Delivering Member Value through Association Sponsored Research

Whether you serve members in a trade association or individual membership association, value is something that members want to receive from you.  And sometimes one of the most valuable benefits that can be uniquely supplied by a membership organization is research conducted with or on the behalf of your members.

Here are some examples of association sponsored research that members value either because it provides guidance to them or visibility to their profession. 

·        Member Polling Research – Gathering member perspective on important, newsworthy topics and then sharing it with the media can demonstrate the influence and support that an association is providing to members.  Here are samples of how one association has gained national attention by sharing their findings from member polls on critical healthcare issues.

·        Compensation Research – Because associations serve a defined constituency, they are well positioned to gather and report on employee compensation.  Both employers and employees are served through this information and access to the research report is a powerful incentive for member recruitment and retention efforts each year.   

·        Industry Benchmarking – Good benchmarking helps move planning from using antidotal information to data driven insights.  One trade organization, for example, provides benchmarking reports to help other member companies with data on sales force performance, number and size of orders, and web statistics.  Another association benchmarks critical purchasing data that now influences decision making for the entire economy.    

·        Consumer Opinion Research -- Helping members understand customers’ needs and desires within a defined marketplace can provide invaluable assistance.  Often this type of research is too costly or complex for an individual member company to produce, but done on behalf of many members, it can provide statistically valid and actionable information that easily pays for member’s annual dues. 

To recruit, engage, and retain members creating compelling and useful value has to be a top priority. But ideally that value needs to something more than a discount that is available from any number of organizations.  The value should be something that fits within the mission of the association and that others cannot easily replicate or find in the general market or through a Google search.  Research for members and about members can supply that specialized information that delivers indispensable value.