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]]>Is it just me or is 2019 flying by?
It feels like yesterday that I was rolling my eyes at Valentine’s chocolate displays because it was only January but when I went to Target over the weekend there it was, staring me in the face….the wall of graduation cards.
Graduation? Already?
It’s true. According to the National Center of Education Statistics the coming weeks will see universities and colleges across the country award close to 4 million associates, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees awarded at universities and colleges.
Many of those receiving their diploma have augmented their studies with the support of professional associations. Student membership makes a lot of sense, providing access to additional training information, news and other resources designed to help them apply what they’re learning in the classroom. But while 87% of Millennials and Gen Z surveyed in Personify’s Young Members 2.0 study (PDF) report that it’s important to be part of an association, less than a quarter of student memberships convert to full membership, down 5% year over year. And that’s being optimistic: Marketing General’s 2018 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report (PDF) recently shared that 40% of associations report their student-to-full conversion rate is even worse, at only 10%…or less.
The needs of student members don’t stop the day they receive their diploma. Career-focused programming and content remains core to a young members’ interest in association membership, with 92% of Millennials and Gen Z identifying educational content as “very important” and 87% placing a high-value on the networking opportunities made available through membership, according to our research.
Extending the value of student membership, even if just repackaging the same – or similar – programs at a different price point, can be an easy but hugely influential way to keep new graduates involved in your organization but curating programs may not be enough. Watch our on-demand Webinar where we review:
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]]>Believe me, I didn’t believe it at first either.
When a lot of us think of a Millennial or member of Gen Z, we think of them with a phone in their hand, connecting with friends via social media or texting. Wired magazine reports people are checking their smartphone an average of 150 times per day. But actually using the phone to….talk? Really?
But that’s what they told us. According to the young members who participated in our Young Members 2.0 study, 78% of Millennials and Gen Z reported that phone calls are either somewhat or very effective in engaging them. Not texting, an actual phone call.
Reflecting on it further, it makes sense. According to author Sherry Turkle, author of Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age, the endless streams of texts, tweets, Facebook posts, instant messages and snapchats – simultaneous, rapid-fire “sips” of online communication – are leaving us parched for real conversation and connection. And when it comes to membership, those real, one-on-one connections really matter. When Personify asked how important it was that an association facilitates connections with authentic people who understand their unique needs, 94% of young members identified it as important, with almost two thirds suggesting it’s very important.
Digital communication isn’t going anywhere there’s an opportunity for associations, and nonprofits of all stripes, to revisit the simple phone call. And while surprisingly effective with young members, a phone call delivers value across all segments. Phone calls allow for more organic conversation, follow-up questions and clarifications in real-time. They also feel more personal, giving you the chance to hear important cues that provide additional insight into how your organization (and messages) are being received.
For organizations, phone calls also offer a low-cost, high-impact, easy-to-implement way to engage members, both those who are making the calls and those picking up on the other end. You’ve already invested in your membership database. We know in-person conversations are meaningful, and you have access to both members and a board who probably have a telephone they can use for a few phone calls. What should you talk about?
While many organizations leverage call campaigns to drive dues renewals, take this opportunity to expand the conversation and engage members in a way that’s not so explicitly tied to an ask. Here are 5 ideas to get you started:
It’s inexpensive, it’s easy, it’s meaningful. As we mentioned in our recent webinar on creating connection with young members, Philadelphia ad agency NW Ayer & Son’s was on to something with their 70’s ad campaign for AT&T which encouraged consumers to reach out and touch someone. The full line was actually, “To communicate is the beginning of understanding. Reach out and touch someone.”
40 years later the telephone – whatever its shape or form – continues to be an invaluable tool in building connection with young members. Not just texting either, be real conversations between actual people. Maybe it’s time to revisit the humble phone call.
Looking for more ideas specific to improving your understanding, acquiring, engaging and retaining young members? Check out our all new Young Member Spotlight, with on-demand webinars, ebooks, links to other blog posts and much more!
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]]>Our Young Members 2.0 report, published in February, laid out what’s proven a surprising statistic for many readers. Millennials will represent half of the global workforce by 2020 and Gen Z will make up an additional 20 percent by 2021. That’s right, young members will make up 70 percent of the global workforce in less than two years.
Yet according to Marketing General’s recently released 2018 Membership Marketing Benchmarking report, despite being a growing majority of the workforce, Gen Z and Millennials together still only represent only a quarter of association membership.
We apparently still have a lot to learn.
Thus far we’ve been lucky enough to host a number of webinars and conversations on the topic of young members. We’ve done a walk-through of the report and last month spent some dedicated time doing a deep dive on topic of young members and affordability.
But we’ve continued to receive interesting questions from association professionals like you around different pieces of our research and were recently asked about connection. How can we position the relationship and in-person connections that have always served as the cornerstone of membership with this emerging demographic?
Connection, per social science, generally refers to the feeling that you belong to a group and feel close to other people.
I like to think of it as both the driving need behind and the outcome of engagement. The interactions young members have with you – whether in person or online – are done out of a need for, and a want to, connection. At the same time, the culmination of these interactions – their level of engagement – creates connection.
This connection is what will position organizations for long-term success with young members, ensuring they have a fulfilling experience and that you keep your retention numbers high.
Think connecting with young members is all about digital? Think again.
Our Young Members study found one-on-one conversations with real people matter and remain essential in demonstrating value and creating a meaningful experience. When asked how important it was that an association facilitates connections with authentic people who understand their unique needs within the initial part of their journey, 94 percent of young members identified this as important, with almost two thirds suggesting it’s very important.
81 percent report attending an in-person event in the last 24 months. Top events from our respondents include:
Young members are significantly less likely to attend an annual conference. There are a number of reasons why – early career young members may not be in a position to request travel budget and Millennials with small children may have to balance demands of work and a young family. But this is concerning for those of you looking for young members to not only support growth in your dues revenue but also your non-dues revenue.
In 1979 Philadelphia ad agency NW Ayer & Son came up with a new ad campaign for AT&T. The jingle encouraged consumers to reach out and touch someone. The full line was actually To communicate is the beginning of understanding. Reach out and touch someone.
40 years later the telephone – whatever its shape or form – continues to be an invaluable tool in building a connection with young members. Not just texting either, be real conversations between actual people.
According to our study:
When was the last time your organization called a young member to check in and talk about something other than a dues renewal?
According to Forbes, Gen Z uses an average of 5 different screens – smartphone, TV, laptop, desktop and tablet – to peruse information media, compared to millennials who typically switch back and forth between 3 screens.
With all the interconnectivity and information available you would think it would be easy to engage young members, right? Or does the seemingly endless collection of platforms and channels make engagement harder?
I’d argue it provides more opportunity to connect with young members, but in different ways. Email is a critical components of your communications strategy. It is the way members stay informed about your organization and about the various opportunities you provide to help them build those connections.
According to Adobe’s fourth annual Consumer Email Survey, workers between ages 25 and 34 spend 6.4 hours a day checking their email and our report found almost three-quarters of young members report receiving email from their association often, either in the form of a newsletter (72%) or a more personalized message (73%).
But when it comes to young members, email seems quaint, old-fashioned especially in an environment where social media seems to reign supreme. According to Marketing General’s benchmarking report, 70 percent of associations report an increase in member engagement and participation on their public social network within the last 12 months
Which channels are associations using in their social media outreach?
We know that young members are engaging via social medi
a and that associations have picked up on it – using a number of channels to engage members there. But which channels are young members using to create connections? And what’s working? Facebook tops the list at 80 percent, followed by Twitter (74%), Instagram (76%) and Snapchat (68%).
Personify has a number of tools designed to help you understand young members and optimize your efforts to help them form a connection to your organization, and with one another.
Get started with our on-demand webinar and eBook. When you’re ready, check out our other young member-related resources!
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]]>Last month, Personify published our Young Members 2.0 eBook and much of the report focuses on young members and their concept of value. For example:
Moreover, only 40 percent of young members report their experience is “worth the dues (I) pay to be a member.” When asked why they let their memberships lapse, young members told us, “(Associations) need to increase the value of benefits if they are increasing fees,” and, “Sometimes I need a payment plan.”
During a recent live webinar where we walked through the data with association professionals, we were asked, “What is affordability?”
It’s a great question. What is affordability? What can young members afford? How can associations work to eliminate those barriers and make membership more accessible to those Millennials and Gen Z interesting in joining?
Affordability is defined as the extent to which something is affordable, as measured by its cost relative to the amount the purchaser is able to pay. While the perception of affordability is shaped by value – the more someone sees the value in a particular good or service, the more likely they are to ensure they have the money to pay for it –young members face additional financial pressures:
Although they’re showing signs of a greater aversion to debt than their Millennial counterparts, Generation Z is earlier in their career and just entering the workforce. Entry level roles with lower wages and less influence over management purchase decisions, the burden of potential student debt and the costs associated with starting their post-college lives may leave Gen Z with less budget for discretionary spending and no funding for membership from their employer.
Aligning membership packages with the programs young members value most is paramount. Ensuring the content, networking opportunity and career support millennials and Gen Z are looking for are available is essential in establishing the perception of value necessary to getting them to commit to your organization.
However, curating programs may not be enough. Introducing additional flexibility into how young members engage and pay for their membership can create the affordability necessary to get – and keep – them on board
Watch our on-demand Webinar now!
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]]>As long as nonprofits have been acquiring members so too have they been taking (or at least we hope they’ve been taking) the steps necessary to retain them, to keep them on board and part of the organization.
But it’s a brave new world filled with seemingly boundless free resources and an emerging population of members used to the transient, subscription-based models of things like their gym, streaming media or meal kits. In a previous blog post and in our recently published Young Members 2.0 report we shared the good news, that member not only still relevant but, in the eyes of younger members, is becoming more important. But is that enough to retain them?
Ensuring an authentic connection with young members is, unsurprisingly, an important indication of how difficult it will be to retain them and of their overall satisfaction with their membership. It is a culmination of your engagement efforts, where the rubber meets the road.
When asked if their association seemed out of touch with younger members, both Millennials and Generation Z respondents were more likely to agree than disagree, with African-American respondents in particular suggesting their associations were missing the mark (25 percentage points higher than average). Almost half agree that their experiences with associations have been “underwhelming.”
More concerning:
In a word? Ouch.
Only 40 percent of young members report their experience is “worth the dues (I) pay to be a member.” These perspectives show in questions asked to young members about retention.
In our report, almost one-fifth of all young members have let a membership lapse in the last year. When asked why, young members told us:
All Young Members | Millennials | Generation Z | |
Company would no longer pay | 32% | 38% | 21% |
Decline in benefits or quality offered | 37% | 34% | 43% |
It became too costly | 29% | 31% | 26% |
Forgot to renew | 28% | 31% | 21% |
Could get the same benefits elsewhere | 21% | 22% | 18% |
Changed industry/employment | 17% | 21% | 10% |
We also asked young members what is it that associations don’t get about asking them to renew their membership. Here’s some of what we heard:
How can you overcome the retention hurdle with young members? The good news is that although the data in our study is pretty eye-opening, the steps you can take to mitigate the risk that you’ll lose them in the retention process are pretty straightforward and benefit all of your members:
While membership is viewed as important by young members, the need for membership organizations to articulate a clear return on investment in order to stay relevant has never been clearer. Leaders interested in attracting, and retaining, young members must not only prove the real-dollar value of their membership but also coach young members in internalizing what membership means and in bringing this message to their own leadership teams and other prospective members.
Interested in learning more about what this means for your organization? There’s still time to join us for Personify’s upcoming webinar, February 27th, where we’ll take a deep dive into the data to understand how to build awareness with Millennials and Generation Z and what you should be thinking about to drive conversion with these prospective young members.
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]]>Oh engagement.
Coming off the Valentine’s Day holiday, mere mention of the word maintains its rosy glow as that most symbolic of next steps in a relationship, deepening a commitment in (what is often) a romance-fueled moment where two people agree to build a life and a future together.
In the nonprofit world, the word engagement takes on a slightly less sentimental definition but is no less important as we look to build, and strengthen, our bonds with constituents. Today’s member engagement is about expanding beyond transactional data. It is about those things plus value creation and using that value to deliver a compelling experience members can’t help but want to be a part of.
This is all happening while the world we live in is becoming increasingly interconnected. An explosion of publicly available content has given members accessibility to a variety of product, services and information services. No generation has benefited more from this environment than young members, commonly identified as those who are Millennials (1981-1996) and Generation Z (1997-2012). According to Forbes, Gen Z uses an average of 5 different screens – smartphone, TV, laptop, desktop and tablet – to peruse information media, compared to millennials who typically switch back and forth between 3 screens.
With all the interconnectivity and information available you would think it would be easy to engage young members, right? Or does the seemingly endless collection of platforms and channels make engagement harder?
Personify took the step of fielding our own original research and in December of last year asked 1,000 Millennials and Generation Z members for their perspective on a variety of topics. Our recent published Young Members 2.0 report examined not only the preferences of Millennials and Generation Z with regards to awareness and making the decision to join, but also sought to understand how they engage with the organizations they join.
With an early exposure to technology and smart devices, it’s no surprise that email is often the go-to communication tool for Millennials and Gen Z. According to Adobe’s fourth annual Consumer Email Survey, workers between ages 25 and 34 spend 6.4 hours a day checking their email. Generation Z in particular views email as essential, per The Future of Digital Communications, a study by SendGrid and Egg Strategy, and expects their use of email to grow.
These preferences extend into young members’ relationships with their association. Our report found:
While email was a top engagement channel for young members in our report, social media also plays a critical role in keeping young members informed. Pew Research reports the typical 18- to 29-year-old surveyed in their research uses four social media platforms, whereas the average 30- to 49-year-old uses three. According to our data:
Frequency
Percentage saying their association reaches them often via this channel |
Effectiveness
Percentage reporting this channel is effective in keeping them informed |
|
58% | 80% | |
40% | 74% | |
46% | 76% | |
Snapchat | 35% | 68% |
37% | 74% |
With opportunities for high-impact videos and visual stories that capture members who look and sound like them, Instagram ranked second among our survey respondents, with almost half of young members reporting they use it to keep up with their association and over three-quarters saying it’s an effective way to stay in touch. Surprisingly, few young members – just over one in ten – report engaging with their organization via Linked In.
Reach out and touch someone with a phone call? Really?
Only one third of young members report receiving phone calls from their association yet a larger percentage of young members report phone calls work, with 78 percent of all members saying phone calls are either somewhat or very effective in engaging them. Almost half of Generation Z found these phone calls very effective.
When was the last time your organization called a young member to check in and talk about something other than a dues renewal? When it comes to engagement – creating and articulating the value membership provides – these opportunities for 1:1 interaction can prove invaluable in driving short-, and long-term, satisfaction.
We know in-person conversations play a large role in influencing a young member’s decision to join and engagement. Content is king, serving as a primary value driver for membership. The intersection of these preferences can be found at events.
When asked whether they had attended an in-person event for their association in the last 24 months, 81 percent of all respondents responded yes, with the number of Generation Z members attending events slightly lower than the overall average (77%). Which events are they attending? Workshops and trainings were at the top of the list with 49 percent, followed by parties (31%), networking events (30%) and a community service event (26%).
While satisfaction with these events was high, with 91 percent of young members reporting the events attended were at least somewhat valuable, a surprising 29 percent failed to receive any sort of post-event follow-up from their association – leaving a huge opportunity for engagement on the table.
Today’s young members face a relentless bombardment of information and knowledge from a myriad of sources and bring to membership rising expectations of the value from their association. How can you stand out from the crowd and improve engagement with this growing demographic?
Interest in learning more about what this means for your organization?
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]]>About 51,100,000 results.
That’s what I got recently when I Googled “marketing to Gen Z.” For the curious, searching for “marketing to Millennials” yielded 56,200,000 results.
We read headlines about younger generations daily, but it’s not every day we get the opportunity to hear from young members (and prospective young members) directly but in December of 2018 Personify surveyed 1,000 Millennials and Generation Z members to understand their perspectives on membership and the organizations with which they engage.
While we talk about them as one audience, young members represent a diverse group. Millennials, born roughly between 1981 and 1997 include those finishing college to parents well into their careers, perhaps with kids. Generation Z is just starting to enter the workforce.
The first trick in getting young members onboard involves capturing their attention. How can associations and other member-focused organizations attract these generations?
When asked about all the ways they became aware of the association in which they were the most active, two-in-five young members report they were recruited by someone they already knew and two in five also report they were recruited in person at an event. Other top activities include:
While Facebook performed well in our survey with regards to awareness, other social channels delivered mixed results in terms of their effectiveness in building awareness. In something of a surprise, LinkedIn ranks last among younger association members when it comes to initial recruitment with only seven percent of respondents becoming aware of an association via LinkedIn. In fact, twice as many (15%) attributed early awareness to Instagram.
Their appetite for digital media makes sense. There’s no shortage of articles talking about how digitally fluent Millennials and digital native Gen Z are early adopters in terms of their technology and are never more than arms reach from a mobile device. However, this deep experience has created heightened expectations. Millennials and Gen Z members demand the convenience of a seamless experience at every touch point with brands, both in-person and online. Each touch point must build on the last and be consistent with the next.
Even with an array of channels with which to get the word out, traditional advertising messages don’t cut it with young members – you need something extra.
A recent study from Google found that Generation Z wants brands to be “a representation of their values, their expectations of themselves and their peers.” If they adopt the brand, what does it say about them as a person? Gen Z uses brands to help shape their world.
Why? The implications of being associated with a particular brand is part of it but there are thousands of products in-market today and the options are almost limitless. Although an extreme view, knowledge is available to anyone willing to look for it and networking can be achieved for free through digital sites.
They need a reason why becoming involved with your organization is going to create value in their lives, and they want to see the proof from their peers. After all, both generations distrust advertising and are leery of marketing messages. According to Hubspot, 84 percent of millennials don’t trust traditional advertising and data from SocialChorus shows only six percent of millennials consider online advertising to be credible while 95 percent do trust their friends. Research recently featured in AdWeek suggests 63 percent of Gen Z wants to hear from peers and everyday folks, not celebrities. All told, Gen Z is 1.3 times more likely to purchase a product recommended by one of their favorite influencers than by a television or film celebrity.
Personify saw a similar preference expressed in our own research. When asked where they would be likely to go to learn more about an organization they’d consider joining, young members report turning to other members. In-person conversations, whether at an event (49%) or with someone they already know (42%), proved the most effective in conversion. These one-on-one conversations with real people matter and remain essential in demonstrating value and creating a meaningful experience. When asked how important it was that an association facilitates connections with authentic people who understand their unique needs within the initial part of their journey, 94 percent of young members identified this as important, with almost two-thirds suggesting it’s very important.
Interest in learning more about what this means for your organization? Download our Young Members 2.0 report or watch our on-demand Webinar.
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]]>About a week ago, I went to my mailbox and found in it two magazines. Both featured cover stories around the emergence of Generation Z. Then there was the post-holiday onslaught of email newsletters with articles like:
The focus and attention on generations is understandable. It’s a fascinating, ever-changing topic with broad application and a lot of appeal. We each belong to one of the groups studied and have an opportunity to talk with others about how we either align or differ from stereotypes presented.
In addition to our personal lives, as noted from the content showing up in my inbox, the potential implications of demographic shifts on the workplace are nothing short of seismic. Millennials, generally identified as those born between 1981 and 1996, are expected to represent half of the global workforce by 2020 while Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, will make up an additional 20 percent by 2021.
The last several years have seen the introduction of multiple studies designed to help nonprofits understand different generations, highlighting what makes each unique and providing guidance on how to best meet their particular needs. But we couldn’t help feeling like there was more to learn. For example:
We had questions and wanted answers.
While the publicly available data was helpful, Personify took the step of fielding our own original research and in December of last year asked 1,000 Millennials and Generation Z members for their perspective on a variety of topics including their lives, how they learn about organizations, make the decision to join, the best ways to engage them—and the best ways to retain them.
The good news?
Across the board, young members remain steadfast in their commitment to membership with 87 percent of those responding to our survey reporting it is important to be part of an association and more than half (51%) reporting that being part of an association is becoming more important than it used to be.
But there’s more to the story.
The complete findings are being published today in our brand-new, complimentary report, Young Members 2.0: Understanding and Benchmarking the Membership Preferences of Millennials and Generation Z.
We’ll be walking through the results in more detail in our upcoming webinar: Young Members 2.0. While the data affirmed some of the things that we believed to be true, there were a number of surprises:
Membership matters. While each organization’s membership is unique, we believe our findings can inform and support strategies designed to support the long-term growth and success of your organization.
Young members, Millennials and Gen Z, like generations before them are turning to organizations for leadership, knowledge and the personal connections as a springboard to their personal success. The time has come for organizations to do the same. Let’s get to work.
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]]>Personify, Inc. (“Personify”), the market-leading provider of technology solutions for associations and nonprofit organizations, today announced findings from its Young Members 2.0: Understanding and Benchmarking the Membership Preferences of Millennials and Generation Z. The study seeks to expand nonprofits’ understanding of younger members, revisiting Millennials (born 1981-1996) whom many organizations have recently focused efforts around and including, for the first time, Generation Z (born 1997-2012).
“Recent years have seen the publication of multiple studies on how different generations interact with organizations to which they belong,” said Amanda Myers, director of product growth for Personify and study author. “However, young members continue to evolve and grow into their careers. We continue to see areas of misalignment between the expressed preferences of young members and how associations seek to acquire, engage and retain them.”
The full report can be downloaded here.
Commissioned by Personify, Finn Research conducted an online survey of 1,000 Millennial and Generation Z association members who reported they’re currently a member of a membership organization or have been so within the last two years. Surveys were in the field in December of 2018.
Personify is the market-leading Constituent Management and Engagement (CME) platform that empowers organizations to better engage their constituents, maximize revenue and optimize operations. For over 20 years, Personify has served as the technology foundation for organizations of all sizes from the largest associations, charities, YMCAs and JCCs to emerging nonprofits. For more information, visit https://personifycorp.com/.
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