Are you giving your members ‘added value’?

Everyone loves value for money. Cost will always be a driver, we can’t get away from it. That’s why we need to make sure that we deliver beyond the expectations of members to keep them interested and engaged.

To deliver this, it can take many different forms from events, exposure, new business opportunities and platforms that help them day to day. Whether that's a professional need or a personal one. Being able to offer a service or product that is unique to your organisation as part of membership could be the difference between growth and decline. 

How do you identify opportunities to provide added value?

Talk to your members. It’s one thing having the discussions internally with your team about what ‘you think’ could help but until you qualify these needs and thoughts, you risk investing in the wrong things and turning people away.

Make sure you thoroughly research what your members need. Set up a series of interviews to hear first hand about what you can do to make the difference and where you are potentially missing the mark. Run wider surveys with your membership to see if these thoughts are reflected from multiple people. This gives you the right data to make the decision on what your membership might be missing. 

Have you been losing members to other bodies, what are they doing that you are not? Can you get back in touch and carry out an exit interview to see what led to that decision?

You have additional tools you offer but they aren’t being used… 

When did you last speak to your members directly about what’s on offer as part of their membership? Are your members aware of the tools you provide and the problems they solve? Maybe a communication piece is needed to flag these tools and their impact.

You should also ask a selection of members who are and aren’t using these tools to understand their reasoning for doing so. This will give you insight into how to approach the communication piece or opportunities to fix within the product to get more of your members using it. 

We tried this but it failed, I don’t think it’s for us… 

Are they the right tools? How did they come to be? Were they thoroughly researched with your members to confirm that these tools fixed an on-going issue or need?

Sometimes we deliver things because they are flat out asked for before getting to the core of the issue around why they are being asked for. We need to properly understand the issues before investing time into a solution to make sure it’s fit for purpose. 

We would always urge you to try again but start from a point of researching and working with your members to create the products. 

In conclusion

To truly give your members added value, you need to understand what value looks like. Approach this from research (interviews, surveys, focus groups) and working alongside your members to gain that understanding. Start inviting members in today to share their experiences, listen to what their struggles are to identify potential opportunities where you can produce a stress free solution that helps them be more productive and happy.  

Change your approach from ‘we think’ to ‘we know’ because you have actively worked with and delved into the minds of those you wish to help. 

Need some help adding value to your members? 

Book in a FREE 30 minute session with our UX Director, Jason Hancock.