HAE Measuring Membership Performance

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Measuring Membership Performance

John Hall & Stuart Wilkinson

12th February 2013

www.hallassociates.com


Bin the text books !

Standard methods of measuring membership performance are becoming inefficient and inadequate. They look backwards at past results and do not flag the key indicators we need to manage and grow membership in the prevailing environment. They tell us what happened - but not necessarily why it happened.Nowadays, we need to understand cause and effect - what is behind the high level numbers, and what is the chain of events that impact upon performance?Each step on the mutual membership journey has a profound knock on effect.Many membership bodies think they are OK because things are apparently stable “there are no obvious problems, so we must be in good shape”. In reality, the very serious question is:

Is it a false sense of comfort and/or security, and……will current trends continue, or are we simply lagging the downturn seen elsewhere?



Can We See The Wood For The Trees?

The quite dramatic challenges facing most membership bodies today require new measures, and historical performance levels are not future guarantees.We need to examine what is going on underneath the surface and not accept the apparently obvious.A good example of making high level assumptions and not looking closely enough at the detail is how most people calculate retention.Traditionally, retention performance is measured, often only once a year, at a total membership level and a bit like this:

How many did I have (or think I had), and how many have I still got?How many did I have last time, and is it fewer or more than now?

This is misleading as the overall figure often disguises much higher early year’s losses and individual behaviour variations.For most, top level retention is still being driven by some faithful friends…

…unfortunately, they won’t be around for much longer.



How Much Evidence Do We Need?

This picture applies to every membership body we have analysed in recent yearsDoes it resonate with you?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 21 31 35

Years In Membership

Highest risk segment



Measurement … the Acid Tests

The generally accepted way to measure membership performance is to arrive at fairly simplistic calculations based upon:

Recruitment - How many have joined us? Retention - How many have left us?Renewal - How many renewed, and how much income have we generated?

These figures are then compared with the same statistics from last year, or maybe last month, and conclusions are drawn accordingly.These are clearly the vital signs, but given the volatile nature of the membership world, comparison is interesting, but not indicative.Again, the figures are usually at the total membership level and where there is some drilling down, it tends to measure the effect, not examine the cause.It’s normally about numbers and cash; very few measure the more subtle drivers of performance and are therefore unable to forecast with any certainty.Even fewer measure “People” progress – is all OK on the membership journey?



Subscription Income and Retention Waterfall

Reminders

Delays

Data

Process

Chasing

Opportunitiesfor

Income,Cash-flow,

Cost &

Retentionimprovement

Expectation of income & retention performance

Renewal

Lapse



Where Do They Come From?

We need to understand the underlying recruitment dynamics if we are to forecast and measure accurately

The cost of acquisition doesn’t end when a new member joins, and we must measure the return on investment over the entire membership lifetime.

Prospective Members (Targets)

Marketing Campaigns

Responses

NewMembers

FeedbackJoiningInterest

Informed Marketing Strategy

Conversion Rates Funne

l Dur

ation



Where Do they Go?

Retention isn’t just about the fallout from the back end of the renewal process!Retention isn’t a function – it’s an outcome of how everyone treats members:

So, we need to measure what everyone is doing to keep our members happy!

Branches Committees

Operations Administration

Executive Marketing



How Do We Keep Them?

We must set and measure internal Service Level Agreements to ensure consistent standards of delivery to our members.This will also ensure that we show a consistent face to the member irrespective of whom within the organisation they are interacting with.

Getting the right fit means we have happy members!



Age Profile of Membership Illustration

How does the changing climate impact membership next year and in the future?Would the trough be lower in 5 years time?Early retirement age?Younger members value perception?

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50

100

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17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78

Retired

11-19 NQT

Secondary Member

NAIGS Secondary

Secondary NQT

Primary Member

11-19 Trainee

Technician

11-19 Member

Count of Member_Number

Age

Membership Type

?

?



Profiling: Social Class, Past and Present

Comparison of current and lapsed members social profiles with the UK averages:

CURRENT MEMBERS LAPSED MEMBERS



Example Benefits and Services Analysis

Non-subject specific “benefits” are often included in membership offerings But and as demonstrated here, members are really not interested in them

What do you see as the essential benefits of membership?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

CITNEXUS discounts

National Car Rental rates

Opportunity to contribute to policy development

Hotel discounts

WEXAS Travel Club

Virgin Wines voucher

BBC Magazines discounts

I nsurance

Area/regional meetings

Professional development opportunities

Recognition of professional status

Annual Conference

Book discounts

Training and CPD seminars

Keeping in touch with other members (networking)

J ournals

Specialist ASE publications

Advice and guidance

Research sources (web site)

Keeping up to date



Renewal Performance…

… Did We Win, or Did We Lose?

It’s not the outcome of a battle, nor a simple end of renewal round count up.It’s about what we do, how we do it, and how our members respond to us.We need to understand and measure trends, patterns and member habits:

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

07-J

an

14-J

an

21-J

an

28-J

an

04-F

eb

11-F

eb

18-F

eb

25-F

eb

04-M

ar

11-M

ar

18-M

ar

Formal Resignation

Lapsed Non-Payment

Reminder 2 Sent

Reminder 1 Sent

Renewal Sent

Query Raised

Promise to Pay

Paid

What happened here?



Measure People Progress… … not Just Numbers

How people (that’s who our members are, but we sometimes forget) progress through the mutual membership journey is a key measurement.Not many membership bodies give it much thought – but they will have to!

So, we must set targets and measure every step along the way.

1st Year…………………1st Renewal…………………Membership Life

Potential Member

Student

Affiliate / Associate

Full Member

Chartered

Fellow

Honorary

CPD

EnquiryFollow-up

WelcomeCall

How’s it Going Call / Email(9 months)

High RiskCall / Email

High RiskCall / Email

UpgradeCall / Email CPD

promotion

PossibleFellow Fellow

How Are you

Maximise Membership Lifetime Value



Marketing Niceties…

…or A Finger On The Pulse?

Most membership bodies like to measure “member satisfaction”.Traditionally, this done via a member survey every year, or every few years.It’s normally hard copy or on-line and the faithful few respond diligently.This is flawed:

What is it that we are hoping to measure (we haven’t seen a definitive statement of what “satisfaction” actually means recently)?We need to know how our members feel every step of the way.We need engagement and feedback at all the critical points.We can’t wait a year or more to find out what members think of us.

We need a constant finger on the pulse, not ad hoc medical check ups.


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HAE Measuring Membership Performance