4 ways to avoid appearing tone deaf or insensitive to your members

It can be hard to know what to say to your members in the current climate. If your organisation has changed the way it works, it’s important to keep members informed. Two-way communication through listening to their concerns and needs, help to avoid appearing tone deaf.

Here’s what you can do:

Research and seek feedback

Maybe you’re unsure what your members (or potential members) want at this time. Why not ask them?

Whether their needs have changed or remained the same, it’s important to find out and conducting research is the best way to be sure.

Research can provide you with in-depth insights into what your ideal members want and need, as well as the most effective ways to communicate with them. You can gain market insight to find out how the membership landscape has changed and test your proposition.

Create new communications copy to reflect the times

New copy to reflect the times – does your content accurately and clearly reflect all the benefits your membership organisation has to offer? Your members may only be accessing the benefits they can find on your website because they aren’t aware of all of them. If this is the case, their perceived value of the membership will be lower. Without making the services they can access clear, they may not think they’re getting their money’s worth.

Personalise the experience

Create a comprehensive welcome process, including personalised messaging, to ensure your members feel they are being engaged with and not forgotten about from the beginning. 

Provide a way for both new and current members to be able to contact a real person in your organisation with any concerns or questions they have about the membership. For example, this could be instant messaging or a dedicated mailbox.

Become more mission driven

Be sure to focus on your mission by bringing the purpose of your organisation back into your offer.

Think about what your membership organisation does for the community that makes a real difference and implement it into the organisation’s communications. Focus on the good the organisation does in the community to create a stronger sense of belonging.

 

If you think your membership organisation could benefit from our expertise in membership research, membership recruitment and retention training and proposition development, please contact us at hello@membership-matters.co.uk or call 0345 955 5155.