In a recent poll by Membership Matters, two-thirds of membership professionals stated that their main membership goal for 2023 is to improve member experience.
Member experience is how a member interacts with and experiences the membership offer including benefits, services and systems. It takes into account perceived ease of use and value, and how members feel during interactions.
Member experience is typically designed and improved through the journey mapping process. Journey mapping is the best-practice methodology for evaluating your organisation’s current membership strategy and improving overall member experience.
What is journey mapping?
Simply put, journey mapping is the process of stepping into your members’ shoes and walking through the stages of membership.
Along the way, each element of the member journey is explored to reveal areas of high satisfaction, and frustration. By identifying and addressing shortcomings, the goal is to improve the overall member experience, and overcome barriers to engagement.
It’s important to remember that not all members want the same thing, and that a ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ rarely works for membership organisations. This is where segmentation comes in:
“Through research we have found that typically, membership associations will have 4 to 6 different segments amongst their members. One segment will be made up of members with broadly similar behaviours such as altruistic views, goals, beliefs and/or frustrations. Researching and understanding segments first and including those when journey mapping is key when striving to achieve a long-term relationship.” says Maria Fager, Head of Projects and Research.
How can journey mapping improve member experience?
Once you know who your members are, journey maps help you take that first step towards delivering a great experience.
Across the key stages (awareness, joining, onboarding, engaging, evaluating, and hopefully renewal), we study the member touchpoints and channels. Among the most common are – your organisation’s website, landing pages, resources, member portals, events, networking, social media, and phone support. To make sure interactions run smoothly, we map and optimise each touchpoint along the journey to improve experience.
For each of these stages, we evaluate member sentiments and emotions using data from member surveys, feedback, and website analytics to provide additional insights on your map. For example, you may find that prospects are not joining after attending highly-rated events. Exploring the hindrances to joining post-event gives you the opportunity to address any issues and improve member experience, resulting in increased recruitment and retention.
All of this comes together to form a visual member journey map that provides a complete picture of the member’s frustrations and wins. Once we know the member experience inside-out, we can produce a clear, actionable plan that addresses each hindrance to joining or renewing. Journey mapping is the key to getting in your members’ heads and improving the overall membership experience.
See what the membership sector’s leading research consultancy can do for you.
For more information and special offers on membership research please call us on 0345 955 5155 or drop us an email.
