If you’re like most association professionals, engaging your members is a top concern. It’s especially challenging as so much of our world has moved to virtual communications.
But there’s good news. An association industry study by Community Brands shows that member engagement and loyalty are still strong. And, members continue to look to their associations for trusted industry information. The study also suggests that virtual engagement is here to stay, and associations would do well to focus on effective ways to engage members online.
With the research findings in mind, ask yourself these questions:
- Are you engaging members in new and exciting ways that grab and hold their attention?
- Are you creating the type of personalized member experiences they’ve become accustomed to as consumers?
- Do you have the right technology in place to drive continued member engagement?
Engaging members online in 2021
Let’s take a look at three ways to improve member engagement and the tools that can support you:
Engagement scoring – Engagement scoring is a great way to measure member engagement at a given point in time as well as over longer intervals, and then take action based on the insights those measurements give you. There are tools available to help you automate the engagement scoring process.
For example, Composite Engagement Scoring (CES) capabilities in Aptify association management software (AMS) allow you to score members based on attributes – such as membership level, number of events attended, or number of education credits earned – and then schedule automations and actions based on the scores.
The way this works in the product is that you assign weights to specific activities, such as a certain number of points based on how many events each member attended. Then, set up a targeted, automated email to only those members who attended the number of events you’re targeting.
So, say your organization offers multiple webinars on a variety of topics. You could set up an automated action to send an email to members who have attended a certain number of webinars that asks them to do something, such as make a donation or join a committee.
This functionality is flexible, allowing you to set up any number of automated actions based on criteria you determine. It also makes it easier for your staff to provide members with a highly personalized experience.
Providing a convenient online experience – Members have come to expect a convenient, modern online experience. They want easy access to information from their mobile devices. That goes for their online experience with your association as well.
Aptify AMS includes a technology platform and set of business features that make it easy to present a modern, easy-to-use online experience in which members can do things, including:
- Shop and pay for your association’s products
- Manage their membership profile with your organization
- Participate in discussion forums
Meeting virtually – Many of us have moved to virtual meetings for personal and professional interactions. To keep up with this new paradigm, it’s critically important for your association to interact with your members through online meetings and events – and do so in an efficient way.
Recognizing this need, Aptify AMS created an integration with Zoom that allows data to flow between the two systems. Here are some examples of what this integration can do:
- When an event, such as a webinar, is created in Aptify AMS, a webinar event is automatically created in Zoom.
- When a registration completed in Aptify, the registration is automatically entered in Zoom.
- When a webinar ends in Zoom, attend/no-show information is automatically moved into Aptify.
Learn more
These are just a few of the many ways Aptify can help your association improve member engagement in 2021 and beyond. Discover more trends, tips, and tools for member engagement. Watch the on-demand webinar, All Things Aptify: Engagement Tips for Associations in 2021
