Like with many other aspects of finding and recruiting new members for your association, business marketers can teach us a lot. Many of the techniques they use translate beautifully into building a membership base for an association. With some AMS software know-how, you can easily collect the data you need to create and deliver tailored, personalized content for your members and prospects. Here’s how it works:
1. Use Your Data to Create a Dynamic Website for Repeat Visitors
Each time a visitor (whether a seasoned member or just someone poking around to find out more about your association) comes to your website, they interact with the pages and content in their own unique way. You can collect data from these visits, and tailor the website design to that visitor in the future. It’s called dynamic website design, and it works wonderfully for the association because it can tailor the content for a particular chapter of your association, or just for the visitors’ preferences. For example, when a member visits the site, the website could present the events in their area (or the ones they would be most likely to have an interest in), resources that are relevant to their interests based on their history, and articles that will be relevant and meaningful to them based on their history, location, or both. Similarly, you can use cookies to target people who have searched for any of your targeted keywords and then reach them with tailored ads across the Internet, including on Facebook and other social media platforms.
2. Use Your Data to Personalize Member Emails
Mail merge, or the ability to begin an email with “Dear Ms. Valentine” instead of just “Dear Member,” is nothing new. But today’s AMS software can collect enough data to tailor a truly personalized email experience for each of your members. For example, instead of just personalizing their name, consider adding their own business logo to the email. Find different ways to make the data work for you to deliver an email experience that’s truly one of a kind for each of your valued members. With geo location data, you can send emails only to those within a specific region when local events are being held.
3. Use Your Data to Tailor Your Event Materials
Tailoring your member experience isn’t just limited to your online communications, either. For example, you probably already print out personalized name tags for each of your event attendees, but what if you delivered an entirely personalized member package when they arrived? Maybe the backs of the name tags could include their printed schedule, based on the particular events or breakout sessions they’ve signed up for. Make their event materials as personalized as possible, and your members will feel more valued by your association.
To learn even more about all the cool—and effective—things you can do with the big data that lives in your AMS, check out the Benefits of Hosting Your Member Data in the Cloud:
A Word to the Wise: Don’t Get It Wrong
As powerful as tailored communications can be in order to increase member engagement and commitment, it can also be a double-edged sword. If you use personalized data to tailor communications, you absolutely can’t get it wrong, or it will be much worse than if you didn’t personalize at all. For instance, calling Mr. Smith a Mrs. or spelling the name of his business wrong—those things do not make your members feel like you know them at all. Be sure your AMS software is always populated with the latest data available and take the time to verify the data’s accuracy before reaching out.
