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Association Management

Is Your Association Difficult to Join?

MemberClicks Avatar MemberClicks November 7, 2016
Table of Contents
2 min read

Join Now-1.jpg

If you’re like most associations, membership recruitment is a top priority for you. You need to recruit more members to help your association grow (and to make up for the members who are bound to lapse each year).

That said, there’s one big factor affecting whether or not people join – and that’s the ease of joining your association. If it can’t be done in a few simple steps, people might toss the idea altogether.

To make your association easy to join, consider the following:

1. Placing member information/benefits front and center

The first challenge in getting people to join your association is convincing them they should. That said, don’t make prospects go looking for that information. Make it clear what they’ll get out of joining your association and put that information front and center. You’ll also want to make sure that information is easy to digest, so consider utilizing numbered lists, bullet points, infographics, etc.

2. Placing “Join now” links or buttons in multiple, prominent places

People will decide they want to join your association at different points in their experience with you. Some may decide they want to join right after reading the aforementioned list of benefits. Others may need some time to think it through. That said, it’s a best practice to place “Join now” links or buttons in as many places as you can (where it makes sense, or course). For example, you’ll definitely want to have one on your member benefits page, but in addition to that, you’ll probably want one on your home page, on your “About Us” page, on your social media account(s), etc. The more people see that link or button, the more likely they are to actually click it.

3. Accepting online applications

This one’s huge. In an age where everything is digital, it’s a big inconvenience for people to have to mail things in. That said, sell your membership(s) online. Allow for people to submit their applications and pay for membership dues right there on your association’s website. And this probably goes without saying, but make sure your applications are mobile-friendly as well. A lot of people complete tasks like this on their cell phones and/or tablets.

Want more tips for boosting your membership recruitment rates? Check out our free guide, Best Practices for Online Member Acquisition, below!

Free Member Retention Guide

Ready to retain members and keep them coming back forever and ever? This guide will teach you everything you need to know about member retention. We cover all the basics, like the first steps to member retention and how to map out your member journey. From there, we dive a bit deeper into retention tips.

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