicated with their membership
What was the aim?
To understand the benefits digital was bringing both the organisation and its members, that print cannot
Key findings
The jump to digital
of these switched materials from print to digital in the past five years
75%80%
offer their members digital materials either alongside print or digital only
How important is print going
forwards?
“For some of our members,
yes, but as an organisation
not really.”
“It is much better
at events.”
“For official letters/notices.”
“Moving away from it
slowly – think of th
e
environment!“
“Not that important for us compared to digital.”
“Older members and fellows prefer receiving physical material.”
How important is digital going
forwards?
“More important because
of accessibility.”
“Very, times are moving forward and we need to have a mutli-platform offering.”“Very important. Best for targeting new / younger audiences.”
“Digital is significantly
cheaper for the
company to run.”
“Perfect for managing events, breaking news and updates.”
Digital Engagement
66% of organisations have observed a significant increase in member engagement digitally
How was this increase observed?
Online materials channel traffic
towards their website
Increased direct communication from members via email and social media
Greater turnout to events that are communicated digitally
Why is this increase happening?
Participating in events
is easier online
From inbox to calendars, professionals are managing their lives digitallySocial media connects the
individual with the rest of
the community
New audiences
83% of organisations have been able to reach and engage with younger audiences digitally
How was this new reach observed?
“We have seen an increase in younger
members joining as a result of
targeted email campaigns and through
our online communities like Linkedin
and Twitter.”
Email is for grandparents
RecommendationsAnalysis and monitoring methods
RecommendationsEvents and emails
RecommendationsSocial media management
Case studies
“That is the killer question. We
have not been pushing for people
to convert to digital only because
we are worried about the
question of engagement.”
How the digitisation of membership magazines and other communications is affecting member
engagement.
Case study – you?
“90% of members receive our magazine in paper, although only 50% are in the UK and 50% everywhere else. The costs are huge and rising.””
Stuck
“The one hard piece of
data we do have is
from students in
Malaysia who are
digital-only. Out of
1,500 students the
access figures are less
than 100.”
Unsure
“Our digital mag was below par, it was a page-
turner on a desktop. That will have been an
issue, no doubt about it. We now have a magazine app and I would imagine that will increase
engagement.”
Under-invested
Case studyInstitute of Physics
Fellow £139Member £105
Undergraduate – Free (digital only)iMember - £15 (digital only)
“The membership say that Physics World is the
main reason that they stay, so it is of major
value
to us. The print mag is really important.”
Digital
20,000 digital-only mem-bers
“They are low maintenance and
can be managed by fewer staff.
They don’t convert up
to full membership, but only two mem-
bers have downgraded”
“we haven’t been able to convert students into the full grade”
“the digital product is less tangible for
them so
they don’t see the range of the full
benefits”
The problem is…
“the 20,000 are not very digitally active. We are not converting them very well”
“we may not have made the step change …we are still in push-mode”
“we have become noise in their inbox in-
stead of something they interact with and
become part of”
But, is it our problem?
“when we started down this road a few years ago we had different concerns – would
everyone go digital and would we lose other members?”
“we didn’t think through what will happen
when we
get all those digital members – what will we
do with
them?”
So what do we do about it?
Case studyChartered Institute of Personnel and Development
135,000 members
Online Community40,000 part of the online community
6,000 users per month400 active participants per month
“we capture the small suggestions that can really change the direction of the organistion”
“The community is very operational raising
day-to-day issues. It helps ground the CIPD”
Communities
“we invited those who asked challeng-ing
questions to blog about it. It was an incredibly difficult learning experience
for the organisation to be accepting of
criticism.” “CIPD is now more like a network than an institution with vocal practitioners in different areas of expertise”
awkward squad to blog squad
Linkedin group of 40,000 members, run by a member, supported by the
institution, corporate page has 60,000 members
“the Linkedin group is more shouty and
harder
to moderate – Linkedin is what’s in it for
me, the community is about a sense of
belonging”
66,000 Twitter followers …20,000 non-members… staff report to
branding “we tweet about subjects relevant to every-one from ‘should you give staff time off during the world cup?’ to ‘zero hours contracts’. The key is to think laterally”
“social media builds brand awareness and presence.
sponsors want to know about out social media reach”
Website and email
“we send a lot of emails but the people sending them collaborate in editorial meetings and group the information together”
“the website is being re-developed
to put community at its heart, with
a focus on
more social sharing and interactiv-
ity”
Phones and print
“the renewals screen invites you to share
the fact
you have renewed your membership via
twitter.
“the customer service team are on twitter and we assign messages to them”
“we are trying to be a digital-first or-ganisation and print less”
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