Welcome calls
Background
Our client: A large professional body in the finance sector
The challenge: To improve engagement at the start of the membership journey and enhance overall retention and progression through the membership grades.
Our approach: Experience tells us, that pro-active engagement with all new members well before they reach their first renewal decision point is key to maximising retention. Once beyond the first-year renewal point, members are more inclined to remain in membership over a much longer period. We find that personalised contact with new members in the early months of membership is most effective in opening dialogue and setting membership expectations.
Welcome calls are a key component in building the membership journey, and a long-term view of the relationship, from the member’s perspective. They also serve a further important purpose by providing up to date, on-going feedback on member attitudes and opinions.
Project
Recent joiners were passed to us each month for welcome call contact, with calls taking place approximately 4 months after their joining date. The purpose of the calls was to:
welcome new joiners into membership
gauge their experience as a new member
inform them of the benefits of membership
encourage participation in events and initiatives beneficial to them
begin the process of preparing them for their first renewal
All membership feedback was recorded along with any additional or updated contact details. We liaised closely with the client throughout the project and presented a regular monthly report on progress together with analysis and interpretation of the feedback we gathered.
The duration of the project was 12 months.
Outcome
Monthly results
On average, we completed welcome calls with 56% of the total population passed to us each month. Additional calls, voicemail messages and emails (where applicable) were left with the remainder.
Effects on retention
90% of those with whom we had two-way dialogue with during the welcome call activity renewed their membership the following year. Of those, 80% renewed either on time or less than 6 weeks after the renewal date.
Due to the success of this project, we have continued to carry out welcome calls on a regular annual basis for the client (as well as other member engagement), delivering consistent results.