Why Scoring Member Engagement Matters, Part 2

Here’s the latest post in our “INDUSTRY INSIDERS” column.  Every Monday, we’ll be bringing you the inside scoop from several awesome association technology vendors and consultants who will share the insights they have gleaned from years of working in our association industry.  Our columnists include Ann Yoders of Terpsys, Chris Bonney and Ray Van Hilst of Vanguard Technology, Midori Connelly of Pulse Staging, Patrick Dorsey, Carlos Restrepo and Ben Martin of Avectra, Bryan Kelly and Amith Nagarajan of Aptify, Garry Polmateer of Red Argyle, Christina Smith of YourMembership.com, Kevin Jackson of Biz-Zone, and Paul Schneider of Socious.  All of them are  smart and savvy bloggers, and we know you’ll enjoy what they have to say!

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Choosing the Best Indicators to Measure Engagement

Members who engage in a way that is aligned with their association’s strategic goals directly help the association grow stronger and more relevant. Any association that has the ability to objectively score member engagement is in the enviable position of being able to measure the effectiveness of its members in supporting its strategy. Composite Engagement Score (CES) allows you to do just that.

To start calculating your CES, it’s critical that you first select a small number of strategic priorities and focus on them. Then, within those priorities, select Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These are the core inputs that will define what engagement really means to you. The KPIs you choose should align directly with your association’s strategic priorities. They should be focused, relevant, and limited. Additionally, it is critical to keep the number of KPIs to five or less.

Ask yourself: Which top five KPIs best measure a member’s engagement level as it relates to my organization’s strategic vision? For example, if your priority is to raise the public awareness of the association, then effective KPIs might be the number of speaking engagements or the number of blog posts a member has participated in. If the goal is to heighten member involvement within the association, then top KPIs might be the number of events attended or the number of committees served on.

Some other examples of KPIs relevant to your organization may include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Number of years as a member
• Number of referrals
• Total revenue from member
• Number of volunteer hours
• Level of social engagement (specifically, for example, the number of “likes,” “plus ones,” or “shares” on a social stream)

The key, of course, is to find the KPIs that truly reflect what is most important to your organization. Find your top five. These are the building blocks of your CES score.

Next week, I’ll outline how to create a unified measurement of your members’ engagement from the KPIs you’ve just selected.

This series is based on the eBook Scoring Member Engagement: What Engagement Really Means and How to Measure It. To download a copy of the full eBook, which includes a complete discussion of KPI strategy and selection, please click here.

To read the first post in this series (Why Scoring Member Engagement Matters, Part 1) go here.

You can also watch Amith’s webinar on Scoring Member Engagement, please click here to view.

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Amith Nagarajan co-founded Aptify in 1993. He is responsible for the long term strategy of the organization as well as the day-to-day operational leadership.

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(photo credit)