Enhance your member engagement strategy with event data 

Member engagement is vital for the success of any association. People expect to gain benefits from being a part of an association, and events are one of the best ways to build member relationships and deliver value. 

Your members could have signed up for many reasons, such as continuous education, mentorship opportunities, career growth, professional development, advocacy, reputation building, access to resources, and exclusive networking opportunities. So, inviting your members to events is a great way to help them achieve their goals and engage with your association’s mission.  

That’s why a solid member engagement strategy fuelled by the data you gain at events is invaluable. If you want to ensure your association is successful, let’s take a deeper dive into:  

• The definition of member engagement 

• Why it’s important 

• How to measure and increase member engagement 

• The role of events in building member relationships 

• How event data can take your member engagement strategy to the next level 

What is member engagement? 

Member engagement describes how members interact with your association and the emotional connection they feel towards it. They might engage by attending events, participating in online forums, opening email communications, responding to surveys, providing regular feedback, and using member benefits. They might even demonstrate their commitment to your association by advocating on its behalf. 

In essence, member engagement means the active participation and ongoing interaction of members with your association, driven by a sense of belonging, value, and satisfaction.  

Why is member engagement important? 

An association can’t exist without its members. When members interact with each other and the experiences provided by the association, they help advance a shared mission. Member participation also directly impacts: 

• Retention: Engaged members are more likely to renew their memberships, participate in events, and contribute to the association’s growth. They see value in their relationship with the association and are less likely to leave. 

• Growth: Engaged members are often the best ambassadors for your association. They’re more likely to refer others, leading to positive word of mouth and organic growth. 

• Revenue: Higher engagement often translates to increased participation in events, product purchases, donations, and ROI for sponsors. 

• Feedback and improvement: Engaged members are more likely to provide feedback, which can help improve the association’s offering. 

• Community building: A highly engaged membership base fosters a sense of community, which is essential for long-term success. 

How to measure and increase member engagement 

The first step to improving member engagement is measuring it. There are many data points you can capture during your in-person and digital interactions to track the health of your association and the participation of your members. Each of these metrics can provide a different perspective or insight into how membership involvement is performing.  

You might be capturing this data across multiple people and systems but combining them will give you the most comprehensive view of membership engagement and how to improve it. 

Here are a few examples: 

• Event attendance: Track how often members attend your events, both online and offline. 

• Website and portal activity: Monitor how frequently members log into your member portal, visit your website, or interact with your content. 

• Email open and click-through rates: Measure how often members open your emails and click on links within them. 

• Social media interactions: Track likes, shares, comments, and other forms of interaction on your social media channels. 

• Surveys and feedback: Conduct regular surveys to measure member satisfaction and gather feedback on various aspects of your association. 

• Volunteer participation: Track how often members volunteer for activities, committees, or leadership roles. 

• Renewal rates: Monitor the percentage of members who renew their membership each year. 

How events can increase member engagement 

Events bring people together. Naturally, they play a pivotal role in any membership engagement strategy. Whether they are in-person, virtual, or hybrid, events provide opportunities for members to interact, learn, and build relationships. As a result, they keep members interested and invested in your association.  

Think about the outcomes that you want to deliver at your event and how to align them with your association’s mission. Perhaps you want to bring members together so they can network with like-minded individuals and learn from each other’s experiences. Maybe you want to help your members complete their learning and professional development activities. In that case, you could feature educational sessions, workshops, and keynote speakers. Events can also be used to stay in tune with members and as a direct channel for gathering their feedback. 

If you’re looking for some great ideas for enhancing member involvement, consider this great example of how one of our customers engages their attendees at every stage of the event lifecycle. 

Increase engagement pre-event by:  

• Providing thought-provoking industry surveys and opinion polls. 

• Running targeted marketing campaigns. 

• Providing member-only discounts. 

• Offering early access to ticketed functions and workshops. 

Engage members on the day of events by: 

• Providing self-serve event check-in. 

• Gamifying the acquisition of continuing professional development points. 

• Creating fun, personalized experiences for members in the attendee app. 

• Running interactive AGM and voting activities. 

Continue engagement with their members post-event by:  

• Sharing feedback surveys. 

• Sending out certificates of attendance. 

• Sharing event content and on-demand videos. 

At every stage of their event, they also capture member engagement data – and so can you. Here are some of the event data points that can be captured to guide your member engagement strategy:  

• Registration data: Who registered for the event, when they registered, and what prompted them to register. 

• Attendance data: Who attended, how long they stayed, and which sessions or activities they participated in. 

• Engagement metrics: The volume and sentiment of interactions during live chats, polls, presentations, networking sessions, breakout groups, and Q&As.  

• Feedback and surveys: What members did and didn’t like, and opportunities for future events. 

• Social media mentions: Mentions of the event on social media and overall sentiment. 

• Purchases, transactions, and lead generation: Purchases made during the event and interest generated in service offerings. 

But what do you do with all of this information? The true magic starts to happen when you can visualize it within your whole membership ecosystem. That’s why EventsAir has an OpenAPI. It can help you integrate your event data with your association’s tech stack, particularly, your membership database or CRM. 

How combined event and member engagement data delivers deep insights 

Integrated data will help you uncover insights into member activity and enhance your strategy. Here are some of the key benefits it can provide: 

• Unified member profiles: An EventsAir integration allows you to create a comprehensive view of each member by combining event data with other membership data. This unified profile helps in understanding member behavior and preferences. 

• Improved communication: With integrated platforms, you can tailor communications based on members’ event participation history, ensuring they receive relevant and timely information. 

• Better event planning: By analyzing combined data, you can identify trends in engagement and preferences, helping you plan events that better align with your members’ interests. 

• Streamlined operations: Integration reduces the need for manual data entry and reconciliation between platforms, saving time and reducing the risk of errors. 

• Enhanced member experience: Integrated systems can offer a more seamless experience for members. For example, you can use combined data to automatically validate event check-ins, pre-fill registration forms, tailor communications for different membership segments, allocate CPD points based on session check-ins, and provide access to member-only content.  

• Tracking event ROI: By sharing event registration and membership fee data, associations can track the ROI of their engagement activities. 

In short, event integrations, such as a CRM, allows for more efficient operations, better insights, and a more personalized experience for members, all of which contribute to higher engagement. EventsAir even has Smart Connectors available so that you can set up your integrations without having to write any code and get started straight away. 

The event and membership data points you can share 

To fully leverage the benefits of integration, you need to know what data you can share. Here are some key data points that can be used to create a personalized event experience for your members: 

• Member demographics: Share basic information like age, gender, location, and job title to help tailor event marketing and content. 

• Membership status: Know whether a member is active, lapsed, or prospective to tailor your communications and the event experience. 

• Event participation history: Share information on past event attendance, session participation, and engagement levels to inform future planning and communications for your members. 

• Communication preferences: Adhere to each member’s preferred communication channels and frequency across multiple systems. 

• Survey and feedback data: Share survey responses and feedback from both platforms to gain a holistic view of member satisfaction and preferences. 

• Purchasing behavior: Track and share data on purchases made through either platform, such as event tickets, merchandise, or donations. 

• Content consumption: Share data on which content members have engaged with to tailor future offerings. 

When you share the right information, your events will run in sync with the rest of your association, and you will be able to create far more engaging experiences for your attendees. 

Embracing an integrated tech stack to enhance connections with your members 

Events are one of the most important touchpoints in your member engagement strategy. Capturing, analyzing, and integrating the data that’s created at your events with your membership platform is a powerful way to build stronger relationships with your members and reach your association’s goals.