Understanding your members isn’t about finding one answer that represents everyone. Members can have different priorities, experiences and expectations of the same association.
The opportunity is to build a clearer picture of what matters across that membership, including where people agree, where their needs differ and what they want from the organization moving forward.
Here are a few ways associations can build a better understanding of their members and put those insights to work.
Start by Listening Before Deciding
It’s easy to begin a research project with an idea of what the problem is. Maybe engagement is down. Maybe an established program isn’t getting the response it once did. Maybe the association is considering a new direction and needs to know whether members will see themselves in it.
Research gives you an opportunity to test those assumptions rather than build a strategy around them. As ASAE has explored, collecting information isn’t enough on its own. Research becomes more useful when organizations connect what they learn to strategic conversations and decisions.
That doesn’t mean every member conversation needs to be a formal research exercise. Depending on what you’re trying to understand, you might use a survey to spot broad patterns, interviews to explore an issue in more depth or workshops to hear how members respond to one another’s ideas. The method should follow the question you’re trying to answer.
Hear From More Than the Most Familiar Voices
Some members are naturally more likely to respond to surveys, attend events or speak up in meetings. Their perspectives matter, but they may not tell you everything you need to know. Think about who else should be part of the conversation.
Are you hearing from newer members as well as long-standing ones? People from different parts of the industry? Members in different regions? Smaller organizations as well as larger ones? People who use your programs regularly and those who rarely engage?
You don’t necessarily need to hear from every member before making a decision. But you should understand whose perspectives are represented in your research and whose might be missing.
Our work with the Western Retail Lumber Association (WRLA), now Supply-Build Canada, offers one example.
The association had outgrown a name that no longer reflected the breadth of its membership or its national ambitions. But after more than a century under the WRLA name, changing it wasn’t a decision to make based on assumptions.
During the rebrand, staff, board members, the marketing committee, members and outside interest holders participated in workshops and focus groups. In total, we heard from more than 50 members as part of the process.
Those conversations helped us better understand what connected a diverse membership: they were part of the network supplying the projects that build communities across Canada.
That insight helped lead to a new name, Supply-Build Canada, that reflected where the association wanted to go while the broader brand transition made room for where it had come from.
Look for Patterns Without Flattening Differences
Once you’ve gathered input, the goal isn’t necessarily to find the one thing every member agrees on. Research can be just as useful when it shows you where experiences differ.
Maybe members in one region have different priorities from those in another. New members might need something different from people who have belonged for decades. People working in different roles may describe the same industry challenge in very different ways.
Look for recurring themes, but pay attention to the exceptions and tensions, too.
Consider questions like:
- What ideas are we hearing repeatedly?
- Where are members describing the same issue differently?
- Are certain needs more important to particular groups?
- What surprised us?
- What assumptions did the research challenge?
- What still isn’t clear?
The goal is to come away with a more useful understanding of your membership, not a simplified version of it.
Let Member Insights Shape the Work
Research becomes more valuable when it has somewhere to go. Depending on the question you started with, member insights might influence your brand positioning, communications, programs, advocacy priorities, recruitment efforts or the way you explain your value as an association.
Sometimes those insights can shape the creative work directly.
For our Self-Reflect Before You Self-Check campaign with UFCW Local 832, we polled members and heard from approximately 380 grocery workers about their experiences with self-checkout.
Their responses helped us understand the frustrations workers were encountering and informed the campaign that followed.
The lesson for associations isn’t that every piece of feedback needs to become a campaign. It’s that research can give communications teams something more useful to work from than an assumption about what members think.
Before deciding on the message, ask what your members’ experiences are actually telling you.
Test Important Decisions Before You Commit
Listening doesn’t have to end once you’ve identified a direction.
When you’re making a significant change, bringing ideas back to members can help you understand how they’re being received before the organization moves forward.
That was another important part of the Supply-Build Canada process. The proposed name went through focus testing before it was adopted.
Testing doesn’t mean handing every decision over to a focus group or expecting unanimous agreement. It gives you another opportunity to learn.
Do people understand the idea the way you intended? Does the language resonate? Are there concerns you haven’t considered? Does a proposed change still feel connected to the organization members know?
For an association with a long history, those questions can be especially important. Moving forward doesn’t always require leaving the past behind.
Show Members What You Heard
If you’re going to ask members for their time and perspective, think about what happens after the research is finished.
Members may not see every internal decision that comes from their feedback. But when appropriate, closing the loop can help them understand how their input contributed.
That could be as simple as sharing:
- what you heard
- what themes emerged
- what you’re changing as a result
- what you’re not changing and why
- what you still need to learn
You don’t need to suggest that every piece of feedback will lead to action. Sometimes members will disagree with one another. Sometimes a request won’t fit the association’s mandate, resources or broader priorities.
Being clear about those realities can be more useful than asking for input and leaving people wondering where it went.
Keep Your Understanding Current
Your members aren’t static. Industries change, organizations grow, new challenges emerge and the reasons people join an association can shift over time.
That’s why member understanding shouldn’t live in one research report indefinitely.
You can keep learning through formal research, but everyday interactions can also give you useful signals. Pay attention to the questions members repeatedly ask. Talk with the people who work with members directly. Look at which resources people use and which they don’t. Listen for changes in how members describe their work, their challenges and what they need from the association.
From time to time, it can also help to return to questions such as:
- What’s making your work more difficult right now?
- Which association resources or programs are most useful to you?
- Where could the association be more helpful?
- How would you describe the value of membership to someone else in your industry?
- What’s changed since we last asked?
The point isn’t to be in a constant state of research. It’s to notice when your understanding of members might need an update.
Key Takeaways
Understanding your members takes more than collecting feedback once and filing away the results.
Start with a clear question. Hear from a useful cross-section of your membership. Look for patterns without assuming everyone has the same experience. Use what you learn to inform the work, then test significant decisions when it makes sense to do so.
And when members give you their time and perspective, look for opportunities to show them what you heard and where it led.
You won’t always get one clear answer. In many cases, the differences are part of what you need to understand.
The goal is to keep getting closer to the people your association is there to serve.
FAQ
Why is member research important for associations?
Member research can help associations better understand members’ priorities, experiences and expectations. Those insights can inform decisions about communications, programs, advocacy, branding and other areas of the member experience.
Are surveys enough to understand association members?
Surveys can be useful, particularly when you want input from a larger group or need to identify broad patterns. Depending on the question, interviews, focus groups, workshops and other qualitative methods can add context and help you explore why members responded the way they did.
How can associations hear from a wider range of members?
Consider which parts of your membership are represented in your research and which may be missing. That could mean intentionally reaching members from different regions, organization sizes, roles, career stages or levels of engagement.
What should associations do with member feedback?
Start by connecting the feedback to the question you were trying to answer. Look for recurring themes, meaningful differences and unexpected findings. Those insights can then inform relevant decisions about programs, communications, advocacy, branding or other priorities.
Should members be involved in association branding or rebranding?
Member research can be particularly useful during a rebrand because members already have a relationship with the organization and may have important perspectives on what should change and what should be carried forward. Associations can use research and testing to inform decisions without expecting every member to agree on the final direction.
How can associations show members they’re listening?
When appropriate, share what you heard and explain how it is influencing the organization’s next steps. It’s also useful to be transparent when certain feedback can’t be acted on or when members have different priorities that need to be balanced.
How often should associations conduct member research?
There isn’t one schedule that works for every association. Formal research can be useful around significant decisions or when the organization needs a clearer understanding of changing member needs. Between research projects, recurring questions, program use and everyday member conversations can help identify when it’s time to take a closer look.
