Growing your membership, delivering a highly valued service and saving costs at the same time
Success Achieved
The eStudent offer of IBMS - from a predicted first year loss of £5,325, to a total cost saving of £24,792.
Organisation
| Name: | Institute of Biomedical Science | |
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| Member geography: | International | |
| Members: | 21,000 members in 74 countries | |
| Based in: | United Kingdom | |
| Website: | https://www.ibms.org |
Introduction
IBMS free student membership required intensive staffing resources, incurred substantial costs and was limited to students on IBMS accredited degree courses. The IBMS had limited control over marketing messages and limited direct communication with student members.
By developing an online only, paid for student membership, the IBMS Membership and Marketing Team have been able to deliver substantial cost savings, grow and diversify our student membership and provide a platform to build a strong relationship with our student members.
Discovery
Previously IBMS student membership was limited to “Free Associate” membership - offering one year of free membership and only available to students at IBMS accredited universities, with the option to continue in membership as a paid Associate member.
The majority of students delayed taking Free Associate membership until their final year of study meaning we lost up to 3 years of potential Associate membership fees from students.
Attrition amongst Free Associates was poor, staffing resources required were intensive and print and postage costs were substantial. The IBMS also had limited control over marketing messages and limited direct communication with Free Associate members.
In order to address the issues of a costly student membership offer with a high attrition rate and to offer a wider group of students a cost effective offer that would better meet their needs, the Membership and Marketing Team proposed an online only student membership; IBMS eStudent membership.
IBMS eStudent was designed to be an electronic only membership category of the IBMS - developed in conjunction with biomedical science students – providing a branded microsite, tailored content and regular electronic communication.
Objectives
IBMS eStudent membership was developed to:
- Save costs (staff time, print, postage etc.)
- Grow and diversify student membership (expanding into non-IBMS accredited universities and overseas)
- Increase uptake of IBMS student membership by first and second year undergraduate students
- Develop an electronic category of IBMS membership (this supports an additional organisational objective by facilitating the growth our international presence and membership)
- Develop a strong sub-brand appealing to young members and meeting their needs (via support, information, grants and prizes, convenient electronic communication etc.)
- Identify and communicate better and more regularly with a student audience, building a long term relationship with the organization
Following a market sizing exercise and a detailed breakdown in costs associated with the Institute’s Free Associate student membership, our first year targets for our new eStudent product were set at:
- 550 eStudent paying £10 membership fees
- The cost of the student membership to the IBMS reduced from £18, 894 to £5,325
These targets were developed to ensure that the cost of student membership to the IBMS would be close to neutral in the first year - aside from the offer’s development cost of £5200 – even with significantly lower uptake than the Free Associate offer. The cost saving target was developed through the elimination of print and postal costs by switching to electronic student membership.
These targets would allow the eStudent offer to start generating income for the IBMS in its second year of operation.
Project period
October 2012 to October 2014
Project Team
- Sarah Holman, Head of Communications (lead)
- Lynda Rigby, Head of Membership and Marketing
- Sandra Shevlin, P.A to Executive Head of Marketing and Membership
- Annie Densham, Membership Officer
- Daisy Mortimer, Membership Officer
- Becky Gerrish, Membership and Marketing Officer
- Alex Cochrane, Website Manager
Project Partners
- Clip Creative - Designers
- ArtOneZero - Web Supplier
- FormulaCRM - CRM Database Supplier
Activities
In order to achieve the Institute’s strategic goal of amending our value proposition and expanding our membership into non-traditional markets, the Membership and Marketing Team proposed developing an electronic only, paid student membership category.
This proposal, along with market sizing data, was presented to the Institute’s Membership and Marketing Committee (MMC) in Autumn 2012. It was agreed that additional research around the content and pricing of the offer be undertaken and presented at the next Committee meeting.
Developing an offer to meet students’ needs at an appropriate price point was central to the eStudent offer’s potential success. Extensive research was undertaken by the IBMS Membership and Marketing Team with student focus groups and via surveys, indicating that students wanted information tailored to their needs and would prefer to be communicated with electronically.
Having secured MMC approval to begin development of the eStudent offer, the research undertaken with students, price comparison and further financial modelling was undertaken and a price point of £10 was proposed by the Membership and Marketing Team and approved by the Institute’s MMC in April 2013.
The Membership and Marketing team then began work with our web supplier and database manager to develop an online only offer. This involved developing and hosting an automated online joining and renewal process and creating of a microsite on the main IBMS website featuring eStudent branding and developing tailored content. The student research was used to develop the tailored content on the eStudent microsite and an eNews roundup.
The online only membership prompted the development of an online version of the IBMS journal, The Biomedical Scientist, in partnership with our publisher.
eStudent promotional postcard
The Head of Communications worked with a designer to develop a brand and logo that would feel like it was part of the IBMS brand, creating a sense of community, but with a distinct identity of its own - emphasising the modern, electronic nature of eStudent membership. The branding was used for the eStudent website and all eStudent promotional materials.
The Head of Communications developed a marketing plan for the offer and system testing was undertaken by the Membership and Marketing Team. Although it meant working to very tight deadlines, work was completed in time for the product launch to coincide with the beginning of the academic year in order to achieve maximum impact and uptake.
Challenges
Persuading some IBMS Executive Heads and Council of the need for change regarding the Institute’s student offering proved difficult at first. However, this was overcome by marketing the Institute’s current student offer to course and admissions tutors of non-IBMS accredited university courses, with coded application forms sent. No application forms coded to this campaign were returned.
As the IBMS had not previously offered online joining, this had to be set up from scratch. This involved liaising between four different teams – database support, internal website team, external website support and the Membership and Marketing Team.
Setting up a discrete renewals and upgrades process for eStudent members, who are admitted throughout the year rather than at quarterly intervals, as is the case other IBMS membership grades.
The main technical issue that came up after the go live date was the appearance of duplicate records on the IBMS member database. Some students submitted multiple online joining applications, resulting in multiple records for that student appearing on the member database. This was overcome through additional testing and website development after the go live date.
Achievements
Within six months of launch the eStudent brand, we have more paying eStudent members than we had free student members in all of the previous year.
The 2013-2014 membership year saw 1,675 paying eStudent join the IBMS – exceeding the 1,052 total of Free Associate members for the previous year, and exceeding our eStudent recruitment target by over 200%.
Rather than a predicted first year loss of £5,325 in the first year of the eStudent offer, we achieved total cost saving of £24,792.
We have also expanded our membership base into non-IBMS accredited Universities, with over 15% of our eStudent members from non-accredited Universities compared to 0% under the Free Associate offer.
We have succeeded in diversifying the year groups of student members of the IBMS. Under the Free Associate offer 96% of student members were in their final year, however, under the new eStudent offer only 60% of student members are in their final year at university. This diversification provides opportunities to generate further income through eStudent membership renewals as students progress through their courses.
We have also expanded our international reach to areas where the IBMS has not traditionally had overseas branches, including; the Philippines, the Netherlands, Belgium, Kenya, India, Malaysia, Portugal and Malta.
Success Factors
The move to an online only offer and the removal of the requirement for students to be on an IBMS accredited degree course, enabled the Institute to offer a competitively priced student membership to a far wider potential market. The research the Membership and Marketing Team undertook was central to delivering an offer that was attractive to students while being cost effective for the Institute.
It was important that the pricing of the offer was developed in conjunction with student focus groups. A £10-15 price point was considered fair by student focus groups and competitive when considered alongside the pricing of similar organisation’s student membership fees. We considered the £10 price point recognised the financial pressures faced by students, while providing good value and covering the cost of the offer to the IBMS.
Financial modelling based on £10 and £15 price points way also key, indicating that the predicted increase in student uptake at the £10 price point would generate greater income than the £15 price point. Modelling indicated that the £10 price point would cover the Institute’s costs and start generating income by year 2 of the new offer.
The online nature of the eStudent offer also meant that unique content including; electronic journal access, careers advice and guidance and tailored webinars are all accessible online, ensuring equality of access to students across the UK and overseas and enhancing overseas student recruitment.
What would we do differently?
- Build in a longer lead time for the testing of the new online systems and database additions.
- Dedicate more staff resources to developing content for the offer.
Feeback & Testimonials
I have found the eStudent membership to be of great benefit to me as a final year part time student on an accredited degree programme at the University of Hull. Receiving regular emails has enabled me to become aware and informed about up to date issues which are relevant to me as a trainee biomedical scientist. I have also been able to utilise the online CPD portfolio which I feel is a really good and simple way to keep track of all my CPD activities.
It won’t be long until I can apply for my first CPD diploma, I feel that embracing the culture of CPD even at the early stage of my career is important as self-development is such an important requirement of being a HCPC registered healthcare professional. IBMS membership has also encouraged me to participate in local branch activities and present a poster at IBMS Congress.
Making full use of the opportunities that membership has provided has enabled me to grow in self-confidence and network with many new people. It’s important as a student especially in times when recruitment is low to get your face seen and show how committed you are to your chosen career!
Helen Plant, University of Hull
I find eStudent IBMS valuable for a number of reasons. A major one is the regular news roundup, it is a fascinating glimpse of current developments and points of interest.
Another excellent use of eStudent IBMS membership is it does in fact give me the confidence to speak to representatives of both companies and scientific bodies when at fairs, due to having at least a starting point to talk about thanks to the news roundup.
Scott Ellison, University of Central Lancashire
Now that I am about to enter my final year I wanted to discover what the IBMS is really all about and joining as a student member has allowed me to do this. I have often heard my colleagues discussing CPD and was pleased to see that my membership allows me to join the CPD scheme and gain experience of this whilst still a student.
Karen Hilton, University of Bradford
The IBMS eStudent membership has helped me a lot in my first year of university, not only is the information I receive in newsletters and in The Biomedical Scientist extremely interesting it has also provided context and background to my studies.
Overall the eStudent membership has not only provided me with context to my studies but has also contributed to my chosen career path in biomedical sciences, haematology. As a result of this I will be renewing my eStudent membership again for the remainder of my time at university
Mark Vernon, Oxford Brookes University
I found having student membership with the IBMS kept me up to date with all the latest scientific studies. They always piqued my curiosity and made me even more interested in my career path. It was helpful for studying as it provided many useful links. I wouldn't hesitate to suggest my peers to sign up. It is great at delivering all the latest news occurring in the medical and laboratory world. I'm always glad to have a source where I know the knowledge is reliable and accurate!
Rachel Murphy, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
I think that overall the eStudent membership has been useful to me. The resources available on the IBMS website are excellent and have come in handy for exam revision, assignment writing and for general interest.
Clare Barber, University of Sunderland
I was looking for career advice directly relating to biomedical science and found most career advice available to be too general, so I decided to have a look on the IBMS website. I have found the career advice here to be the most informative by far with the eStudent section containing great information on placements and HCPC registration as well as helpful hints on interviews.
I decided to become an eStudent member to have full access to all this and more, including news on the latest developments in the field reported in The Biomedical Scientist. I would encourage any biomedical science student to join IBMS eStudents and I look forward to my future as part of IBMS.
Daniel Maguire, Queen’s University Belfast
Wider Impact
Sheffield Hallam University was impressed by the eStudent offer, purchasing group membership for all their first year Biomedical Science BSc students.
