Research shows the important role that human connection plays in our health and mental wellbeing.
A phone call to your members is one of the best ways to make them feel supported, heard, and important to your association. A good conversation is a powerful tool and one that many associations have noted as playing a key role in their membership retention rates.
Phone calls with your members give you the opportunity to have 2-way conversations with your members and find out what support they need right now. While digital communication channels such as email marketing and social media are a great way to get important news, updates, and messages out to all your members – they are not ideal channels for your members to communicate with you in return.
Your digital communications need to play a bit of guess work – you must guess and anticipate what information your members want. But with a phone call you don’t have to guess – you can just ask them.
In 2022, we are seeing so much transition occurring throughout the job market in Australia. With so many people transitioning from one job to another, from one career or industry to another, and even from one state to another – it is only natural that the support requirements that employees need from their associations will also shift and transition.
A phone conversation with your members is a powerful tool and offers you the ability to:
- Check in and find out how you can best support your members
- Shift your product and service offering to accommodate the changing needs of your members
- Direct your members to resources and support tools that they might not have known existed previously, because they didn’t need them
While a phone call campaign can have a practical purpose like those listed above, there are also a number of beneficial tangible and intangible outcomes. In the remainder of this article we’ll be discussing the intangible benefits related to the impact that human connection has on mental health and improving the overall wellbeing of your members, as well as the tangible benefits that call campaigns have on increasing membership renewal rates.
The Human Connection:
At Optimum Contact, we believe that a conversation with a real human is one of the most powerful tools that an association can employ to support and engage with their members. But don’t just take our word for it – there is a growing body of research that aligns human connection with happiness, good mental health, and overall wellbeing:
- According to Beyond Blue: “Strong ties with the community provide us with happiness, security, support and a sense of purpose. Being connected to others is important for our mental and physical wellbeing and can be a protective factor against anxiety and depression.”
- The Health Channel mirrors this sentiment, stating that: “There are proven links [between social connections and] lower rates of anxiety and depression, higher self-esteem, greater empathy, and more trusting and cooperative relationships.” They also draw some lines between social connections and stronger immune systems, faster recovery from illness, and even longer lifespans!
- There are also dozens of TED talks from leaders all around the world on the topic of conversations including one by Ronsley Vas who has this to say about the power of conversations: “Conversations are not a simple exchange of information between people, they can be so much more. At times, they can be a process to clarify your own thinking, they can present an opportunity to be educated, and they can be a creative spark that changes your whole life.” He goes on to add “I view conversations as a mutual meeting of minds in search for what life, work and success are about. I believe in the transformational power of conversations.”
We’ve also written previously about the value of engagement and why connecting with your members matters, as well as fostering a sense of community within your association.
All this research points to the huge value that associations can gain from well structured-but-flexible conversations with their members. A phone conversation could be the spark that a member needs to become reinvigorated with their career; the motivation to upskill themselves using your training resources; or the encouragement they needed to purchase a ticket to your annual conference.
Association Industry Research:
Every year, Marketing General Incorporated (MGI) releases a membership marketing benchmarking report. The report tracks thousands of associations, surveying them year-on-year regarding a number of different metrics. Many of the metrics relate to the marketing channels that associations use to attract, retain, and engage with their members.
MGI’s 14th benchmarking report was recently released and here are some of the key findings regarding phone calls, telemarketing, and member engagement:
- Associations reporting an increase in their membership renewals in the past 12 months are more likely to have employed telemarketing services
- Associations with new member renewal rates above 60% are significantly more likely to employ welcome phone calls and host an in-person new-member reception or orientation
- 52% of associations listed a lack of engagement with the organisation as being one of the top reasons that members don’t renew their membership
Interestingly, the benchmarking report also discovered a correlation between associations whose employees are still working at home, and those who have seen a decline in membership acquisitions and renewals. They also found that associations with increases in renewals and acquisitions were more likely to report that all their staff were back in the office.
This indicates that human connection and conversation doesn’t just play an important role in supporting and engaging with your members – it also plays a role in your ability to support and look after the mental health of your own employees.
The Exponential Power of Conversations with Members:
The power of a conversation for associations is exponential. Not only does the research show that it has a positive effect on your bottom line when it comes to membership acquisition and retention – but it also helps to support your members and improve their mental health.
As many industries and workers are still working in remote environments, member wellbeing is an important consideration that associations can’t afford to ignore. With such a huge reliance on digital communication channels like email, messaging apps, and social media, a phone call on behalf of your association could be the only human connection that your member has all day!
Professional Conversationalists:
Optimum Contact are a team of professional conversationalists. The art of conversation is becoming a dying lifeform, replaced with endless talk – but at Optimum Contact, we believe that to converse with someone is to share ideas, banter back and forth, and learn from each other. A good conversationalist needs to be able to both talk and listen – in equal degrees.
We have systems in place that ensure we gather all the invaluable data that derives from our conversations with your members – and all of this ‘gold dust’ is provided to you at the end of your campaign in an actionable report.
Optimum Contact are much more than just a telemarketing service – we take the time to get to know your association, your brand, and your tone. We consider ourselves a part of your team rather than an outsourced telemarketing service. If you would like more information about our full capabilities and how we can help your association connect with your members and have powerful conversations – get in touch today.
