How Professional Associations Can Solve Membership Challenges

Always Add Member Value

While 2021 was a challenging year for professional associations (the 2021 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report found that 47% of associations have reported declines in membership, and 45% reported a decline in membership renewals), 2022 saw a bounce back. Only 33% of professional associations reported declines in memberships, and 38% saw an increase, according to the 2022 Membership Marketing Benchmark Report.

This is good news, but better news would be decreasing the decline in association memberships even more and increasing renewals. To achieve this result, associations need to take more innovative, creative, and strategic steps to overcome common association membership challenges that drive declines in membership.

This article focuses on five relevant professional association challenges and provides forward-thinking suggestions to help associations move forward. These challenges include:

• Adding Value for Association Members
• Showcasing Value to Association Members
• Communicating with Association Members
• Association Member Churn
• Attracting Younger Association Members

The Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report found the top reasons individuals join associations are to:

• Network with others in their field (57%).
• Learn best practices in their profession (26%).
• Access specialized and/or current information (25%).

It's smart for associations to keep these reasons in mind as they brainstorm ways to add values to their members—"adding values for your members" will be the throughline for the solutions to all these challenges.

Five Common Association Challenges and How to Solve Them

Challenge #1: Adding Value for Association Members

Let’s start with the number one challenge facing associations: adding value for their members. 39% of associations indicate that “lack of value” was a reason for members not renewing memberships. “Lack of engagement” was the top reason for member churn, at 50%, but these two reasons are interconnected—an association that’s not engaging with its members isn’t valuable, and individuals aren’t going to engage with something they perceive as invaluable. 

Solution: Increase Professional Development and Introduce New Products and Services for Your Association Members

The Membership Marketing Benchmark Report discusses innovative ways successful associations have grown over the past year: 85% “increased virtual professional development opportunities for members” and 78% developed “new products and services to assist members and member companies.”

Both of these solutions increase value for association members.

Professional Development Solutions

Professional development is big with professionals in every industry—93% of employees will stay at a company that offers professional development. In our post Four Innovative Sources of Non-Dues Revenue for Associations, we list learning and development opportunities and discuss how to use them to increase associations’ revenue. 

New Product Solution: Try a White Label Applicant Tracking System

To determine what new product or service you can offer, we recommend first surveying your members to see what challenges they have and what solutions they need. We also recommend a private label applicant tracking system, since hiring is a universal need for all businesses. 

An applicant tracking system is recruiting software that streamlines and automates the hiring process. Many associations use white label applicant tracking systems, created by another vendor and branded as a proprietary solution. Private labeling takes this a step further. 

Private labeling an applicant tracking system entails partnering with an applicant tracking developer to customize workflows and solutions and brand the hiring solution as your own. End-users won’t know you didn’t build the platform yourself, strengthening your brand and adding value to your members. Recruiting is a struggle for many professionals, and solving members’ top problems adds value. 

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Challenge #2: Showcasing Value to Association Members

53% of associations believe their value proposition to be “compelling or very compelling.” You could view that as a positive stat (more than half!), but it still leaves 48% of associations who don’t believe their value proposition is compelling. This is also associations’ assessment of themselves, not an assessment from their members—current and potential association members must be able to discern the value of joining.

Showcasing value is just as important as actually having value, especially since The  Membership Marketing Benchmark Report finds that associations whose value propositions are very compelling have increased new members and overall memberships. 

Solution: Embrace Social Media 

Many associations showcase their value to members via newsletters, association publications, and in-person conferences. These are valuable communication channels, but you’re already behind the curve if you haven’t embraced social media. 74% of Americans regularly use social media, and the average user spends 2 hours and 25 minutes checking their accounts. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and TikTok are all viable options—you’ll want to research where your target audience spends their time before deciding the best direction for your marketing efforts. 

Remember the “show don’t tell” adage when showcasing your association’s value. Video is the perfect medium to “show, not tell”— 85% of marketers rank short-form videos as the most compelling form of social media content.

HiringThing Pro Tip:  Use social media to ask for member feedback! Associations seeking member feedback are 63% more likely to see overall membership growth.

Challenge #3: Communicating with Members

The Naylor Association Communication Report says, “For the seventh time in eight years, ‘information overload/cutting through the clutter’ weighed in as the No. 1 communication challenge for associations—more than two-thirds of respondents (70%) cited it as a ‘significant’ challenge.” 

The report says two additional communication challenges include communicating benefits effectively to members and customizing benefits’ messaging to “different segments”—messaging should be different for brand new vs. mid-career association members.

The barrage of email and newsletter updates, especially in a world where 85% of emails are spam, aren’t cutting it as the best way to communicate anymore.

Solution: Use Push Notifications

Push notifications have an open rate 50% higher and click through rate 7x higher than email marketing. Push notifications are brand-specific notifications that come right to members’ phones. They’re concise, and attention-grabbing, and studies show that 70% of mobile users feel push notifications are helpful. Additionally, push notifications are an easy way to segment your messaging to various customer types. 

Challenge #4: Member Churn

Customer churn is a big problem for associations. Remember, 45% of associations reported declining membership renewals in 2021.

Solution: Have a Member Success Strategy 

32% of association members are less likely to continue their membership after one bad experience and reporting by McKinsey has found that satisfied members are less likely to cancel their memberships. You need to have a solid member success strategy in place to keep your members happy and onboard. Your member success strategy should address:

• Onboarding
• Customer (Member) Service
• Gathering Feedback
• Engaging Members
• Marketing Membership Perks
• Rewards or Referrals Program
• Member Communication
• An Easy to Navigate Handbook or Knowledge Center

HiringThing Pro Tip: 57% of association members join to network with others in their field. Give your members what they want by providing multiple ways for members to network with one another. 

Challenge #5: Attracting Younger Members

Associations are struggling to attract millennials, now the largest generation in the US workforce—27% of membership-based organizations have trouble attracting and/or maintaining younger members.

Solution: Embrace Diversity and Inclusion

Millennials value diversity and inclusion in all aspects of their professional lives. Millennials also value organizations that have a purpose. However, The Economic Impact on Associations report found 35% of surveyed associations said that DEI is not considered a priority at their organization. 

Associations that don’t have any DEI efforts or DEI committees should rectify that as soon as possible. Once meaningful changes have been made, communicate them to your members. As stated in Association Headquarter’s blog “Creating an Association Diversity and Inclusion Program,” 

When it’s time to roll out your diversity and inclusion initiative, plan for organization-wide communications that address the issues, the association’s stance on addressing those issues, and training to help reduce biases and increase cultural understanding within the association. This may be conducted with both association employees as well as volunteers and, if possible, membership-wide trainings. This clear communication not only broadly shares your association’s initiative to address diversity and inclusion but ensures that members and volunteers alike understand the association’s expectations for conduct. In addition, trainings and proactive communications about diversity and inclusion will help association leaders, staff, and members interact with others in a more inclusive way.

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Remaining Innovative Will Help Solve Any Association Challenge

The Membership Marketing Benchmark Report found that successful associations were able to rapidly adapt to accommodate their members’ wants and needs. Those who consider themselves highly innovative have seen increases in memberships. Remember to stay creative and open to change.

Related Resources

• Four Innovate Sources of Non-Dues Revenue for Associations
• Five Ways Associations Can Attract Younger Members
• Why Associations Should Offer Member Benefits
• Ten Reasons Associations Can Benefit from a Private Label ATS

About HiringThing

HiringThing is a modern recruiting and employee onboarding platform as a service that creates seamless talent experiences. Our white label solutions and open API enable HR technology and service providers to offer hiring and onboarding to their clients. Approachable and adaptable, the Hiringthing HR platform empowers anyone, anywhere to build their dream team.