Background
A voluntary state bar association with an interest in the strength of its relationships across its nearly 21,000 members and 18,000 prospective members connected with Loyalty Research to start a two-phase research effort. The organization wanted perspectives of both its current and prospective members. The client was also curious about how they could apply learnings from the research across their entire membership databases.
Approach
Loyalty Research designed two assessments, one for current members and one for prospective members, aimed to gather data on membership value, interest in joining, reasons for not joining, and competitive analysis. After fielding both studies, the results were then modeled and projected across the entire database to provide the client with a focused list of good-fit key prospects and members that fit the profile of Strongly Engaged members – those who could serve as ambassadors for the organization.
Results
Despite being one of the only state bar associations in the country which does not require membership in the organization to practice law in the state, the client’s member relationships were incredibly strong. Respondents indicated that the client has “Best in Class” Member Engagement, which clearly set apart the client from its local and national competitors. These relationships were driven by successful events, networking opportunities, legislative and advocacy efforts, and a plethora of resources and benefits.
Analysis provided the client with prioritization of which resources were critical to members and when they were accessing them. Following the reporting stage of the research project, Loyalty Research took the study results, categorized Engagement by demographic characteristics, and modeled the predictive accuracy of projecting the results across the rest of the non-respondent database.
Impact
The findings encouraged the client to develop stronger communication processes in order to increase awareness of the offered resources and benefits, as well as ways to become involved with the growth of the organization. The projected results allowed the client to build profiles for targeted outreach to potential volunteers, members who would benefit from specific resources, people likely to drop their membership in the near future, and ideal prospective members who would join quickly.
Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA