Blog: Tips & Insights

By Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President

The MGI Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report highlights year after year the importance of a defined engagement program supporting a more favorable outcome in member retention. The data statistically shows this positive outcome but does not explain why putting an engagement program in place is so effective. Understanding why it works offers the opportunity to develop an even more effective effort.

First, let’s look at the problem. It might be surprising, but once the heavy lifting of getting a prospect to join your association is accomplished, they immediately become the most likely candidate to discontinue membership. The statistics from one…

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By Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President

We often hear the question, “Why does it take so many contacts to convince an individual or company to join our association?” The pat answer from marketers is that it takes seven contacts to turn a prospect into a buyer.  

However, as opposed to just doing more, establishing an understanding of the decision process involved in joining an association allows for a more nuanced strategy to be put in place.

One explanation offered by psychologists on the stages that a person goes through in making a decision is a theory called the Transtheoretical Model (TTM). The model says there are five stages to behavior change: Precontemplation, Contemplation, Planning,…

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By Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President

For many years, social scientists have used Reasoned Action Theory (RAT) to evaluate a person's intention to take an action. Daniel O’Keefe, a preeminent scholar in the field, says of RAT, “It is unquestionably the most influential general framework for understanding the determinants of voluntary action.”

A simplistic overview of the theory lays out four drivers that determine an intention leading to a behavior. The first is Attitude with the components of belief (it is a good thing) and evaluation (there is motivation to act). The second is Injunction which is the influence of others (colleagues, friends, or professors). Next is Determinantswhich is…

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After facing several years of unprecedented global events, associations have begun to emerge from the heavy toll of the pandemic.  Associations are back to focusing on membership growth. We are now gathering  responses for the  2023 edition of the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. However, let’s look back at some of the top findings from our 2022 results to see the tactics that other associations used to achieve their recruitment goals. Here’s what we found:

1. Adding New Members is a Top Driver of Total Membership Growth

In 2022, we found that 43% of all associations reported new member growth (up from 29% in 2021). Associations reporting increases in their one-year and five-year…

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By Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President

In my book, Membership Recruitment, I share an eye-opening experience with a client. For several years, this association had been doing a sizeable annual mailing to recruit new members. The mailing went to a portfolio of outside lists totaling over 100,000 records. Results were below expectations, so they asked for assistance to improve returns.

The obvious place to start may have been looking at the creative or the offer for the mailing. Instead, we ran an analysis matching the new members that had come in compared to the lists mailed. That is where the eye-opening experience happened. Fully one-third of the lists used year after year produced zero…

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