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MEMBERSHIP M ARKETING
BENCHMARKING REPORT
LEAD RESEARCHER
Dr. Adina Wasserman Director of Research For more information on MGI or to discuss this report, please contact: Raylene Kershaw, Sr. Vice President/COO raylene@marketinggeneral.com Tony Rossell, Sr. Vice President tony@marketinggeneral.com Erik Schonher, Vice President erik@marketinggeneral.com Richard Whelan, President rick@marketinggeneral.com
MEMBERSHIP M ARKETING
BENCHMARKING REPORT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report marks the third consecutive year that Marketing General Incorporated (MGI) has surveyed associations nationwide to record and analyze the strategies and tactics they use to recruit and engage new members, renew existing members, and reinstate former members. Over 650 associations participated in the 2011 survey and shared their membership practices and their opinions on what works best at each stage of the membership lifecycle. The report includes data on social media used by associations, how prospective members find out about associations, the acquisition marketing channels and offers they use, and how many renewal contacts they send out. Besides cataloging membership practices, this Benchmarking Report also cross-tabulates these practices with actual membership results that associations are experiencing. Are new member counts up or down? Are renewal rates above or below average? Has membership grown in the past year? How about in the past five years?
The comparison of practices and outcomes in membership provides strong directional information on tactics and strategies that might be added or dropped to improve membership programs.
However, our readers should be aware of an important disclaimer. Because an activity or practice has a statistical correlation with a growing or declining membership or with improved renewal rates, we are not claiming that any one behavior in and of itself causes this outcome. There are literally thousands of variables that impact membership results. Nevertheless, if as marketers we see that organizations with certain behaviors are better performers, it makes sense to consider applying those practices to other organizations. The 2011 Benchmarking Report offers dozens of key findings that can provide insights and directional information for membership marketing programs. Here are highlights of the key trends that came out of this years research.
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Finally, the survey results show that membership renewals had a more positive outcome this past year, with 32% of respondents saying that they have had an increase in overall renewal rates.
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We wanted to discover which challenges hurt membership growth the most and which were painful, but tended not to impede growth. Here is what we found: The data indicates that if an organization reported weak product and service offerings, insufficient budget, or a lack of marketing expertise as their biggest challenge, then membership growth was less likely to have occurred.
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*The dues increase questions in the 2011 Benchmarking Research mirror questions from the 2007 Marketing General Incorporated study titled, Membership Dues Increase Study: Best Practices in the Why, How, and Outcomes of Raising Membership Dues. Despite the dramatic economic events of recent years, the frequency and amount of dues increases vary only slightly from the findings of our 2007 report.
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REPORT BACKGROUND
The 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report is the third annual study of association membership conducted by Marketing General Incorporated, and it serves as a bellwether for the association industrys fiscal fitness. The report reveals that a key indicator of the economic health of the association industry, membership growth, shows strong signs of a rebound in 2011 from the severe effects of the multi year recession. Of the 650 association executives that responded to the 2011 survey, 57% reported new member acquisition increased from the year before and showed significant improvement from two years ago as well. The Benchmarking Report also found that the major indicators of membership health total membership, new members acquired, and membership renewalsall showed substantial improvement from the 2010 findings. In fact, just under half of the respondents 49% said they recorded an increase in members over the previous 12 months, the highest percentage since the inception of the Benchmarking Report in 2009. This Benchmarking Report also examines the strategies and tactics associations use to recruit, engage, renew, and reinstate members. It then cross-tabulates them with membership results for a comparison of practices and outcomes, which might help others to improve their programs. Again, we remind readers that, while a tactic or strategy may have a statistical correlation with growing or declining membership, no one behavior in and of itself results in a particular outcome. Literally thousands of variables can impact membership results. Nevertheless, as marketers, if we see organization practices that are having greater success than others, we should explore them to discover what may be useful to us. We hope that you find the full report of value for your organization. If you have questions or would like assistance with your membership marketing, the Marketing General team is pleased to help. Our website is www.MarketingGeneral.com. Please find our individual contact information on the cover of this report.
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