The tilt-a-whirl was my favorite amusement park ride as a child. Spinning in circles at unexpected and random moments, hair flying in the wind and butterflies in your stomach brings forth feelings of sheer delight and reckless abandonment. It’s marvelous. For a moment.
But have you ever jumped on an amusement park ride and shortly thereafter desperately wanted to jump off? I remember an especially terrifying moment when I was stuck on a ride that malfunctioned – hanging upside down, no less!
Here are now, it often feels like we’re on an amusement ride that is anything but amusing. This era of disruption is the equivalent of being strapped into something we can’t control, predict, or tame. In the face of fear, leaders can find themselves desperately seeking a ‘quick fix’ and end up making reckless, damaging decisions.
We kick around the words change and disruption casually now. Rarely do we examine the brevity of what’s happening under harsher light. The fact is change has been a struggle because the change that’s happening isn’t something we’ve learned to respond to or even understand. Everything about the way we live, work, and do business has changed or is in the process of changing, and this amount of change is unprecedented. At no other time in history has life-altering, brain-development change happened this often.
Let that sink in for a moment.
This is not “change your mind to pick chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla” kind of change. It’s not even the “change your address” kind of change. This is different. This isn’t just about you. It’s about everyone experiencing something new, creating a monumental shift in how we all make decisions, communicate, value, and expect.
This is social change.
Here and now, membership organizations worldwide are rethinking their strategies and priorities. They are sick and tired of being on the tilt-a-whirl. The disengagement and decline have become impossible to escape. Boards and staff are desperately seeking different results.
Membership has been on this ride for a while now. In fact, membership decline was first cited as a trend in the 1990s. Technology was becoming a normal part of society, as was economic and demographic shifts. Suddenly, young people were seeking something different from what associations provided–but accepting change took time, and responding to change proved equally difficult.
By and large, associations have struggled to sustain growth ever since. Consider these stats:
- The Global Membership Health Study surveyed association leaders and members in 59 countries in 2022, revealing associations of all geographies, types, and sizes were reporting difficulty engaging members – especially young members.
- According to the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey, in just three of the last 16 years (2012, 2013, and 2014) slightly more than 50% of associations reported growth. Every other year, the associations reporting flat and declining membership has been higher than the number of associations reporting growth.
To be crystal clear, belonging didn’t change. Membership is not dead. And what happened isn’t the result of a character flaw that somehow popped into the DNA of younger generations.
Belonging is something we all want and need. It’s human nature to want to be included and feel you are part of a community and making a connection and a difference. Membership still matters; it’s the needs and interests of members that changed largely because of social change. When associations were slow to respond to this widespread change, disengagement and decline followed.
Membership still matters; it’s the needs and interests of members that changed largely because of social change. When associations were slow to respond to this widespread change, disengagement and decline followed.
Consider an alternate ending. Imagine associations remained singly focused on what members wanted and needed, quickly responding to meet those needs while remaining open to new ideas and change. The outcome would have been quite different. Associations would be prospering and growing exponentially, which isn’t the case for most associations today.
As counterintuitive as it may sound, membership decline happened because membership organizations stopped paying attention to members.
Membership stopped being the priority.
As change accelerated, many associations started to turn away from membership to focus on an entire circus of (what was believed to be) change-resistant acts – bigger and better events and expanded menu of products with admission to everything for everyone.
The widespread membership decline suggests the strategy wasn’t especially effective.
Why?
Because when you join an association, you are making the decision to be a part of a community. In the process, you are making a statement to the world about who you are and what’s important to you. Moreover, you are making a pact with the organization—showing your trust and ongoing commitment by making an investment.
From the very start, emotions are involved. Products don’t pull at our heartstrings in the same way membership does. The decision to join and engage is steeped in emotion, which is why attempts to tweak pricing, packaging, and promotion are largely ineffective at curbing decline.
Membership is powerful, which is why many business-to-consumer brands have turned occasional buyers into loyal customers by positioning their products as memberships. Companies like American Express, Costco, Netflix, Hertz, and Delta were the trailblazers. Many others followed suit.
Meanwhile, actual membership organizations – professional and trade associations – are leaning away from membership. Is it any surprise then associations have found themselves on a ride they really don’t want to be on anymore and spiraling out of control?
It starts out with the best intentions. Association leadership teams pursue other interests or causes, making the mistake of believing these efforts will result in growth in revenues, market share, and ultimately membership. But when service to members and return on investment to members is backburnered to focus elsewhere, the association often ends up losing what it was hoping to gain – more members.
Membership organizations were created to be close-knit communities of representation and service. But when change accelerated, rather than double-down on helping members, associations largely turned to other sources of revenue and opportunity and began to backburner membership altogether.
Business and investment strategies often creep into membership organizations, and they aren’t a fit whatsoever. These strategies fractured the relationship associations had with members, and associations desperately need to find their way back.
Business strategies rely on a transaction-based approach to financial growth, urging companies to scale by continually seeking ways to bring in more customers. It’s rare for customers to engage with the same business every month over the course of many years. As a result, businesses must continually fill their pipeline of customers.
But membership is a relationship. It’s not a product or a transaction. It’s something to which people feel committed and attached.
Think of membership like a tattoo on the heart; the decision to join an association is choosing to have membership be part of their daily lives. They are choosing to make an emotional and financial investment and foster a relationship with the association, its mission, and community.
Membership decline isn’t the result of an association being invisible, unknown, or needing to be accessible to prospective members. Rather, membership decline happens when the value of a membership declines. When members aren’t the priority and a membership fails to provide something valuable, relevant, and meaningful to its audience, members lose interest. To stay relevant, associations need to be responsive to, and in close relationship with, their members.
Creating something that’s important, necessary, and completely attuned to members will align the association to a people-first, future-focused strategy. Then, no matter what challenge is thrown at the organization, it will remain entirely intact and unaffected because the focus won’t be on the change—it will be on the members and being the most valuable and important resource the association can possibly be to them.
The asset in any membership organization is membership. Period. And when it’s done well, associations build engaged, growing communities.
Jump off the tilt-a-whirl and onto solid ground. Remember why you started. For the members, by the members. Membership first. Always. No matter what. This is the only solution.
Sarah Sladek is the founder of XYZ University, a research a strategy firm which helps organizations connect with young people and build strong communities. She is host of the Membership IQ podcast and the author of six books. Her latest book, MemberShift: Why Members Leave and the Strategies Proven to Bring Them Back is the recipient of a Nonfiction Book Award.