Reconnection with members reverses sharp membership decline
The Client
A national professional association in the creative services industry (white collar)
The Situation
The association had recently undergone a significant restructure, removing their CEO, re-appointing key team member roles and responsibilities and getting “back to business” with the drive and determination of a switched-on industry driven board.
Membership renewal was historically based on the member’s anniversary date, which created additional work for the association. For efficiency, the renewal process had been primarily email driven, with one membership officer making follow up calls… or so they thought.
The Challenge
Faced with declining numbers and a sharp increase in lapsed memberships, Optimum Contact was engaged in early 2016 for a 3-month pilot contact program across three member segments:
- Grow with us: 90 day pre-empt call campaign highlighting benefits, encouraging event involvement and early renewal incentive.
- Keep the faith: outbound contact with members lapsed up to 6 months
- We miss you: outbound contact with members lapsed between 6 months and 2 years.
It quickly became apparent that the association’s in-house membership officer in fact wasn’t making the calls and in addition, had not actioned member requests for assistance leaving them frustrated and disappointed in their association, making the association appear unprofessional and disinterested.
In addition to supporting the end-to-end renewal process, Optimum Contact was asked to step in with short notice to promote the association’s annual gala dinner which was a significantly undersubscribed, and destined to make a loss.
The ROI
Thanks to our swift action, the sharp decline in the association’s membership base was turned around and the gala dinner was able to proceed as a successful and profitable engagement event. We are now embedded as part of the association’s membership engagement team which demonstrates the clear value and return on investment on an ongoing basis. The CEO reports that the membership ‘leak’ has been plugged and the membership base is now growing.
The Results
Optimum Contact put processes in place to help the association re-connect with lost members most importantly, made the member renewal calls as a dedicated resource. All work was undertaken in the client’s CRM, meaning details could be updated “on the spot”.
Following the trial period, Optimum Contact was appointed to manage the membership process including outbound renewal calls, invoicing and payment processing. That appointment has now been extended to secretariat services and management of all inbound calls and enquiries.
With hard savings of tens of thousands of dollars on office space and direct staff costs – Optimum Contact is there for the association when they need us.
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