As an association leader, you know how critical member engagement is to your organization’s long-term sustainability. After all, engaged members aren’t just more likely to renew year after year—they often upgrade to higher membership tiers and pay non-dues revenue through event attendance, professional development opportunities, and various other purchases. And that doesn’t even take into account the intangible ways they make your association more effective!

However, there may be times when you notice your organization’s membership metrics (participation rates, revenue totals, satisfaction, etc.) dropping or you simply feel lost as to how to keep members engaged without spending too much additional time and money on your strategies. Fortunately, if either of those describes your current situation, you’ve come to the right place!

Let’s discuss three ways you can give your association’s member engagement rates a quick boost now that will lead to better long-term results for your entire organization.

1. Shift Some Email Communications to Other Channels

Email is a reliable way to reach large audiences, so your association probably uses it frequently to communicate with members. But in a 2024 survey of association members, 50% of respondents expressed that they feel like they get too many emails from the organizations they’re part of—up from 34% in 2023.

While this doesn’t mean you should take email out of your strategy completely (in fact, in the survey referenced above, more respondents cited email newsletters and digests as their favorite association member benefit than any other option), consider diversifying your communications to prevent members from feeling overwhelmed by any one channel. Clowder’s member engagement guide breaks down the ideal uses of popular digital communication methods as follows:

  • Email: Best for sending personalized, detailed messages and the aforementioned recurring newsletters.
  • Social media: Best for spreading the word broadly about new opportunities and grabbing audiences’ attention through eye-catching videos and graphics.
  • Mobile messaging: Best for providing quick updates and reminders and ensuring members see those communications (especially given that the average American spends more than five hours per day on their smartphone!).

If you truly need a quick member engagement win, you’ll probably want to use SMS for mobile messaging since it’s easy to get started with. However, a more effective long-term approach is to invest in a mobile app for associations. Not only do these platforms make it easy to message members directly, but they also allow members to securely contact each other, participate in discussion forums, curate personalized news feeds, and engage more deeply with educational and event content—all from the convenience of their phones.

2. Create Low-Lift Advanced Engagement Methods

“Low-lift advanced engagement” may seem like an oxymoron at first glance. What we mean by it is that association members who are already somewhat involved (e.g., they may attend your annual conference, read your newsletters, and participate in the occasional professional development course or webinar) might want to deepen their engagement further, but every next step they could take is too big of a jump in their minds.

Your association can lower this barrier to entry by providing opportunities to just get a small taste of the engagement avenues your most passionate members take advantage of. Here are a few examples for inspiration:

  • Leadership: If your organization has a mentorship program for new members, invite experienced members who aren’t ready to commit to being recurring mentors to have just one introductory conversation with a new member or be a guest speaker at a mentoring meeting to discuss a topic they’re very familiar with.
  • Presentations: In addition to traditional oral presentations and expert-led panels, incorporate shorter formats like poster sessions or “lightning talks” (oral presentations that take 5-10 minutes rather than the typical 15-20) into your conferences as a less intimidating starting point for members who may be presenting for the first time.
  • Volunteering: Create one-off volunteer opportunities that take only a few hours of members’ time, such as packing new member welcome kits, organizing conference materials, or participating in a volunteer outing with a nonprofit partner. Then, wait until after this experience before asking them to volunteer more regularly.

These opportunities allow members to dip their toes into the next level of engagement so they can make an informed decision about whether to dive deeper into those avenues. Plus, they make it easier to work association involvement into a busy schedule. Make sure to collect feedback from participants in these new activities to understand whether they’re serving their intended purpose and how often members want to move forward after completing them.

3. Incorporate New Appreciation Tactics

Members at all levels want to feel like your organization values their involvement. But while the events, awards, and other formal appreciation methods that many associations default to have their place in recognizing those who go above and beyond, they can often feel out of reach for members in the earlier stages of their engagement journeys.

To expand your appreciation strategy to include all members, you can:

  • Upgrade your post-event follow-up emails to include a digital greeting card or recap video.
  • Send a piece of branded merchandise or another small thank-you gift along with your membership renewal reminders or impact reports.
  • Issue certificates that members can print or badges they can display in their member directory profile when they complete online courses or workshops.
  • Provide special discounts on merchandise, paid educational resources, or event registration to volunteers.

Peer recognition opportunities can also make members feel valued within your association’s community. eCardWidget’s member appreciation guide recommends encouraging members to shout each other out in discussion groups, exchange individual messages of appreciation, and even nominate others for awards to make that formal recognition avenue more accessible.

The ideas above are just three of the many possibilities for boosting association engagement that are quick to implement and produce results. Use your member engagement platform to centralize the management of these new opportunities, personalize communications, and track data on all methods so you have a complete picture of how your efforts affect your membership metrics and overall association health over time.