What is the best benefit to attract more association members?

The best membership benefit is one that is unique to your association or membership organization.

Too often, associations offer “member benefits” that can easily be found outside of association membership.  Car rental discounts are the classic example.  But if you look closely at most membership benefits, you’ll find that nearly all benefits could be replaced outside of the association.  That’s pretty scary if you’re trying to recruit and retain members!

It didn’t use to be that way.  Not too many years ago, the only place to get most member benefits was from an association. The internet changed that because members could now easily find “for-profit” replacements.  Of course, those replacement benefits probably existed long before that, but it wasn’t easy to find those benefits until search engines placed them a quick click away.

So what is the best benefit for recruitment and retention of association members? As stated above, it is something that is truly unique to your association. It could be education … but is similar education offered by for-profit companies?  It could be networking … but is similar education offered by for-profit companies?

We think we’ve found the best membership benefit for associations.  We’re biased, but we’ve been thinking about this for years.  The best membership benefit for associations is called the Best Association® Index. It leverages your most unique aspect – your members – to create a measure of how your members’ business and employment is doing now – and how your members expect it to be doing in the future.

We’re continuing to work on other similar member benefits – those that are unique to your association.  We’re always open to ideas. If you have ideas you would like to suggest, let us know.