Measuring Your Membership Marketing

How effective is your association’s membership marketing? When you send a new brochure or complete a peer recruitment campaign, do you know what works? Too often our only approach is to send more paper, mail another brochure, broadcast a fax, load up another bulk email. As we are all being asked to do more with less today, it is critical to do what counts...and that means we have to count what we do. That is, we have the measure the impact of our efforts.

Too many associations dismiss measuring and tracking because they believe their computer systems are not up to the task. Tracking can be automated, it’s true, but it can also be done manually with a little planning and attention. If you are working leaner, then it’s even more important for you to concentrate your efforts on what works with your members and prospects. Otherwise you can spend a lot of time and resources on promotions that are ineffective. You have to work smarter, and that means knowing what motivates your members.

There is, unfortunately, no magic number to tell you when your marketing is effective. The direct mail industry’s old standard of a one to two percent response is meaningless for associations. Think of it like golf on a course with no par -- without an external benchmark, your only measure of success is to record your score and constantly try to improve on it. In marketing, the only way to know what works for your association is to measure. Your have to systematically track responses to your promotional efforts and keep detailed records. Results will tell you what works and what doesn’t.

Tracking responses is not particularly difficult, but it does require planning. In developing a schedule for each membership promotion, identify all the ways you will distribute your response device (in this case, of course, your response device is your membership application). It’s easy to plan the number of times your will drop a direct mail piece, but don’t overlook distribution at meetings or seminars, enclosure in membership recruitment kits and other such distribution mechanisms. Don’t forget your website and email promotions.
After you’ve developed your promotional schedule, create a simple grid to use as a reporting form. Record the date each promotion was mailed, a description of the package that was sent, the audience (including the actual number of pieces mailed) and the response code. Each registration or order form must be coded in some way to indicate which promotion it accompanied or how it was distributed. Assign these codes as part of developing your marketing plan, and your printer can easily add the codes when your forms are printed.

As responses come in, tally the number received with each code. Computerized order entry or registration systems allow such codes to be entered directly into the record. If yours does not, just copy the forms, sort into separate folders and add them up at the end of the project. Be sure to stamp each form with the date received so you can track response time as well. Another manual approach is simply a daily count (simple tic marks will do it) by code noted on a calendar. If you accept applications by telephone, be sure to train those staff to ask for the response code.
You can now use those totals to compute promotional cost per response (cost of each promotion divided by the number of responses) and compare response rates among your various promotions. Remember that timing can play as big a role in response as your copy and design. By charting all responses on a time line, you can get a picture of how long it takes your prospects to react.

Evaluate carefully both your successes and your failures. Which pieces seem to draw the best response? What makes them different? Which pieces had disappointing results? Look for common themes or messages that motivate your members so you can build and improve on these in future promotions.

If you have money for split run testing, you can directly compare the effectiveness of two messages or designs. For example, send half your prospects a recruitment brochure that highlights the educational benefit on the cover and the other half a brochure that features the networking advantage, and see which one pulls more responses. For a fair test, you have to divide your list impartially, e.g., every other name if your list if zip code-ordered, so your results aren’t skewed by geography. Just remember to test for only one variable at a time.

Finally, keep your results readily available. I like an old-fashioned three-ring binder with marketing plans, promotional schedules and report forms for both current and past years. Be patient. It takes a couple of years to identify your members’ response patterns. As you develop this history, however, you can analyze the trends for various products giving you a strong foundation on which to build your annual marketing plans. The effort pays off in more efficient and effective marketing...and better communications with your members.