Refreshing the membership model

For some years, Professional Bodies have been facing an ever-changing environment in terms of member expectations, the benefit value proposition, and the scope and duration of the member journey.

In the last two years, COVID-19 accelerated the process and forced Professional Bodies to adapt their historic membership models to meet an immediate need for change. Most responded well, and the majority were able to meet the challenge and at least maintain membership numbers.

However, our more recent experience indicates that refreshing the membership model has returned once again to an evolutionary process. At the present time, most Professional Bodies are experiencing relatively strong recruitment, renewal, and retention performance (and with it the risk of complacency).

In the future however, there is no guarantee that this recovery will continue. The evidence we have gathered from talking to our client’s members says that there has been a bounce back effect, and that the next renewal cycle will be a highly uncertain period.

To address this, membership organisations need to look at introducing new processes, a fresh value proposition, and a more pertinent member journey, in advance of the next renewal round. This will require modelling and simulation of the potential outcomes to forecast the impact these improvements will have on membership growth and to build the business case for change.

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