Effective Strategies to Improve Engagement, Satisfaction and RetentionJune 13, 20164:00-5:00 pm

Heather McNair, VP of Engagement StrategyHigher LogicErik Schonher, VP of Account Development, Research and Media

Marketing General Inc.

Henry Ford, 1909

"Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black."

Why are customers more satisfied than members?

MCI Global Engagement Index 2016

Today’s Objectives

• Review what engagement is• Look at it’s role in an association• Discuss the flaws in today’s approach• Talk about tactics and strategies to enhance engagement with

the ultimate goal of driving retention

What does a member WANT?

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(Nov. 2015 Harvard Business Review)

• Stand out from the crowd- Project a unique social identity

• Feel a sense of belonging- Feel like part of the group

• Be the person I want to be -Fulfill a desire for ongoing self-improvement

• Succeed in life-Find worth that goes beyond financial or socio-economic measures

2016 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

2016 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

#1 Challenge…Difficulty in Communicating Value

80% of our life is emotion, and only 20% is intellect. I am much more interested in how you feel than how you think. I can change how you think, but how you feel is something deeper and stronger, and it's something that's inside you.

- Dr. Frank LuntzEmotion, 80%

Intellect, 20%

Effective marketing communication is moving away from “mass marketing” tactics and

moving towards more intimacy.

The Key is Engagement

Engagement = Relationship + Action

“I want to tell AANAC how impressed I am with the LTC Network Digest on AANAConnect. I am learning something new every day. And, when I have questions of my own the answers are always helpful and prompt. I once posted a question and received a response in 7 minutes - you just can't get that kind of attention anywhere else.”

Jan Davis, RN, CRNAC

MemberEngagement

Strategy

1. Goals2. Personas3. Problems4. Value5. Delivery6. Funnel7. Measurement8. Communication9. Consistency10.Staffing

Features of the “Typical” Member Engagement Toolbox

• Governance• Annual Convention• Discipline-specific

divisions• Leadership

Conferences• Magazines &

Journals

• Webinars• Other Digital Content• Email• Member Directory• Online Advocacy• Government

relations• Grants & Prizes

Engagement BenchmarkingThe EBS is calculated based on an algorithm made up of over 100 engagement success metrics focusing on:

• Activity – number of discussion posts• Reach – percentage of members subscribed• Value – number of responses per thread• Distribution – number of authors

Members who are active within Collaborate are 30% more likely to recommend ASAE.Photo? NPSNo Photo 19.2

Photo Only 36.9

Photo and Bio 41.0

Login Total NPS0 17.11-2 26.13-4 36.75+ 41.2

Members who are active within Collaborate spend substantially more each year.

Amount Non-Collaborate Collaborate

≤ $600 45.5% 12.9%

$600-$1600 18.5% 15.2%

$1600-$3000 13.9% 15.2%

> $3000 22.1% 56.7%

ASAE Net Promoter & Renewal Correlation

• 30% more likely to renew

• 23% more likely to recommend ASAE to their peers

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What makes for a successful community?

Member NeedsBusiness Objectives

Successful communities:Have a defined goal that provides value

How can a community help a member get what they joined your organization for more easily, more effectively and/or more enjoyably?

• Research: talk to your users!• Find trends about hopes, unmet needs, frustrations• Build your personas and user stories• Build your community around these

Successful communities: Incorporate member feedback

The Community ROUNDTABLE: State of Community Management Report 2016

Lots of participation = Lots of Value

Successful communities:Drive engagement, not participation

Lead

Own

Contribute

Follow

Observe/Lurk

ACTIONS

How to drive engagement

WAYS OF INCREASING ENGAGEMENT/PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COMMUNITY

Total(n = 435)

Individual(n = 218)

Trade(n = 101)

Combination (n = 100)

Content creation 64% 61% 71% 66%

Word-of-mouth 53% 52% 50% 55%

Online community leaders 37% 45% 26% 32%

Other (please specify) 20% 19% 16% 25%

Differences in motivators

Extrinsic motivators• Physical compensation• Swag• Gift cards• Allowance

Intrinsic motivators• Give people a sense of

belonging• Make them feel smart• Give them

autonomy/ownership• Make them feel valued

Successful communities:Conduct personalized, relevant outreach• Examples:

– Welcoming new members– Re-engaging “fallen angels”– Encouraging users to complete profiles, make their first post– Reaching out if someone logs in but doesn’t accept code of

conduct– Congratulating members on achievements

• Can (and used to) be done manually• Automation rules can now automatically trigger a prescribed

action based on another action (or inaction)• Your “virtual community assistant”

Personalized, “non-designed” approach

ASAE Results: Automation Rules

• Rule: Welcome New Members • Logic: Send an email to every member

who joined in the last 7 days asking them to login to the community, update their profile, connect to a friend or colleague, and post to a thread.

• Started: October 12, 2015

Professional Photographers of America

• Between October 12 and November 11 (30 days):• 474 New Members Received the email• 345 Logged In (73%!!!)• 92 Added a Profile Picture (19%)• 60 Added a Bio (13%)• 36 Connected with a Friend (8%)• 55 Posted at least 1 Message (12%)• As a group they’ve made 148 posts

(3% of all posts in that 30 days)

PPA’s Results

• Rule: We Miss You A• Logic: Send an email to every person

who has written more than 4 discussion post(s) (new thread or group reply), and has not posted a new thread or group reply to a discussion in 90 day(s),

• Started: August 14, 2015

American Association for Respiratory Care

• Between August 14 and November 27 (105 days):• 1284 People Received the Email• 337 Posted a Message (26%)• 11 Posted That Same Day (1%)• 73 Posted Within A Week (6%)• 191 Posted Within A Month (15%)• 33 Posted More Than 5 Messages Since (3%)• As a group they’ve made 914 posts since

(25% of all posts in that 105 days)

AARC’s Results

Successful communities: Onboard new members• New members joined for a reason – strike while the

iron is hot!• 22% correlation between profile completion and increased

engagement• 7% of subscribers are contributors• If someone posts once, there is a 60% chance they’ll post

again• 48% of thread creators will create more than one thread

Should be part of larger onboarding process

1. A welcome email2. A new member packet3. An email containing a one-question survey asking which

benefit/resource he/she is most interested in (sent one month after joining)

4. An email containing a survey asking which benefits and services he/she found most useful so far (sent three months after joining)

5. An email encouraging he/she to get involved by writing a blog post, presenting or volunteering

Sample onboarding process

ASAE results after 6 Months

Successful communities: Use an “open forum” approach at launch

• Open Forum = one all-member (or all user) general community • Organizations that employed an open forum or similar strategy

score higher on our engagement study• We found there was a negative correlation between the

engagement score and number of discussion groups for communities that did not follow this strategy

• Committee groups, work groups and event-specific communities are OK

• Geographically-based groups are typically NOT successful are not recommended. The value for international members is in connecting with members outside of their region.

Successful communities: Remove barriers to participation

• Prepopulate communities• Auto-subscribe members• Prepopulate profiles• Enable single sign-on and “Remember me” cookies• Provide means to participate via email and mobile

Successful communities:Track meaningful key performance indicators• KPIs are not “one size fits all”• Start with the behaviors that you want to encourage• And the goals you want to reach• Use them as a starting point for finding the right metrics

Successful communities: Reap the rewards

Contact UsErik SchonherVice PresidentMarketing General IncorporatedErik@MarketingGeneral.com(703) 706-0358

Heather McNairVice President of Engagement StrategyHigher Logicheather@higherlogic.com(202) 350-3502