The Impact of Technology on Membership Associations: How to Stay Ahead of the Curve

In today’s fast paced digital age, technology has revolutionised every aspect of our lives, everything from banking, to meeting planning, and everything in between. Membership associations have been no exception to these changes. There are a plethora of innovative tools and platforms available at little to no cost which have fundamentally changed the way associations communicate and engage with their members.

In order to thrive in today’s climate, associations must learn to stay ahead of the curve and embrace technological change.

Online Learning & Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Using technology to set up webinars, virtual conferences and online training courses requires very little effort. Hosting these sessions online allows the association to reach a broader audience and provide flexible learning opportunities for their members.

In addition to increasing member engagement levels, and ultimately member retention, technology-driven learning enables associations to keep members up to date with the latest industry trends and best practices easily and efficiently.

Personalisation & Customisation

Any member experience should be a customisable one. Members should have the option to personalise their experience based on their own individual needs and preferences.

Allow your members to choose which information they subscribe to. It might be that some members are only interested in CPD opportunities – whereas others may have joined for the networking aspect within their given industry.

Leaving the decision in the members’ hands will allow them to have a more tailored experience, and ultimately a more fulfilling one.

Enhanced Member Engagements

One thing that we’ve learnt here at Cygnul is that members yearn for engagement and interaction. Online communities in the form of social media groups and forums go a long way to promote networking and collaboration among members.

In addition to these platforms being a healthy way to house discussion, they also allow for further advertisement of events and opportunities within the association.

Streamline Operations

The level of work needed for the day-to-day operations of membership associations can be greatly reduced when taking advantage of tailored programmes and software. Member applications can be speedily processed, and financial transactions easily reconciled with the help of the right piece of technology.

It is good practice to review your systems and processes regularly. Start by mapping out the process from start to finish and then analysing any areas of duplication. From there you can see where any new technology might help to introduce automation or an electronic link between systems.

Always take a holistic approach and view the project from multiple user viewpoints (both internal and external to ensure you don’t lose a critical element.  

Insights

Analysing insights provided by your association’s CRM, website and social media channels is a highly effective way of deciphering how best to improve.

By analysing insights, you are able to see what your members spend most time doing when engaging with your association. Finding out what members respond to the best will allow you to build upon and grow what is most important to them – ultimately creating a better user experience.

What Should Your Association be Doing?

It’s important to regularly evaluate your interactions with members and identify opportunities of how your processes could be innovated.

Technology is a worthy investment; it can help to prioritise member experiences and make laborious tasks easier with the use of customer relationship management tools. It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon and improve your members’ experience.

Trying to keep up to date with current technology trends can be hard work, but it’s more advantageous to stay ahead of the curve and embrace new technological advances, helping give your members the best experience possible.

Let us know in the comments about any technological changes or improvement you’ve made to your association recently!