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Rethink Your Member Re-Engagement Strategy Proven Methods to Strengthen Retention

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Are unengaged members putting your retention rate at risk?When asked why members don’t renew, 43% of associations say the top reason is a lack of engagement with the organization, according to the 2020 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. This represents an increasing concern for associations, since that figure was 37% in the previous year’s report.

What’s more, lack of member engagement poses a bigger risk right now, compared to recent years. That’s because the current economic crisis has created additional stress and distraction for members, making it more likely for them to feel disconnected from your organization.

It’s true that some members are self-sufficient when it comes to engagement. They’ll find plenty of value in your association, without any extra encouragement. But what about those members that start slowly drifting away: the unengaged members?

You've put effort into attracting and onboarding members — but when they lose interest, do you have an effective method to reignite those members' enthusiasm?

To engage at-risk members, you need a targeted communication approach. But that might not be possible with your current technology, because it would require an unreasonable time commitment from your staff.

Fortunately, there’s a better way — one that associations are already using to improve their member engagement. With automated email campaigns, associations are experiencing double-digit increases in engagement and retention, and avoiding the burden of time-wasting, inefficient processes.

Let’s discover how that works, and why replacing old-school generic interactions with a targeted engagement strategy can help your association keep members active and connected — and protect membership dues.

WHAT'S INSIDE

How to Use Automated Email Campaigns to Re-Engage Members

Getting Tactical: How to Build an Automated Re-Engagement Campaign

5 Ways to Write Re-Engagement Emails That Grab Members’ Attention

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How to Use Automated Email Campaigns to Re-Engage Members

WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ENGAGEMENT, WHAT WE’RE REALLY EXPLORING IS A PATH TO IMPROVE MEMBERSHIP RETENTION RATES.

You don't want to wait until renewal time to remind unengaged members why your association is so valuable — if you make that mistake, you’ll have a much smaller chance of convincing them to stay.

Unfortunately, most members aren’t going to raise their hand and say, “Hey, just thought you’d like to know I’m feeling unengaged and uncertain about renewing.”

That’s where automated email campaign software can help. It provides your association with a way to first, identify disinterested members throughout the year, and second, communicate with them in a focused, strategic way that continually conveys your association’s value.

After determining which members lack engagement, you need an effective way to remind them that your association provides a place to learn, network, and build their careers. That requires a process to separate and segment the unengaged members in your audience, so you can send them personalized messages.

— And How Other Associations Have Benefited

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With automated email campaigns, you can achieve this efficiently, without placing excessive demands on your staff’s schedule. These re-engagement email campaigns provide targeted methods to reach unengaged members — and they avoid filling the engaged members’ inboxes with unnecessary emails.

When associations switch from a “batch and blast” one-off email strategy to marketing automation, they can see dramatic improvements in engagement. That’s what happened to the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA) when it made the switch to automation. The FAIA built an automated membership marketing strategy with four new automated campaigns — including a re-engagement campaign. The result: The FAIA has seen a 201% increase in email engagement and a 40% online renewal conversion rate.

Another association that automated its marketing process and achieved more strategic member outreach is Professionals Australia. It improved retention by 12.5% when it switched to automated email campaigns. Retention rates improved even more for members under age 35, with a 15% decline in resignations. After automating its campaigns, the association minimized losses and maximized recruitment. It saw a 21% increase in overall membership — making it the strongest recruitment year in the association’s history.

MEASURE MEMBER ENGAGEMENTAfter you decide to create a re-engagement email campaign, how do you figure out which members to include? By measuring member engagement with our lead scoring tool, Higher Logic’s Communications software makes it easy for associations to control who should receive emails. Do you want to connect with members who have an open rate of less than 15% and a click rate of less than 5% in the past 60 dates? You decide which parameters make sense for your organization, and then pull that data into your re-engagement campaign.

LEARN MORE

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GETTING TACTICAL: How to Build an Automated Re-Engagement Campaign

STRUCTURING YOUR CAMPAIGN

With automated campaigns, you can plan in advance to control which members receive emails, and when that happens.

Choose the re-engagement threshold that fits your association best, and that will trigger campaign emails. For example, your threshold could be that an unengaged member equals an email open rate below 5% for the past 30 days, or 45 days, or 60 days.

Although plenty of associations run these campaigns at 60 days, it’s much better to create an earlier threshold at the 30- or 45-day stage. This allows you to influence member behavior and encourage involvement, before disengagement becomes a deeply ingrained habit.

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Here are the basic steps you would take to create a campaign: 1. Select a group of unengaged members.

2. Draft two emails.

3. Decide what action your email recipients have to take to qualify as “re-engaging.” Do you want them to log in to your online member community? Do you simply want them to open the email, to get back in the habit of reading your association’s messages? Or maybe you want them to click on at least one resource. You choose the action, and that will serve as the trigger to either send more emails or remove the member from the campaign. Here’s a basic example of how that campaign would be structured:

• Send the first email | Wait a few days for response

• If the member took the action, remove from campaign

• If the member did not take the action, send the second email | Wait a few days for response

• If the member took the action, remove from campaign

• If the member did not take the action, have a staff member check in

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You might look at that structure and decide there’s a much simpler solution — you can just send the emails to all members! But if you do that, you’ll lose the power of a highly effective communication technique: personalization. Personalized campaigns improve engagement because members receive messages that are relevant to them.

With Higher Logic’s Communications software, you can accomplish this without wasting time on excessive manual work.

TIP: Although you can run a re-engagement campaign for your entire unengaged member segment, you can also focus on a particular communication, such as your newsletter. For example, if certain members haven’t opened the newsletter in the past 45 days, create a special re-engagement campaign just about this newsletter and for these members. In the emails you can say you’ve noticed they haven’t been engaging with the newsletter. Emphasize that you’d like to know why and would love to have their feedback.

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WITHOUT INTEGRATION:

You can run a good re-engagement campaign without an integration to your database. Your marketing automation software will have a wealth of data about how members interact with your email — such as who opened your association’s emails in the last 30 days. If you’re concerned about members who haven’t opened your emails in the last 45 days, for example, you can create a threshold and group those members together group. Then you can create a rule that checks every time someone new is in that group, and add them to a nurture campaign.

WITH INTEGRATION:

You can have a more robust re-engagement strategy by integrating your AMS with your campaign software. For example, if you have an online community, you could use integration to monitor community activity and email activity. As you look at more data, your results get richer. You get a better view of your audience, and you can avoid missing key data, like an online community post. This is useful, because some members may appear disconnected after not reading your association emails for months — but in reality, they could be a highly engaged member who participate frequently in your association’s online discussions.

How to get the data for your campaignAutomated campaigns give you plenty of options to measure interaction and customize email distribution. If you want to supercharge your member engagement strategy, then consider integrating your Association Management System (AMS) with your automated email campaign software.

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5 WAYS TO

Write Re-engagement Emails That Grab Members’ Attention

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SHOW YOUR CONCERN. The emails should mention you’ve noticed the member isn’t engaged — but don’t leave it there. Emphasize your genuine interest in why that member hasn’t interacted much lately. Make it clear that your association values their feedback to help make improvements.

INCLUDE QUICK LINKS TO RESOURCES. Don’t tell the member, “We have some cool stuff that you should check out sometime.” Instead, provide a clear call to action, like a brief blog post for them to read, or a lively discussion thread in your online community. By taking a few baby steps, they’ll make great strides toward more engaged habits.

KEEP IT SHORT. This type of campaign usually has no more than two messages. The idea here is to help shift behavior with a quick check-in — so be brief. Big blocks of text will make eyes glaze over. Show that you respect your audience’s time, by making each message relevant and concise.

FOCUS ON WHAT’S MEANINGFUL FOR MEMBERS. This is the time to highlight your association’s value proposition. What are the top reasons people join in the first place? Emphasize what matters, whether that's opportunities for networking, advocacy, or education. Show members you understand their most pressing issues — and let them know how your offerings can address their priorities.

AVOID GENERIC SUBJECT LINES. At least one-third of email recipients decide to open messages based solely on subject lines, according to some studies. Don’t let dull subject lines hurt your open rates. The best re-engagement subject lines will use words that tap into emotions or appeal to your audience’s sense of curiosity. This could be as simple as the member’s name, with a question mark: “Ryan?" Or it could be a question that’s hard to ignore, like: "Was it something we said?”

When member engagement drops, generic messages won’t solve the problem. To convince members they should interact with your association, emails need to feel personal and highly relevant. With that in mind, here are five suggestions to help create compelling content for your re-engagement email campaign:

TIP: Plenty of organizations use the subject line, “We Miss You.” Here’s why that’s a mistake you should avoid: It’s written from the association’s perspective. The email should focus entirely on your audience, not you. Whatever subject line you choose, make it member-centric.

TIP: Showcase testimonials from your most enthusiastic members, and have them mention specific ways they’ve benefited from being highly engaged with your association. This kind of social proof is a powerful marketing tool. When these passionate advocates share their stories about association involvement, it’s a persuasive message that members can’t ignore.

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LET’S CONNECT

Identify and Reconnect with Unengaged Members to Strengthen RetentionBy tracking engagement on a deeper, more detailed level, your association can set highly targeted goals for retention. Automated email campaigns can help refine your communication strategy by showcasing your value. It’s a powerful way to ensure long-term member engagement and higher renewal rates — and minimize the time you spend managing the process. That’s what associations like Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA) have discovered. After switching from outdated to automated, FAIA saw a 201% increase in email engagement and a 40% online renewal conversion rate.

By highlighting your association’s knowledge, training, and community through personalized emails, an automated campaign can help forge lasting relationships with your audience, and persuade members that your association will remain an essential investment for years to come.

Want to avoid losing out on renewals because of low member engagement levels? We’re happy to show you how Higher Logic’s Communications software can make your marketing campaigns more efficient, help improve member retention, and accelerate your growth.