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Redefining value for your members

Opinion
Friends at museum

Morris Hargreaves McIntyre offers examples of cultural organisations that have redefined the concept of ‘value’ for their members, and outlines how to reflect on your membership proposition

by Roisin Coleman, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre

Following the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, our clients are finding that their members are more discerning than ever when it comes to value for money.

Members aren’t always seeing membership as a way to support an important organization or to connect with an institution they love more deeply. Instead, their focus is now on extracting as much monetary value as possible.

Family in the Museum. A family stands in front of a mammoth skeleton in the Museum of paleontology.

However, we know that this transactional mindset often leads to lower retention levels, with members lapsing as soon as they feel they’re not getting value for money. It is, therefore, crucial to deepen relationships, connect members with your cause and ensure they feel valued. While value is important, particularly for membership acquisition, it’s deep emotional engagement and connection to your cause that’s the key to retention.

Here are some excellent examples of the ways in which cultural organizations internationally have re-defined the concept of ‘value’ for their members. We’ll then go on to think about how you can reflect on your own membership proposition.

Example 1: Free membership tiers (Minneapolis Institute of Art)

One way to enable members to build a strong relationship with your organization, rather than focusing on whether membership is good value for money, is to remove the cost altogether.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art created a free membership tier – the Explorer tier. In return for signing up free of charge, members receive insider news and information from the museum, a 10% discount on café purchases and free tickets to special exhibitions on selected member days.

Minneapolis Institute of Art membership
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Removing the cost of membership alleviates some of the pressure on members to ensure they get their money’s worth; it’s a risk-free way to engage with the Museum. Referring to those signed up as ‘members’ will foster a sense of community, and providing a discount on café purchases will help them feel special, and give them a reason to return.

Members at this tier are kept in the loop through news and information and are referred to as members along with paid-tier members. This will deepen their relationship with the organization and help foster a sense of community and belonging, increasing the chance that, when the person feels ready or able, they may advance to a paid membership tier.

Example 2: Considering reciprocal value (Scitech in Perth, Australia)

We’ve found through previous membership studies that one of the most common reasons for deciding not to renew membership is ‘I don’t visit enough to justify the cost’. One way to combat this is to consider how you might add reciprocal value to your membership scheme.

At Scitech, not only do members get free entry, but they also receive free entry to seven partner science centers in Australia, and over 200 centers worldwide as part of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Travel Passport Program.

Although offering reciprocal value is still benefits-focused rather than support-focused, this may still help foster and build a deeper relationship with members, by putting the focus on increasing access to science, art or culture more widely, rather than solely at your organization. This may engender perceptions of generosity and goodwill.

Example 3: Communicate your purpose to your members (President Lincoln’s Cottage and Smithsonian)

Finally, ensuring your members are aware of what (and who) their membership fees help support is crucial to ensuring they are connected with your cause and purpose.

President Lincoln’s Cottage refers to its members as Team Lincoln, helping to keep their commitment to continuing Abraham Lincoln’s work in advancing democracy top-of-mind. Additionally, by referring to members as being part of a team, there is an immediate sense of belonging, and being part of something bigger united by a common purpose.

president-lincolns-cottage-library membership
President Lincoln’s Cottage

PLC also begins its membership ask with an explanation of the important educational resources, public programming and critical projects that wouldn’t be possible without the generous help of Team Lincoln.

The Smithsonian Institution also leads its calls for new members with the important investment Members make towards celebrating and preserving the nation’s history, art, science and inventions.

The Friends of the Smithsonian scheme connects members deeply with the organization’s mission, and although members receive some benefits in return, the emphasis is on philanthropy and altruism. Members receive regular updates detailing the amazing things the institution was able to achieve with the support of membership donations.

Reflecting on your own membership proposition

Value is just one component to consider when thinking about your membership scheme. At MHM, we’ve developed our membership proposition map for organizations to use to reflect on the type of relationship they want to have with their members, and what they want their scheme to do.

The map uses four axes (value, price, relationship and benefits); the way these interact reveals six proposition dimensions. This can be an invaluable tool in helping you make decisions about your membership program – considering where you currently are and where you might want to be to align more deeply with your strategic goals.

Reflecting on the six questions below and then plotting each aspect of your offer on the map will help clarify where your scheme currently sits and the changes you might want to work towards.

Membership proposition map MHM

1. What relationship do we promise?

Are we speaking to members as a client or a patron? Is the offer a transaction or a relationship?

2. How customisable is the product?

Is this a standardised off-the-peg product or is it flexible? How personal or generic are the benefits we’re offering?

3. Where is the relevance?

How critical is our membership to the lives of our members for the next year, and long into the future?

4. What exchange do we expect?

Reflecting on our relationship, what do we expect of members? Is this a mutual commitment? Are they involved in some way? Or are they simply a purchaser?

5. (How) do we deliver?

Do we use segmented communications that demonstrate we’re offering a tailored service, or are we offering a ‘one-size-fits-all’ product?

6. Are we value for money?

Reflecting on the benefits, relationships and products we provide, is our membership proposition pitched at the right price for lapsing members?

Member research

Once you’ve created your own proposition map by locating your position on the six axes, you may want to plot the schemes of your peers and competitors. There will likely be some similarities, but think about the things that make your scheme stand apart.

It may also be beneficial to think about whether your offer aligns with your members’ current needs. Member insight can reveal the misalignment between your ambition and the member experience, as well as the member preference. Addressing these gaps will also reinforce your members’ loyalty to you.

To take this further, member research can prove really useful in providing hard evidence of how members currently feel about you, and how they might react to any changes to your membership program.

If you feel your organization might benefit from research or consultancy around member acquisition, retention or re-engagement, please contact Roisin Coleman.

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Roisin Coleman MHM

Roisin Coleman

As a senior research executive, Roisin in an expert in ensuring that complicated, multi-method projects run smoothly and without a hitch. Across all of her projects internationally, big or small, Roisin enjoys distilling data down into clear, actionable insights, making such that her clients can make real, impactful changes as a result of the research.

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