Survey Shows Associations Most Afraid of Losing New Members

Think it’s tough getting up-and-coming members of your industry to join your organization? How about convincing them to stay? About two thirds of early respondents to our unscientific reader poll indicated that they’re most concerned about losing their newest members — those who have belonged to their organization for three years or less. Very few respondents are concerned about losing members who have belonged for four  to 10 years. However, one in three respondents are concerned about losing longstanding members, i.e., those who have belonged for 11 years or more.

It’s probably no surprise that the 700-plus readers who responded to our annual association communication benchmarking survey said longstanding members seemed more than three times as likely as new members to be “highly engaged” with their member communication vehicles.

So what’s the best way to get the next-generation member engaged with your association?

A senior manager at a national health care society told us that while it’s important to engage the younger generation through new technology mediums, “it is just as important to teach your older members how to utilize those technologies so that both can get the benefit.”

A marketing executive from a small, regional association told us that personal communication is still important to her younger members. “While online resources are important,” she said, “The information gathered from phone calls or speaking one-on-one at events can go a long way toward creating a relationship in which the individual will think to call upon/stay connected with the association in the future.”

Many of our recent polls are still open. Visit today and tell us where you stand.