If you’re a leader at an association, you know member engagement is essential for your organization to thrive. When members feel connected to your association and can conveniently access opportunities for professional development, they’re more likely to think their membership is worthwhile and renew year after year.
In the digital age, having the right tools for engaging members is more critical than ever. If you aren’t sure where to begin looking for member engagement software, you’ve come to the right place! This guide will cover everything you need to know about these platforms, including:
- What is member engagement software?
- Benefits of Member Engagement Platforms
- Features to Look for in Member Engagement Software
- A Closer Look at Clowder’s Mobile Member Engagement Platform
Keep in mind that your association exists not only in a digital-first world, but a mobile-first one. More than 60% of global internet traffic comes from smartphones, and 91% of Americans own a smartphone, many of whom consider this device essential to their daily lives. Especially if your association members skew younger or tend to spend most of their workdays on the go, you may consider investing in software with mobile engagement capabilities to meet them where they are. That being said, let’s get started!
What is member engagement software?
Member engagement software refers to digital solutions designed for associations to connect and communicate with members, as well as encourage involvement. It typically centralizes various engagement tasks, from resource sharing to event planning, in a single platform to streamline workflows and allow for easier collaboration.
As we referenced previously, many member engagement solutions are desktop-based, while others take a mobile-first approach to connect spread-out, active communities. Whichever type of software you choose, your member engagement platform is a key piece of your association’s tech stack that helps your organization provide value and operate efficiently.
Benefits of Member Engagement Platforms
When you invest in the right member engagement software for your needs, your association can experience many advantages, such as:
- Increased member participation. When you can develop and communicate about member engagement opportunities efficiently, and members can get involved easily, they’re more likely to take advantage of all your association has to offer.
- More effective communication. Engagement-focused solutions allow you to send quick, targeted updates to members and centralize internal communications to keep everyone on the same page about current happenings.
- Easier revenue management. Member engagement and association revenue generation go hand in hand, so your platform should allow you to promote renewals, collect resource and event fees, and manage sponsorships all in one place.
- Improved retention rates. Because member engagement platforms combine convenient access to opportunities, high-quality communication, and simple renewals, they encourage members to stay with your association long-term.
In addition to streamlining your team’s workflows, all of these benefits improve the member experience at your association, making it worthwhile to adopt an engagement platform no matter your priorities.
Features to Look for in Member Engagement Software
Naturally, some member engagement platforms will be more beneficial for your association than others based on how they’re designed and what your organization specifically needs. Each solution’s user-friendliness, security, pricing, and implementation timeline will be major factors in your buying decision.
To help you start creating lists of additional must-haves and nice-to-haves, let’s walk through some of the top features you’ll encounter in member engagement software.
Member Profiles & Directory
As soon as a new member joins your organization, your member engagement solution should automatically create an individual profile for them. Make sure this profile contains all of the key information you need to know about that person, such as their:
- Name (legal and preferred) and pronouns
- Contact information (email, phone number, mailing address, social media handles, etc.)
- Preferred communication method
- Employment details (current employer, job title, years at company, relevant past roles, etc.)
- Date they became a member of your association
- Membership tier (if applicable)
- Engagement history (event attendance, online course completion, volunteer service, etc.)
- Any other data your team might find helpful, such as relevant interests or marital and family status
All of your profiles should comprise a searchable directory within your member engagement software. This allows you to easily find members you want to communicate with about specific initiatives. It’s also helpful to have a member-facing directory with revised profiles (other members may not need to know as much about data points like membership tiers and engagement history as your staff do, but they might want to see the awards members have won, for instance) to facilitate networking and help members get to know each other.
News & Resources
Your members likely want to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at your association and in their field as a whole. Member engagement software that includes a news feed helps your association fulfill this need by delivering real-time updates to members wherever they may be. It’s especially useful if members can select the topics they want to follow in their feed, whether they’re looking for news on a specific area of their industry or tracking down new job opportunities.
Additionally, ensure your member engagement solution allows members to easily access a variety of evergreen professional development resources. Different people learn best in different ways—for instance, some members might enjoy guided online courses, while others prefer to read articles or watch one-off videos—so look for an engagement tool with a robust resource library and multimedia hosting capabilities.
Member Communications
Communication is naturally a cornerstone of member engagement, so your member engagement software should facilitate many kinds of communication, such as:
- Direct-to-member. These messages come down from your association to individual members. Although email is a tried-and-true method for these communications, today’s association members increasingly feel like their organizations send them too many emails (50% of respondents to a 2024 survey said so, up from 34% in 2023). Mobile messaging—whether directly through an app or via text—can take the place of some emails and reduce member fatigue in this area.
- Forums. These digital spaces encourage discussions among members, allowing them to provide and seek answers and advice about various industry topics. While members will create the content on these forums, your association still needs to oversee them for them to be productive. Set general guidelines for forum posting etiquette and keep each forum focused on one subject so members know where to go when they’re looking for information.
- One-to-one. This type of communication allows members to directly contact each other, which you can facilitate by providing contact information in your public-facing member directory or using an app with messaging capabilities. Either way, this feature lets members reach out to others who may have insights on specific situations. For example, if a member is being considered for a promotion, talking about it with another member who has a similar job to the promoted role can help them decide if the new position will be a good fit for them.
Pro tip: If you’re using a mobile app to manage member communications, strategic push notifications can increase engagement with all types of messages. Even though some members may turn off notifications, those who keep them on will be more likely to spend time on your app if a banner with “1 New Reply to Your Forum Post” or “Registration Is Now Open for Our Annual Conference!” appears on their smartphone screen.
Event Management
Events are a significant undertaking for associations, whether you’re organizing a multi-day conference, a one-off panel discussion, or a volunteer outing through a nonprofit partner. While you’ll likely use your association management system (AMS) to do most of the heavy lifting for events, your member engagement platform can help with several aspects of planning and management, such as:
- Distributing and collecting online registration forms
- Sending out session descriptions and pre-scheduling options
- Checking in attendees efficiently via QR codes
- Creating name badges for participants and speakers
- Managing event-related content and communications
- Gamifying activities like member networking and exhibitor visits
Generally speaking, your member engagement software should handle attendee-facing aspects of event management, while your AMS is better suited to higher-level internal tasks like organizing programming and tracking payments.
Sponsorships & Advertising
Association sponsorships are a win-win-win situation: your organization gets additional funding for events and initiatives, your sponsors increase their brand visibility, and your members get to learn about new products that may be useful to them. But when your association has lots of sponsors, tracking your relationships with them can be tricky, which is where engagement software with sponsorship management capabilities comes in.
In addition to centralizing sponsorship agreements and communications, member engagement platforms (especially mobile apps) can help you and your sponsors generate even more revenue through advertising. Targeted ads are a valuable add-on to your sponsorship agreements since they provide sponsors with direct monetary gain as well as greater brand awareness.
Reporting & Analytics
You’ll only be able to improve your member engagement approach over time if you effectively track and analyze data that shows you what is going well and what could still use some work. Ensure your software includes a dashboard or other tool that makes it easy to visualize and evaluate key engagement metrics like:
- Member acquisition and retention rates
- News feed interactions
- Participation in events, courses, and forum discussions
- Open, click-through, and response rates for messages
- Sponsor ad clicks and impressions
- Member satisfaction indicators (reviews, survey responses, etc.)
As with other data collection processes at your association, make sure to follow all applicable legal and ethical guidelines and take proper security precautions with your member engagement systems. This way, your members can trust that you’ll keep any sensitive information they share with you safe.
Integrations
An engagement platform is just one piece of a complete association tech stack. To allow for easier data transfer and collaboration between solutions, integrate or connect your engagement software with other essential tools your organization uses, including your:
- Constituent relationship management (CRM) system or other central database
- AMS or similar membership management software
- Learning management system (LMS) where your online courses live
- Website builder to align all of your digital member-facing platforms
Additionally, if your association provides grant funding, collects abstracts from prospective event speakers, or allows members to submit nominations for awards, you may also leverage an application management solution. Although this platform might not directly integrate with your member engagement system, you can still develop an integrated strategy for leveraging these tools. For example, you might notify members about award nomination opportunities using your engagement software’s messaging tools or import abstracts to promote event sessions.
A Closer Look at Clowder’s Mobile Member Engagement Platform
Now that you know what features the best member engagement solutions include, you’re probably starting to consider which specific platform to use. When it comes to mobile-first engagement solutions designed for trade associations and on-the-go communities, look no further than Clowder!
Clowder allows you to build a fully customizable app for your association that your members can download on iOS or Android. In addition to this flexibility, here are just a few aspects of our platform that make it the #1 engagement solution for professional communities:
- A comprehensive suite of features, including everything listed above and more!
- A command center that anyone at your association can use effectively, regardless of technical expertise.
- Ongoing support to help your team make the most of the platform at every stage of organizational growth.
- Integrations with many leading association solutions, such as iMIS, Salesforce, and Higher Logic.
Think of Clowder as a private social network for your association, bringing your members together virtually to deepen their connections with your organization and each other. But don’t just take our word for it—check out our client success stories from real associations across various industries (from commercial real estate to baseball coaching) to see the platform in action!
Wrapping Up: Additional Resources on Association Member Engagement
Member engagement software is vital to your association’s success, especially in an era where digital and mobile activity reigns supreme. Use our guidance to start thinking about the right platform for your organization, and make sure to add Clowder to your list if you’re looking for a highly customizable app-based tool!
For more information on engaging your association’s members, check out these resources:
- Member Engagement: 10 Top Strategies for the Digital Age. Explore some of the best ways to engage association members, which your software can facilitate.
- Mobile Apps for Associations: Everything You Need to Know. Learn more about the unique qualities of mobile-first member engagement platforms and how to choose one.
- How a Year-Round Membership App Delivers More Value Than Event Apps. Discover the differences between two common types of member engagement solutions to help you make an informed purchasing decision.
