Background
A higher education support organization came to Loyalty Research to develop a greater understanding of its membership. The organization had done a baseline Member Needs Assessment with Loyalty Research previously and wanted to see how their improvements over the past year had impacted their member relationships. They were further interested in mapping the membership’s needs and preferences against several unique membership types to create a cohesive member journey growth plan.
Approach
Over the course of three completed assessments, Loyalty Research brought together data on a representative sample of hundreds of both established and new members to shape comparisons across various member tenure categories. These assessments evaluated member awareness, utilization, and perceived value of resources and benefits provided by the client, as well as the effectiveness of communication and strategic initiatives.
Results
Between the first full assessment and Wave 2, the client made several critical changes in their performance across the areas of the organization that members had shared were most important to them. These changes grew their Member Engagement from “above average” in Wave 1 to “Best in Class” in Wave 2, established by incredibly strong member relationships and a set of high-performing, valuable resources and services.
The comparison of results between Wave 1 and Wave 2 allowed the client to begin shaping important milestones in their member lifecycle. These are centered around communication touchpoints, introduction of specific resources and benefits at critical junctions, and focused retention efforts in the lifecycle areas where members indicated greater likelihood to not continue as members in the near future.
Impact
Research Conclusions guided in-depth discussions among staff about how to identify the critical junctions of the lifecycle and customize the approach for members at each of those stages. This encouraged the client to develop focused profiles and completely redesign their communication and outreach plans for all members.
In Wave 3, the client aims to test the success of their current lifecycle management approach and refine it, while also learning more about how post-pandemic higher education and workforce development groups rely on their industry expertise.