One of the biggest factors in an association’s success lies in its member relationships. A great way to better understand the member journey, from first awareness all the way through continued retention is by mapping it out. Take time to consider what’s working and what isn’t. Where are your communication points, and where are some areas members might be accidentally left behind?
Once plotted, consider ways to fill those voids, making your overall messaging stronger. Video is the perfect tool to help, offering a more dynamic and personal way to inform and communicate with prospects and members. We’re going to take a look at what a membership journey looks like from start to finish, and how you can incorporate video in every phase.
WHAT IS A MEMBER JOURNEY?
A member journey outlines the full lifecycle of a member’s experience with an organization—from initial awareness all the way through ongoing engagement, renewal, or eventual cancellation. A member journey map visually represents this process, highlighting each step a member takes as they interact with the organization.
Members interact with your association in five phases:
Awareness: The first way people encounter your association, usually through social media, ads, search engines, word of mouth, events, and community involvement.
Interest: After gaining initial awareness, future members want to learn more about your association. This often involves a deeper dive into blogs, media coverage, and testimonials, offering a great look into your association’s credibility and firsthand experience of current members.
Join: Once they’ve learned more and want to become more involved, prospects take the next step by becoming a member of your association.
Engagement: Members more actively participate in and promote your association by volunteering, attending events, reading newsletters, and interacting on social media.
Retention: Members remain invested and committed by creating and sharing testimonials, spreading positive word of mouth, and engaging with your association online, while continuing to be a part of the community.
IMPROVE YOUR MEMBER JOURNEY WITH VIDEO
After mapping out your own member journey map, take a walk through the process yourself to better understand the needs of members. Where are some areas you’re losing interest or retention? What are some better ways to support and thank your members for their continued support in your organization? Once you have a few ideas, think about how videos can help fill those voids.
Awareness Phase
The awareness stage is key to keeping potential member’s interest right from the start. This is their first introduction to your organization, often through social media posts or a visit to your site. And when you have eight seconds – that’s right, eight seconds – to convince new visitors to stay and peruse your site further, you’ll need to grab their attention right from the start. Integrating captivating and helpful videos can go a long way in keeping them interested and continuing through the member journey map.
Keep in mind that new users are mainly perusing your site or social media posts for initial info gathering – learning more about who you are, and what your organization does. If you had eight seconds of someone’s time, what are some of the first things you’d want them to know? Create short, informational videos to post online or on the homepage of your site. Don’t make them dig for answers – show them right off the bat. Use clips of exciting events, create short explainer videos and highlight members of your team with intro videos.
Interest Phase
Once you’ve successfully captured a user’s interest past initial awareness, they continue on the journey map to the interest phase to learn more about your organization. This is your chance to build on their awareness by crafting more detailed and informative content.
Consider creating a membership video series. Kick it off with a short but informative video, aiming for 30 seconds to a minute in length, detailing the benefits of membership, and how to become one. Follow the intro video with testimonials from actual members. Ask current members to share their personal experiences with your organization, offering a more on-the-ground look at what being a member in the community looks like. Conclude your series with a genuine thank you video, thanking the viewer for their time, consideration and interest in your organization.
This series can be posted on a webpage, weekly or bi-weekly on your social media channels and emailed out through an marketing campaign. Use analytics to learn when and where you get the best interaction, and taper your efforts to follow.
Continue your efforts by posting insights on industry news as it’s made available. Show users you’re on the pulse of your industry, and constantly working to provide the most up-to-date resources that you can.
Join Phase
They’ve made it through the initial awareness, were interested in learning more and have now officially joined as members – woohoo! Surely we must be through the map, right? (Actually we’re only about halfway through!)
Now that they’ve joined, it’s imperative to make your new members feel welcome and supported. Create a series of onboarding videos, starting with a personalized welcome. Introduce yourself, your role in the association and thank the new member for joining. Include important information like what new members can expect, benefits they’ll receive and point them in the right direction if they have any questions. Include how-to videos for accessing your online portal and navigating their new community.
Once they’ve made it through the initial onboarding stage, be sure to continue sending follow up videos and communications to make sure they don’t feel left behind. Offer videos as check ins and re-reviews of earlier content they may have received but not had time to take advantage of. Invite new members to connect with their community through events or committees. This is where you can really set the tone for establishing long-term involvement and continued interest in your association.
Engagement Phase
If you’ve created a supportive and helpful onboarding series, members will likely feel more excited and inclined to engage deeper with your organization. Send out a call asking for feedback and to share how they’re feeling through video messages or written responses. What’s working, and what needs a little extra attention? Encourage them to share any ideas along with their feedback and adjust your strategies accordingly, then create a series of FAQ videos based on their notes to help fill the gaps. It’s key to make sure they know their voice matters to the growing community and your organization. And it’s a small but helpful way to thank them for all the support they’ve already given you.
Continue to strengthen your relationships and make members feel more valued by sending out personalized videos, celebrating membership milestones, anniversaries and birthdays! It shows that you took a little extra time to make sure they felt celebrated on their special day. Plus, who doesn’t love a video with on-screen confetti?
Retention Phase
Now that you’ve successfully welcomed them into membership and encouraged engagement, it’s time to keep that retention going in the final stage of the member journey map! In this phase, video content can be integral to reminding members of their continued importance to your organization.
Create a member’s exclusive newsletter to keep users up to date on all the upcoming events they can take part in. Continue engaging by sending videos about upcoming membership renewals. Send personalized videos highlighting any benefits they’ve enjoyed and provide others that are available. Showcase any updates to membership, the community and your organization itself. Continuously send education updates and more information when available. Consider creating leadership videos from your team, discussing news, upcoming special events and the association’s continued wins.
And the celebration videos aren’t only for the Engagement Phase – keep them going every year! Celebrate all the anniversaries and birthdays you can, to show how much your members continue to mean to you.
Finally, request testimonials from members who’ve been a part of your organization for one year, five years, and even 10+ years! It’s a great opportunity to hear from them about how your efforts and engagements have changed over the years and share their year(s) long experiences with future members.
TO RECAP:
The member journey consists of five phases—Awareness, Interest, Join, Engagement, and Retention—each playing a critical role in member satisfaction and advocacy for your association.
- Awareness – Nab user’s interest from the start by creating and sharing short “who we are” and informational videos on your website and social media platforms.
- Interest – Keep the interest going with more in-depth videos detailing membership benefits and testimonials from current members.
- Join – After they’ve decided to support organization, offer easy to follow onboarding videos, complete with a personalized welcome, benefits overview, and how to access your portal to build community.
- Engagement – It doesn’t stop at joining – ask members for their feedback and tailor your efforts accordingly. Don’t forget to celebrate their milestones!
- Retention – Keep your members interested by continuing to reach out – supply updated information, continue the annual celebrations and ask for more testimonials to inspire future members to join.
A well-crafted video strategy can aid in every stage of the member journey, helping guide future members into engaged supporters, while offering support at every stop along the way.