During this roundtable, Novi Customers discussed successful methods for growing membership and how to manage prospects.
Of the customers participating in the poll during our roundtable:
59% saw their membership increase in the last year, 27% stayed the same
45% said their membership is higher than 2019, 41% said it was about the same
41% do not hold an annual membership drive, 36% do, 23% were considering it
Best Practices: Women in Manufacturing
Membership growth from March to November 2021:
Corporate Membership grew from 149 to 203
Individual Membership grew from 6400 to 9600
They provide member value by showcasing several member resources:
DE&I initiatives
Virtual Learning library
Personal & professional growth for individuals
Novi Tip! - You can have a private video learning library on Novi by embedding video webinars as a members-only resource
Educational Conferences & Networking Events (Live & Virtual)
Benchmarking & Research
Recruitment & Retention Resources
Diverse candidates for companies
They do extensive membership tracking:
Ask in a Novi custom field how they were referred to the organization
LinkedIn and Referrals are the top 2 recruiting methods
Use promo codes not to discount, but to track where members are joining from
Require registration for events to track engagement from companies
They encourage growth through chapters:
Give the chapters a target to hit for memberships (both corporate and individual)
Chapter gets a % back when they hit the target number
Invite ALL members to chapter events to network!
Give their chapters a toolkit and their own page on the main site
They hold annual membership drives:
13 months for the price of 12 - sent to all their expired members and their prospects: 46% return
Offer gift cards for new members (can be a $5 Starbucks card!)
Managing the Prospect Life Cycle
Use the "Prospect" Status to Create a Group in Novi
Can sync to Mail Chimp or Constant Contact
Can use the list in an email merge
Create a Custom Field to Track More Information
A set of options field for hot, warm, or cold
Creative tip from SAAA and MBCEA!: Use a custom field to provide reasons why a member was dropped, including options like can't get ahold of a contact, out of business, or other.
Add Notes to Prospect Records Using the Activity Timeline
Personalized notes keep staff members on the same page (SPA)
Will see notes on company record for individuals (or other companies) in the family tree
Put Membership Committees to Work
Segment out lapsed members and have someone from the membership committee reach out to them personally (ARLIS /NA)
Novi Tip! - Create a group of recently lapsed members and place them in a private directory, for only your board or membership committee to see
Creative tip from Multifamily NW!: Incentivize supplier or vendor members to be on a membership committee by including their contact information in a New Member Welcome Pack. Send them in person to encourage networking.
Set your membership committee into teams and gamify your recruiting (AAA)
Take a Look at Your Membership Engagement Report
Filter down to expired members and see which ones are engaged
You can get some members back if it's just a matter of updating contact information
Communicate with Members Before Renewal
Reach out to primary contacts from corporate members to have a conversation about what their membership can bring them for the next year (WIM)
Keep it short and sweet! (WIM)
Thanks to our moderator Kara Mayner, Membership Coordinator, Women in Manufacturing, for sharing her best practices and helping to keep the conversation moving!