A deep understanding of member engagement patterns empowers associations to maximize their acquisition and engagement strategies. Today, many associations struggle with questions of how to enrich engagement within target markets; how to best market unique products and services, such as an annual meeting; and which markets to target for new members or customers.
A comprehensive engagement score is the solution to overcoming each of these challenges. It considers several factors to measure how engaged your members are with your organization and in what ways. When done well, an engagement score:
- Quantifies how each individual or company has engaged with the association for a designated period of time.
- Identifies key demographics that are likely to predict future engagement patterns.
- Provides insight into the factors that drive engagement.
- Recognizes outliers in engagement, meaning members that should be engaging at a higher level based on how their peers are engaging.
- Pinpoints target markets for member acquisition or engagement related to a unique product or service.
Building an engagement score
Engagement scoring can be handled in a few ways. Ultimately, it should begin with an in-depth data analysis to evaluate member and customer engagement over a specified time frame, ideally three to five years.
Data should then be segmented by key demographics, such as geographic location, role, age, size of the company, or sector, to understand which elements drive engagement behavior. This data may also be supported by market research to gain a better understanding of drivers and barriers to participation.
The formula required to create the overall score is composed of unique elements determined by member actions. These actions are weighted based on their relevance to future engagement predictions, as well as their contribution to your bottom line, alignment with your mission, and/or other key factors.
Elements in an engagement score might include:
- Breadth — How many ways has an individual or company engaged with your association?
- Depth — How many times have they engaged?
- Loyalty — How frequently do they engage over time?
Using the engagement score
Each of these elements can be altered, broadened or narrowed depending on your membership and benefits. The result is a score that quantifies the engagement level of each member. There is also value in breaking down an engagement score to see which elements of the score members derive their points from. Is it breadth or depth? Learning engagements or volunteer opportunities? The final step in leveraging an engagement score is to break down the resulting scores into quartiles or deciles, depending on the size of your membership, and categorize member and customer types within each segment.
An engagement score is a powerful tool to enhance member engagement and acquisition. A comprehensive understanding of how and why members engage allows associations to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing and communications strategies. Ultimately, associations can deepen their impact, improve member satisfaction and reinforce their bottom line.
Reach out to McKinley Advisors to maximize your membership and engagement strategy by building your own unique engagement score.
