MGI’s latest report shows soft membership numbers, but also suggests a few paths for improvement.

The latest edition of MGI’s Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report is a good news-bad news affair.

Bad news first.

Membership is in trouble, the report makes clear. In the past year, only 38 percent of associations surveyed said they experienced an increase in members—a post-Covid low, and a “near-historic low” in the 18-year history of the survey. In addition, the report notes that “renewal rates are softening, and the share of associations reporting membership declines is rising steadily.”

The reasons for that are multifold: stressed staff, a difficult economy, increased competition from other associations and corporations for meeting and education dollars, and younger potential members finding engagement elsewhere. It’s never been guaranteed that an association can claim sole ownership of an industry’s community, but the forces that are eroding an association’s authority are stronger than ever.

That said, MGI’s report offers some reasons to be optimistic—though improvement demands that associations be more focused and savvier about their marketing efforts than they might have been in the past.

One bright spot is an uptick in efforts at personalization. More associations say they consider themselves innovative, and that’s demonstrated in the growth in gen Z and Millennial members. As the report puts it: “Targeted engagement strategies for younger members have expanded dramatically in just one year, suggesting that the sector is beginning to respond with urgency to the generational shift reshaping its membership base.”

Moreover, that growth is coming on the heels of a dedicated effort to improve engagement: Substantial proportions of associations are using personal outreach (42 percent), invitations to specific programs (38 percent), and direct asks for feedback (38 percent). Recruitment, according to the report, is now a year-round effort, with a strong focus on “what’s in it for me” messaging. The core value proposition of an association hasn’t changed—networking, education, belonging—but associations are learning to be savvier about communicating it to potential members, as well as those all-important first-year members when they’re asked to renew. (A majority of respondents said their value proposition is “compelling” or “very compelling.”)

How much, and where AI can assist with that work is still an open question. According to MGI’s report, less than a quarter of associations (23 percent) are using it for membership marketing. And most are still using it for low-hanging-fruit tasks like content creation and member communications. Fewer use it for data analysis (53 percent) or predictive analytics (16 percent). 

This feels unfortunate, and a little backwards. Potential and new members are craving human connection, so associations won’t do well by leading with beige AI slop instead of using the analytical efficiencies that AI offers. One of the open-end responses included in the report echoes that idea: “I think that using AI to be efficient is very important, but we must also always maintain our valued personal connections with our members and the community. AI cannot replace the passion and care we have for our community and members and our drive to help them grow and succeed.”

When it comes to member engagement, technology is a tool, but not a repair kit. The kind of engagement that members demand—the clear sense of what an association offers, and why what it offers is better than what anybody else can provide—remains the province of human beings creating real connections. 

The post Keys to Member Engagement appeared first on Associations Now.