Membership retention is like a window into your nonprofit’s health – your association’s gauge of overall organizational performance. If retention is high, morale and productivity are, too. If it’s low, concerns abound.
What is your nonprofit’s retention rate? What would you like it to be?
According to , a common retention target is 75 percent. But a recent from Advanced Solutions International (ASI) suggests that average retention rates may be slipping: In 2016, 73 percent of survey respondents said retention was higher than 75 percent, compared to only 65 percent in 2017. Certainly, this evidence poses a concern for association leaders who understand that losing members is one of their greatest organizational challenges.
“Perhaps the biggest key to member (and donor) retention is personalizing your outreach,” , President and CEO of Z2 Systems Inc. and contributor to NTen. Gordy explains that while most of your members share a commitment to your organization’s common cause and are likely motivated by similar incentives, it’s important to remember that everyone brings unique preferences, interests, and challenges to the table.
“They all want to hear from your organization through different communication channels, and they all want to engage with your organization in different ways,” Gordy continues. “The more you can cater your outreach to each individual donor based on their habits and preferences, the more relevant, and thus, compelling your outreach will be.”
Engaging members with CRM software
Focusing on member engagement may be the path toward increased customer loyalty, and thus retention. One practical tool to grow loyalty within your existing member base is to ensure you have in place.
Here’s how using a customer relationship management (CRM) system helps to better engage your members.
1. Maintain accurate data. A CRM provides up-to-date member information such as donor status, event attendance, and preferred channels of communication. Furthermore, by using a member management system powered by business intelligence, you can generate real-time member data dashboards. These reports include data on donor trends, event registrations, email, and social media interactions, for example.
2. Communicate smartly. Process new memberships, renewals, product and service orders, and membership communications promptly and accurately. An effective CRM reveals the best timing and mediums for communicating your member messages, such as phone, direct mail, email, or social media.
3. Personalize interactions. A CRM can help you track member interactions and develop custom messages for individuals based on their prior engagement with your products and services. A member management system also allows you to create segmented audiences based on personas, with personalized pushes for each.
BroadPoint Engage: The best of both worlds
“BroadPoint Engage is a Saas-based solution built and run 100 percent in the Cloud. We take world-class software and domain expertise to build Engage – providing integrated functionality within the CRM to make it work uniquely for the nonprofit space,” says Tom Condon, VP of Enterprise Solutions at BroadPoint.
Engage fulfills the above benefits and more by creating unique member experiences using intelligent analytics, on-demand data, and contextualized member campaigns. Learn how take your association to the next level with this powerful member management CRM. today to get started.
By BroadPoint, .
Zoho CRM is a very flexible and interesting option for people looking for an affordable and powerful tool