Tips for promoting changes to your association’s membership tiers

After you update your association’s membership levels, how do you get the word out? Here’s eight tips.

Updating your association’s membership tiers can help you ensure you’re delivering the benefits and value that today’s members want. Of course, once you’ve crafted new membership levels and verified that the benefits and value of each membership model meets your members’ needs, you need to promote the changes.

A thoughtful communications plan helps to ensure a smooth transition to the new membership tiers. It also helps to ensure you and your members see all of the benefits of the updated membership models.

Here are eight ways to make sure the rollout of your association’s new membership tiers is a success:

1. Define your target audiences:

Make sure you understand which groups of people each of your new membership levels will appeal to so that you can tailor messages to each audience.

2. Create clear messages

Build concise messages that explain the unique benefits of your new membership levels. Be sure to focus on how the changes will enhance member value and the member experience. If you created your new membership tiers based on member feedback, make sure to include that in your messages, too, so that members know you did your research before making changes.

3. Provide a timeline

Make sure members know that changes are coming and when the changes will go into effect.

4. Anticipate questions

Be prepared to answer members’ questions about their memberships, such as anything they might need to do to select a new membership level or how they can take advantage of new benefits. Consider providing a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document with answers to these questions to reduce member concerns and minimize the number of questions your staff must answer. If changes are significant or complex, you might also offer a webinar to review the new membership levels and answer members’ questions.

5. Launch a web page

Create a dedicated web page on your association’s website that explains the changes, outlines the new membership levels, and houses any resources, such as FAQs and recorded webinars, in one place.

6. Use a mix of marketing channels

Push your messages and supporting material out through various channels that are most effective for each of your target audiences. These might include your website, online member community, email communications, SMS text messages, and social media. You might also talk about the new membership packages at your association’s webinars and events.

7. Ask for feedback

Encourage members to share their feedback about the new membership packages to demonstrate that you value their thoughts and to gather information that you can use for further improvement.

8. Monitor and adapt

Pay attention to the feedback and questions you get about your new membership levels. If you notice a great deal of questions, concerns, or confusion, adjust your messaging and communications strategy.

Learn more

Discover more tips and insights about why and how to update your association’s membership offerings to stay relevant with members: Read the guide, Rethinking Your Association’s Membership Models.