HAE Measuring Membership Performance

www.hallassociates.com shedding light on opportunity

Measuring Membership Performance

John Hall & Stuart Wilkinson

12th February 2013

www.hallassociates.com

Commercial in Confidence © Hall Associates Europe LLP | Tel: 0117 375 0550 | Email: info@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?
Drop Page Fields Here
This picture applies to every membership body we have analysed in recent years
Does it resonate with you?
Count of MemberID
90

80

70
grade

60 Studen
Highest risk segment Specia
50 Retired

40 Full
Fellow
30 Associ
Affiliate
20

10

0
- 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
lifetime years



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

Expectation of income & retention performance
Renewal

Data
Opportunities
Reminders for
Income,
Cash-flow,
Delays Cost
&
Chasing Retention
improvement
Process

Lapse



Where Do They Come From?
We need to understand the underlying recruitment dynamics if we are to forecast and
measure accurately

Prospective Members (Targets)

Marketing Campaigns
Co

n
Responses io
at
n
ve

ur
rs

D
el
io
n

nn
Ra

Joining Fu
Feedback
tes

Interest

New Informed
Members Marketing Strategy

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.



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:

Executive Marketing

Operations Administration

Branches Committees

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



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?
Status Active

Count of Member_Number
300

250
?
Membership Type
200 Retired
11-19 NQT
Secondary Member
NAIGS Secondary
150
Secondary NQT
Primary Member
11-19 Trainee
Technician
100
11-19 Member

?
50

0
17
19
20

23
24
25
27
28
29
31
32
33

36
37
38
39
40
41
42

45
46
47
49
50
51
53
54
55

58
59
60
61
62
63
64

67
68
69
71
72
73
75
76
77
21
22

26

30

34
35

43
44

48

52

56
57

65
66

70

74

78
Age



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?

Keeping up to date
Research sources (web site)
Advice and guidance
Specialist ASE publications
Journals
Keeping in touch with other members (networking)
Training and C PD seminars
Book discounts
Annual C onference
Recognition of professional status
Professional development opportunities
Area/regional meetings
Insurance
BBC Magazines discounts
Virgin Wines voucher
WEXAS Travel C lub
Hotel discounts
Opportunity to contribute to policy development
National C ar Rental rates
C ITNEXUS discounts

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



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:

Formal Resignation

Lapsed Non-Payment
1600

1400
What happened here?
Reminder 2 Sent 1200

Reminder 1 Sent 1000

Renewal Sent 800

Query Raised 600

Promise to Pay 400

Paid 200

0

04-Mar

11-Mar

18-Mar
07-Jan

21-Jan
14-Jan

28-Jan

04-Feb

11-Feb

25-Feb
18-Feb



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!

Possible
Fellow Fellow
Upgrade How Are you
Call / Email CPD
promotion
High Risk Honorary
High Risk Call / Email
i fe
Call / Email
sh ip L Fellow
Welcome How’s it b er
Call Going Call / Email
… M em CPD
…
(9 months)
… ……
Enquiry al …… Chartered
e ne w
1 R
Follow-up st
Full Member
…
……
… ……
e ar… Affiliate / Associate
1 Y
st
Student
Maximise Membership Lifetime Value
Potential Member

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


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.


HAE Measuring Membership Performance

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