3 Membership Benefit Ideas to Re-Engage your Members

It’s every association’s worst nightmare: a disengaged member.

‍Yes, even though it’s something no one likes to talk about, your members can run the risk of becoming disengaged. And with disengagement comes the dreaded thought that members might not renew when the time comes.

It’s up to your association to bring your members’ attention back into focus. You need to find a way to make them as excited about being a member as they were the first time they joined. While it sounds like a great idea, it can seem like a lot of work to do. You might not know where to start or what to do to attract your members. So, have you ever thought about revamping your association’s benefits?

‍Yes, your members joined your association because they loved the benefits you offer. And while these benefits were new and exciting in the beginning, they may have lost their luster over time. Getting into a routine can bore members and even drive them away.

If you think it’s time to re-engage your members, it might also be time to introduce new benefit ideas to your association.

‍Here are some membership benefit ideas to consider in your plan to win your members back.

1. Keep the content coming.

Although this seems obvious, as an association you can never have enough useful content.

According to Hubspot, we’ve seen a huge increase in the way people engage with content over the past few year.  79% of all internet users surveyed claim to search for relevant content in their search engine. This number skyrockets over the 22% surveyed only 2 years ago.

From that alone, it’s safe to say content is king. But, if your association does not stay on top of its content, it could risk losing the attention of those seeking it out.

‍Almost every association produces content, but it’s the frequency of content that matters. If your association is only producing one piece of content per month, it only has one chance to engage members for that month.

Increase your chances by producing a frequent stream of content. If you typically stick to one form of content like newsletters and emails, try branching out to new forms of content. You can create blog posts,  webinars, free guides, and ebooks. There are plenty of valuable forms of content out there.

‍While creating more content is good, you want to also make sure your content is engaging. Content that can’t be engaged with will not be useful to your members. One way to ensure member engagement is to create interactive content. According to Associations Now, 63% of all businesses surveyed had over 1,000 employees who rely on interactive content marketing. That number alone is convincing enough to try interactive content for your association.

Create a quiz or interactive video for members. Make it a monthly series that they can look forward to. Or, you can ask what they’d like to see in your next blog post or video. Involve them in the content creation process. Any type of content you can produce is a chance to increase member engagement for your association.

2. Ramp up your discounts.

Who doesn’t love a discount? They’re an exciting way to get member’s attention.

‍However, if your association sticks to the same discounts each year, they can lose their attractiveness. You need to keep providing members with deals they can’t pass up on.

According to Convince and Convert, 93% of shoppers use a discount code throughout the year. That’s almost all of consumers. If your association isn’t offering a discount code on its events or offers, it could be missing out on a prime engagement opportunity. If your association does offer a discount code, you should think about switching the deals up. For example, if you typically offer a discounted event to members each year, you could benefit from offering a discount code on other products. Or, you could offer a discount code around a specific time of year. Think about a date that is significant to your association (your association’s birthday is an example). You can create a discount that centers around that date. This gives members a chance to save while also incorporating your association into the deal.

‍Another great way to engage members through discounts is to offer special discounts for birthdays or anniversaries with your association. Do you have members who have been with your association for 10 years? What about 20? Those members have been dedicated to your mission and its beliefs. Congratulate them with an exclusive offer for their loyalty over the years.

‍Discounts are an engagement strategy that both grab attention and create value for your members. Surprise them with a discount to pull them back towards your association.

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3. Create new career development opportunities.

Career development in an association is something that is highly sought after by its members. However, If you don’t create a constant stream of opportunities to advance your member’s careers, you could lose their interest.

Your association needs to create opportunities for continual growth and development in your member’s careers. If your members run out of ways to enhance their professional life, they might tune your association out altogether.

A great career development tool to offer members is a resume service. This service does not have to be a complete overhaul of your member’s resume. You can create a resume reading workshop or a course on how to enhance a resume. There are many ways to offer a resume service that won’t take up all of your association’s time.

Another valuable career service is a job board software (did you know here at Web Scribble we have our own?). A job board allows your members to actively seek for jobs right on your association’s website. It’s a convenient way to get members to engage more with your site and its offers. It’s also a great benefit to offer new members. Depending on the job board you choose, you can customize your job board to fit your association’s brand. You can also incorporate social media and mobile options for the ultimate job board experience.

‍Provide members a multitude of ways to enhance their career experience and you’ll be sure to re-engage them with what your association can offer them. Your association can avoid the risk of a disengaged member by changing up the way it offers benefits in a membership.

‍Incorporate these membership benefit ideas into your membership plan and see how members respond. You may never have to worry about a disengaged member again.

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