Association Management: How to Manage Member Data

 

As an association membership manager, you continuously seek ways to improve your organization’s membership experience and provide more benefits to members. After all, your members are what give your organization meaning and purpose. The more you can get to know your members and connect with them in meaningful ways, the more likely you will have high member retention. One of the keys to building stronger relationships with your association members is better data management and targeted data marketing efforts. Your member data can reveal valuable information about who your members are, what motivates them, and what they’re interested in. These insights can help you craft better member experiences and communications that suit members’ needs.

This guide will review how to improve your member data management practices and the benefits of doing so. We’ll explore the ins and outs of:

 The Benefits of Better Member Data Management Managing Current Member Data Managing Prospective Member Data

A strategic approach to member database management can help your organization serve your members’ needs more effectively. It can also lead to less stress on your organization’s staff and leaders regarding member engagement and marketing efforts. With these benefits in mind, let’s dive in!

 The Benefits of Better Member Data Management. techiesin

Strategic data management pays off in the long run, enabling your organization to stay organized and grow its membership base.

 Better data management can:

 Provide a 360 view of your membership base. You can get to know your members more personally and communicate with them based on their specific engagement history, interests, and preferences.

Allow you to craft more relevant events and experiences for members. Using what you’ve learned through membership and event reports, you can tailor your events, conferences, workshops, and educational courses to align with member preferences and feedback. This can lead to better membership satisfaction and a higher retention rate.

Allow you to base your marketing strategy on hard facts. When reaching out to prospective new members, you can use your member profiles and predictive analytics to design marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience. This can lead to a higher marketing return on investment.

As you can see, your member data is as good as gold when it comes to membership management. Advanced data management practices allow you to glean more insights from your member data, ensuring the information you gather doesn’t go to waste.

 Managing Current Member DataYour organization’s members provide your association with ongoing support through membership dues, ticket sales, and other monetary transactions. In exchange, these individuals benefit from all your organization has to offer, whether it’s opportunities for continuing education, conference attendance, mentorship, networking, or all of the above.

 Effective membership data management allows your organization to learn more about its members so you can continue providing them with the experiences and benefits they desire. For instance, by tracking event attendance, you can understand the types of experiences your members are most interested in.Maintaining proper data management techniques can become a challenge depending on the size of your organization and the speed at which you’re growing. If your organization proliferates, you likely regularly add new supporter information to your database. Without data strategies, you risk letting members fall through the cracks or disregarding members’ preferences.Whether you’re looking to enhance your member data management processes or create a new strategy from scratch, there are several best practices to keep in mind:Store member data in a central location.Perhaps you’ve found yourself managing member data using disparate spreadsheets and documents. This system might have been feasible when your organization started, but it’s become increasingly unsustainable as you grow.If you relate to this, it’s time to invest in a system that can store all your member data under one roof and allow you to carry out membership management processes easily. You’ll want to look into association management software (AMS) options that can help keep your member data organized.

 These systems allow membership managers to:

 Access and manage member profiles to assess members’ demographic information.

Track member engagement to determine the successes and shortcomings of various initiatives.

Craft workflows for team members to adhere to and follow data management best practices.

According to MemberClicks’ AMS guide, these systems benefit association membership managers because they allow for “seamless and swift data transfer between platforms. marketingmediaweb