How Membership Organizations Create Winning Experiences: Lessons from Amazon, Google and Apple

There is so much to learn from companies who have taken extra steps to build a great experience for their customers. Recent studies indicate that many membership organizations struggle to retain and attract new members. Marketing General reports that among the associates it surveyed, membership is down six percent overall. Sixty-eight percent report that retention remains stagnant.

Why is membership going down?

The truth is that members no longer feel their ‘user experience’ or membership experience, if you will, is providing them with the emotional satisfaction or experiential satisfaction they once had. Membership, in other words, isn’t providing the same value today that it once did. They are taking their money and memberships elsewhere, or foregoing memberships altogether to find other ways of enhancing professional value, education, and interactions.

Some of the issue stems from the rise of new technologies, such as social media, which make it easier than ever before to interact and network with people who share similar interests, professional background, and experience. This important function was once held solely by membership organizations, which provided meetings, forums, newsletters, and other tools that enabled people with a similar profession or interest to find common ground, share industry information, and support one another in their careers.

But we can’t lay all the blame at the feet of social media. Members always had a choice to join or not, even if it was a choice between local networking groups versus national membership, or organization A versus organization B.

A closer look at how big brands such as Amazon enhance user experience may help nonprofits learn how to enhance member experience and turn the tide on flagging interest in membership organizations.

What Membership Organizations Can Learn from User Experience

Several online brands offer lessons in user experience that we can translate into daily member experience.

  • Amazon: People love shopping on Amazon’s site because it provides seemingly limitless choices. The retailer began with books, added music, and now boasts almost every category of product under the sun. The site’s search engine is excellent and makes it easy to find what you are looking for. Site members also rank and comment on their purchases, adding quality assurance for ‘real people’ just like you to each listing.
  • Google: Over 60 percent of the world turns to Google to find what they need online. It’s fast, intuitive, and easy to use.
  • Apple: Apple’s products were originally created for graphic designers. Microsoft’s PCs were introduced for office and home computing, so Apple staked out a niche as the computer for graphic design. Today, its sleek design and powerful, virus-resistant computing power appeal to many.

What can we learn from the user experiences listed above?

  • Amazon – comprehensive selection, something for everyone, easy to find what customers need
  • Google – easy to use, fast, understands its customer base
  • Apple – innovative, cutting-edge, new, fresh

These concepts are important over-arching concepts for membership organizations. Taking a cue from the popular brands, member organizations can infuse “member experience” into their missions, values, and offerings so that potential members see and experience greater value from their membership.

To enhance your member experience, think of ways that you can:

  • Add comprehensive offerings to your member benefits, making it a ‘one stop shop’ for your members.
  • Enhance your membership so that it is as easy to use as a Google search.
  • Refresh your educational opportunities so that they are cutting-edge and different from what members may find at their local colleges, universities, or other professional development providers.

With a little planning and a lot of creativity, you can come up with member experiences that rival that of the big brands. Membership organizations need to evolve, grow, and change to keep pace with consumer demand. Make member experience part of your organization starting today.

Nonprofit Financial Management Help from Beck & Company

Beck & Company is a Washington D.C. area nonprofit accounting firm with a team of expert auditors, accountants, and advisors available to help nonprofits of all sizes. We provide a variety of consulting, auditing, and accounting services to help nonprofits outsource audit and nonprofit accounting tasks, improve operations and efficiency, so your team can be freed up to focus on your cause. For more information, please contact us at 703-834-0776 x 8001.