14 Ways to Improve Your Organization’s Member Experience

Member experience is how someone sees, uses, and interacts with your organization. It’s a critical component of recruiting new members and retaining existing members.

Some examples of elements that make up your member experience includes:

• Your website
• Emails
• Events
• Mentorship programs

Member experience is also one of the most important tools at your disposal. How members engage with an organization shapes their view of it, so to keep them coming back, you want to engage them through their experience.

Why Is Member Experience Important?

When someone becomes a member, they should feel like they’re buying a ticket to a virtual “it crowd”, complete with unique perks and even bragging rights.

The associations that we’ve seen become most successful are those that keep their members engaged, and make their experience as positive as possible from the second they join onwards.

When you have a strong member experience, you’ll see benefits like:

• Higher retention
• More successful programs
• Better networking
• Higher chance of referrals
• And more!

Ready to make your member experience even better?

Here are fourteen cost-effective tips your organization can use to improve its member experience, and to make people truly appreciate being a part of it.

14 Ways to Improve Your Organization’s Member Experience

1. Understand Your Members

Studying the type of people in your organization helps you make their experience better.

Make a model of your ideal member by asking yourself these questions:

• Who’s already part of your organization?
• How did they find you?
• What attracted them to join?
• What kind of interests do they have related to your organization?
• How can you help them see more value from membership?

Developing this persona for yourself means your content and communications will matter to the people who are right for your organization — and leaving out the ones who aren’t.

This makes the people on the receiving end feel like they truly belong in your community. Which also means they’ll want to join and stay!

2. Make them feel welcomed!

Okay, so they’ve joined! Now it’s time to make a great first impression.

Start with a welcome email that makes them feel excited. Want to go even further? Create a fully-decked out, irresistible welcome program.

No matter what you do, make sure your welcome reminds them:

• Why they joined
• How they can meet other members
• What they have access to
• How they can contribute and get involved

You want your members to feel like they’re part of a bigger community, so help them out by letting them know about things like:

• Upcoming networking events
• Meet and greets
• Mentorship opportunities
• Forums they can explore
• Social media groups
• And more!

Bottom line: make sure your communication stays consistent beyond your first welcome. Reach out regularly. You want to communicate openly and often. This all helps with retaining members.

If you have busy seasons where you won’t be able to show as much love, take advantage of pre-scheduling content and emails! You can even take advantage of some free or cheap nonprofit software to help you out.

3. Add a Personal Touch

One of the reasons I’m still a member of the writing club I mentioned earlier is that the emails they send always made me laugh — a major step-up from the generic communication I was used to.

When I was a part of the first writing club, the updates I received were dry and unengaging. As a result, I didn’t take the time to find out more about the events they had going on. With the second club, however, I was drawn in by the detailed and funny messages — they were direct, but creative. It got to the point where I was looking forward to checking my mailbox for new emails!

Make sure that your association stands out from the crowd with personal and engaging communication. When writing emails, write them in a way that feels personal and fun to read.

That way, they’ll feel appreciated, even if they’ve just joined.

Other ways you can personalize your member experience include:

• Greeting members by their first name in emails
• Personalized content depending on their membership tier
• Swag that’s made just for them!

Read More: Welcome New Members Right with These 9 Email Tips (+Template)

4. Engage, Engage, Engage!

What does member engagement mean to you?

For some associations we’ve worked with, it means attending the majority of the events they put on.

For others, it just means reading the emails they send out.

Whatever way you slice it, members should want to involve themselves with your association and be active participants.

In the case of my writing club, I find myself coming back to their website multiple times a week. It feels like I’ve built a relationship with the association itself, so I want to invest more time in it.

A great way to do this is building community by asking members to involve themselves from the instant they join.

Some quick ideas we’ve seen work well are:

• When they first join, ask them what kind of content they’d like to see so that you can create more of it.
• Start a “Tips Tuesday” series (whether it’s through social media, videos, or blog posts) featuring best practices in your space from members.
• Set up one-on-one meetings between new members and experienced ones to help them find their feet.

Using a member satisfaction survey, you can also ask members exactly what they’d like to see more of — that way you’ll be sure of getting it right! Which leads us to…

Read More: How to Host a Virtual Member Appreciation Week in 5 Simple Steps

5. Survey Your Members Often

If you want to get a read of how your member experience is doing, ask your members!

A member satisfaction survey is a great way to know what your members love and what they could do without. Your survey results will give you valuable feedback, like your successes and areas for improvement.

Want the survey to really hone in on your members’ needs? Get them involved in the process of building it! Ask for their perspective on any potential questions you should ask. You can even get them to submit some of their own.

When you get your results, incorporate it into your organization right away. That can be as big as your next event or as small as your daily operations. This shows your members you care, you’re listening to them, and that you want to create value.

6. Set Yourself Apart

There are a lot of associations out there, some of which might be focusing on similar topics as you are.

So, how can you distinguish your organization?

Maybe it’s about getting specific — for example, forming a writing club only for fantasy writers rather than for all writers.

Or maybe it’s about offering something other organizations don’t, such as hosting in-person meetups rather than virtual ones only.

Whatever you decide, doing some research on other associations that exist in your space can also help. Going back to the questions we asked in the first point, you can start focusing on what your current members see as your strengths as opposed to things other organizations are already doing.

For example, some membership organizations offer discounted tickets for their members as opposed to the public.

Laura Stotland from the Los Angeles based Alliance for Women in Media, Southern California Affiliate told the group that special membership discounts on event tickets is one of her organization’s biggest benefits. They usually offer a $10 to $20 discount to members on each event ticket. And Laura noted that since their annual membership fee is currently $125, it doesn’t take long for the event ticket savings to offset the annual membership fee.

7. Give Them Something to Look Forward to

Sometimes the anticipation of having something to look forward to is better than the event itself.

That’s not to say that your events won’t blow it out of the park — but that keeping your event schedule updated will help members be much more excited than if they came out of the blue.

Plus, creating a sequence of events that flow from one to another helps maintain your organization’s presence in members’ lives.

If they’re constantly reminded of the value you bring them, they’ll be much more likely to keep joining in — and even established members will feel the sense of novelty they got from first joining your organization.

8. Create Networking Opportunities

One of my favorite parts about the club I’m currently part of is how easy it is to connect with other members. I’ve met people that have helped me improve my writing through the club’s events and forums, and I really appreciate it.

And I’m not alone. A big part of the reason people join membership organizations is to build the connections they couldn’t find anywhere else.

So, creating opportunities for users to network with each other whether online or offline can go a long way in taking their member experience to the next level.

Even something as simple as a member directory can allow members to reach out and learn more about each other. Asking members to add a funny fact about themselves, or what they hope to gain from your community, can help boost engagement and give other members a way to break the ice.

9. Create a Membership Website

You want to have a central hub for your members to connect and find information. Your solution? A membership website!

Want to make your organization feel like the coolest club in town? Or maybe just have the hip exclusivity of a top-rated restaurant? Building a membership website is the way to do it, with content curated just for them. It should provide everything they need to feel engaged and excited about your organization.

Depending on their membership level, they can get access to features like:

• Events calendar
• Members-only pages
• Forums
• E-lists
• Podcasts
• Exclusive content

Not sure what to put in your membership website? You can use information from your surveys to help shape content that really speaks to your members. But more on that in our next tip, which is…

10. Start Creating This Type of Content

Events aren’t the only way you can interact with members.

Now that more and more people are finding organizations online, the more content has become key to improving member experience.

By creating interactive content, you’re giving your members something they can see and hear (if not touch) as it’s happening. Some examples of interactive content you can easily incorporate into your website or emails to members are:

• Webinars with a Q&A portion at the end
• Quizzes & polls – either fun ones that relate back to your mission, or surveys that you can use to get feedback on how your organization is doing
• Quick videos that provide an educational tip or feature one of your members

People assign a lot of value to things they can engage with, so the more you get your members involved, the better!

Some kinds of content can also help you attract new members as well as providing value to existing ones. Check out our on-demand webinar on the three keys to growing your organization with content if you’d like to learn more.

11. Buddy Up With Other Organizations

Remember, community is a powerful thing! You’re surrounded by like-minded organizations and individuals that can help boost your membership experience. All you need to do is reach out.

For example, consider creating a joint event with another local association, charity, or even a business to give your members more opportunities to meet each other and other people who are in the same space.

The more ways you can give your members a chance to connect, the better!

12. Keep in Touch

This tip is simple but effective: besides connecting members with each other, make sure they can easily reach you.

Whether it’s keeping a contact number on your website or having a contact-us form that actually gets checked, making sure members can contact your organization will help develop trust and will let them know you have their best interests at heart.

This can also be a benefit offered depending on membership levels. For example, maybe members who are part of the highest level get to have 1:1 coaching from a member of your team.

One final tip: make sure your contact information is easy to find on your website and not buried in your menu. Think to yourself: If I was a new member, would it be easy for me to find our contact information?

13. Make Renewing a Breeze

Nothing can slow a membership experience down like a confusing or difficult renewal process. To make sure everything is in top shape, take a look at your renewal process and make sure you’re:

• Explaining your member benefits
• Have mentorship programs
• Keeping members engaged
• Sending reminders regularly
• Communicating on the right channels
• Have a multi-channel strategy
• Have incentives and discounts
• Thanking members when they renew

You can also make renewals easy with a membership management software that can automate

reminders and payments.

Want to learn more about how to improve your renewals? Check out our Ultimate Membership Renewal Guide here.

14. Take It Outside Excel

You may have noticed that many of these tips assume or suggest that your organization has a website or uses online tools to engage members.

That’s because keeping everything in a spreadsheet can only get you so far (sorry!).

Once your organization reaches a certain size, incorporating more than just a mailing list into your arsenal can help you keep everything in one place and build a more robust membership model.

That’s where a tool like membership management software can really come in handy.

This kind of software, of which WildApricot is one, can help you manage your organization in a few different ways. These include:

• Website: create and update your website with little-to-no tech experience.
• Events: easily create and promote lessons, events, and rentals, with online registration, attendance tracking, and payment processing.
• Payments: automate membership renewals, registrations and payments.
• Database: maintain detailed member and admin records in an easy-to-search and filter online database.
• Emails: send professional newsletter and email communications to your members.
• Member Login: allow members to login to your website to access exclusive resources.
• Mobile App: track event registrations, payments, and more on the go.

If that sounds like it could come in handy in your organization, then why not try out a free 60-day trial of WildApricot?

Implementing some of these strategies in your organization can help keep your members happy — and keep them involved for years to come. Let me know in the comments if your organization has tried any of these ideas out, or if you have any other ways to improve the member experience!