Simplifying the challenge of member administration
January 26, 2023
When we speak to membership organisations, we find that most of their strategic emphasis is placed upon member growth. Achieving this requires a focus on a clear value proposition, marketing and member acquisition. However, it’s equally important to ensure that members receive excellent service throughout the membership year to increase retention and growth from referrals. Consistently delivering this level of service places budgets and team resources under pressure so it’s more important than ever to administer all aspects of membership efficiently.
There are three key milestones in most member journeys that provide a particular challenge to busy organisations:
1. Membership processing
When a potential new member completes a web form, sends an email or makes a phone call to enquire about membership, the reply they receive is perhaps the single most important interaction they will have with the organisation. It provides the first tangible impression of how it operates and whether it will keep its brand promise to value and respect the new member.
Replies of course need to be prompt, but they also need to be personal, expertly crafted and professionally delivered. For busy organisations, it can be challenging to prioritise these interactions alongside the pressures of day-to-day operation.
This is where partnering with a dedicated team can help. Using a partner service to field and administer these tasks is a great option providing they understand and properly convey the brand values of the organisation. They must also have the technical expertise to handle complex questions and to interact directly with the organisation’s CRM.
2. Enquiries and events
If efficient onboarding forms the foundation of a member’s relationship with an organisation, subsequent enquiries and events are crucial in reinforcing it. Each time a member submits a question, the organisation has the opportunity to solve their issue by responding promptly and professionally.
Events are a great example of this where the process of choosing, registering and paying can be made effortless with the right system architecture and support. It is worthwhile thinking of this in terms of the friction that exists within this user journey. Slow replies, payment processing issues and the need to re-enter information can make the member more likely to abandon an enquiry or cancel a purchase. Conversely, there’s an opportunity to stand out and really delight members by doing a great job. Having a well-resourced support team in place is essential.
3. Member Renewal
Many members base their renewal decision on the value they feel they received during the year. Other members simply forget that their renewal date is approaching. In either case, having a well-formed retention strategy delivered via timely reminders, personally delivered prompts and frictionless subscription support can be transformational.
Key elements to success include having a retention process that triggers before the member ends the year and being able to deliver these reminders in whichever manner the member responds to the best. If for example, your CRM tells you that their engagement rate with email is low, a personal phone call might be the approach that reminds them both of the renewal date and of the personal care your organisation takes. Again, this strategy can be a significant drain on resources and so using an administration service might be a decision that quickly pays for itself.
How does ClearConnect help?
Handling these scenarios in the manner detailed above is best practice for membership organisations. The reason that relatively few follow it is that these personal approaches require considerable resources to deliver in-house. And there are of course a thousand other urgent tasks that also need to be delivered concurrently.
One solution is to ask ClearConnect to help. Working as part of your extended team, ClearConnect can support your organisation with these challenges and provide a range of administrative services that includes:
- Administering new member applications and answering any queries
- Sending out welcome emails, letters and new member packs
- Managing the registration process for events, webinars and professional development courses
- Making personal phone calls to new joiners
- Providing additional support services in member engagement, acquisition and administration
Today’s trade unions and professional bodies are able to achieve levels of member service that would previously have been unimaginable without extensive support teams and huge operational budgets. A modern CRM combined with the latest association management systems (AMS) is able to automate so much of the daily workload that it’s easy to slip into a complete reliance on digital communication.
Re-watch the ClearConnect on demand webinar for membership organisations to scale your operations with our membership focused specialists.
