New on-boarding experience for members
Royal Society of Chemistry
With over 54,000 members and an international publishing and knowledge business we are the UK’s professional body for chemical scientists, supporting and representing our members and bringing together chemical scientists from all over the world.
National
Cambridge,
GB
www.rsc.org
Success achieved
How the RSC takes their members through a year-long membership journey tailored to their category of membership and career stage.- Project dates
- July 2017 - November 2019
Project team
- Katie Springham, Membership Development Executive
- Hannah Ash, Membership Applications Specialist
- Sue Godfrey, Marketing Executive
Tools & Systems
- Throughout the first-year onboarding process most of our communication is via email using a system called Maxemail. A template email is drafted and then reviewed before being upload into the system. We then pull membership data from our membership database (iMIS 20.1.19) into Maxemail which ensures that each member receives their onboarding communication at the appropriate time.
- We also worked with our in house marketing team to design and create membership category specific welcome packs - outlining specific category benefits – as well as e-cards, postcards and formal cards for our membership milestone campaign.
Introduction
Prior to 2018, new members of the Royal Society of Chemistry were onboarded in a light-touch way. Once a member was admitted into membership, a welcome pack was sent out to the member through the post containing a membership card, a pin badge, admission letter and a membership guide.
A month after admission the member would receive a letter welcoming them into membership from the current president. From this point, a new member would receive no new onboarding communication from the membership team until they received their annual renewal in the autumn.
In terms of recognising our members’ loyalty and ongoing support, the first celebrated milestone where the membership team would engage with the member would be at 40 years. At this point members would receive a gold badge in recognition of their membership. Long service certificates were produced for members reaching their 50, 60 and 70 years membership.
Discovery
We started research by reviewing data from our 2018 Member Survey. From the survey we know that a high portion of our members, around 91%, are proud or very proud to be members of the Royal Society Chemistry and that pride in membership and a sense of belonging to the Royal Society of Chemistry contributed to our members renewing their membership.
From this feedback we decided the time was right to look at how we celebrate our members for their dedication to membership and was the perfect opportunity to really thank our members for their continuing support.
We started by reviewing how we already celebrate our members’ membership milestones and decided we needed to expand on what we were already doing in terms of long service recognition and also put something in place to onboard our newest members.
Firstly, we discussed internally with the core project team ideas for onboarding our members and celebrating major membership milestones. We used data from our 2018 member survey and from our own member-run groups to inform our discussions and ensure that different career stages needs could be met also. From this point, we discussed our ideas with our members in various committees and found out how they would want to be welcomed as a new member and recognised for reaching milestones.
The outcome of the meetings and discussions clearly showed us that members want to feel engaged and welcomed in the first year of their membership. Also, a more established member did not want to be receive a physical reward for their loyalty to membership, but rather appreciated feeling like a valued part our worldwide community. In 2018 we saw a retention rate of new members who joined in 2017 of 79%, which is close to the industry mean – however we also know that our renewal rate is typically lower in the first year of membership and higher thereafter. The more members we can encourage to renew in the first year means a higher likelihood they will continue to renew.
Objectives
- A tailored approach to onboard members into membership starting at the point of application, through admittance to membership, receiving a new welcome pack and into their first year of membership culminating at their first-year anniversary.
- Increase engagement with the member throughout the first year of their membership using a new first year membership communication journey, providing new members with details about their membership throughout their first year.
- Increase renewal rates of members who are at their first year of renewal.
- Increase sense of pride and loyalty of members about their membership, by showing we value their ongoing support through a programme of membership milestones.
Timeline
- July 2017 – By-law 4 abolished. By-law 4 meant we had to offer exactly the same benefits regardless of member category
- Sept – Launch of new streamlined member benefits packages
- Jan 2018 – February 2018 – member survey open
- April – Project team met to review member survey feedback and scope project
- May/June – Copy for touchpoints and milestones drafted, mockups of emails, postcards, letters and cards made
- Sept – Launch of first year membership journey touchpoints
- Jan 2019 – Launch of anniversary milestones
- March – Review of first year membership journey touchpoints
- Nov – Renewal season starts (memberships run 1 January - 31 December)
- April 2020 – Renewal season ends
- July/Aug – Drafts and mocked up milestones taken to committees and boards for feedback
- Aug – revise draft copy and tweak design of emails, e-cards, postcards, cards and letters
Activities
Up until September 2017, all of our members regardless of membership category would receive an identical benefit package. This meant that what we offered our Fellows, typically our category for leaders in the field, would be exactly the same as what we offered our student members who were at the start of their journey in the chemical sciences. In July 2017, the by-law requiring this approach, was abolished and in September 2017 we launched our new benefits packages tailored to member category and career stage.
- Student – Find your path
- Associate Member – Unlock your potential
- Member – Enhance your career
- Fellow – Strengthen your influence
- Affiliate – Nurture your interest
In early 2018 we ran our biennial member survey and discovered a high portion of our members, around 65%, are very proud to a member of the Royal Society Chemistry and a further 26% being proud. We also know that pride in membership and a sense of belonging to the Royal Society of Chemistry contributes to member retention.
From this feedback, as well as positive feedback on our new membership benefits packages, we decided the time was right to look at how we celebrate our members for their dedication to membership and was the perfect opportunity to really thank our members for their continuing support. In spring/summer 2018 the project team met to discuss ideas around membership onboarding, building from the feedback from the member survey and anecdotal feedback from members.
We decided to look first at our member onboarding plan and noted that new members gave their reasons for joining up to two years after joining due to the biennial nature of our survey schedule. Our first step was to design a short survey we can ask applicants to fill out on the point of application. This survey asks our applicants how they heard about membership, what they think of the joining experience, what challenges they are currently facing and how the RSC could help. There is an option for the member to leave their email address and membership number if they wish for us to contact them, linking them up to particular benefits that may help them meet their goals. This provides more current information to us about our processes and the needs of our members.
For the year-long membership journey, we prepared suitable communication options for specific member groups and worked with our Admissions Committee and Professional Standards Board to optimise the messaging. The board and the committee are made up of members of our professional body and provided useful insight from the position of current members.
In September 2018 we launched the new first year member journey, which after admission into a membership category and a welcome pack, now looks like this:
- 2 weeks – Letter introducing a Local Section
- 4 weeks – Email introducing our Interest Groups
- 8 weeks – Letter welcoming the new member into membership form our President
- 14 weeks – Email listing the top 5 member benefits (by category)
- 24 weeks – Email asking for any feedback about the experience so far
- 40 weeks – Phone call to follow up from the 24-week email, and to ask for any more feedback
- 1 year – E-card to celebrate first year in membership
Visual of a member's journey
The main aim of our first-year plan was to increase engagement with our new members and provide details about their membership and what benefits they can access throughout. From our member 2018 survey, we know that although 74% of our membership believe they are part of our community, 19% do not and through our touchpoint plan, we aim to reduce this statistic.
The team also worked to put together a plan to recognize and celebrate our members who reached a significant number of years in membership. We acknowledged we need to celebrate and thank our members for their continued support and loyalty to their membership, as without them we could not support those working in the chemical sciences in the way we do.
First year anniversary e-card
We know from anecdotal evidence from our long serving members who received their 40 year badge (the first milestone celebrated in the old system) that receiving the acknowledgement and recognition as a key part of our community is important to them – we needed to expand on this.
The project team decided to use a mixture of e-cards, postcards, letters and formal cards to mark the membership milestones, making sure the copy in each milestone reflects the fact that we want to make the individual feel like a valued member of our community.
The anniversary milestones now look like this:
- 5 years - Membership health check (phone call from Chord UK)
- 10 years – Postcard to celebrate 10 years of membership
- 15 years – E-card to celebrate 15 years of membership
- 20 years – Letter from CEO thanking individual for their commitment to membership
- 30 years – Formal card from President celebrating 30 years of membership
- 40 years – Gold badge
- 50/60/70/80 years – Long service certificate
Overall, the year-long onboarding journey and anniversary milestone project took around a year to research, develop and fully implement. This project was able to fit around the project team’s day-to-day roles and catch-ups were held on a monthly basis to ensure that progress was being made.
Innovation
Throughout this project we have tailored each communication to a member’s category of membership, providing members with information relevant to them at their current career stage. This involves everything from tailoring the colour scheme of the welcome packs to the membership category (for example FRSC members are always send communications with a flash of green and MRSC members are in a teal colour), to using language appropriate for each of our categories of membership. This also includes providing them with contact details for their Local Section and detailing how to get involved with them at two weeks and signposting them to the top 5 benefits for their category via email at 14 weeks.
At 8 weeks we post a letter from our President to our new members welcoming them into membership, congratulating them on joining our professional body and encouraging the member to get involved in some of our activities. We decided to send the communication via post, rather than email, as we are aware in this digital age many emails get sent and not all can be read. Many people nowadays only receive bills in the post, and we wanted to make sure our members receive their message from our President, so posting the letter seemed like a pleasant alternative to email.
Marketing
The Royal Society of Chemistry has its own in-house marketing team who worked with the membership team to create the touchpoints and milestones.
Again, all communications in the first-year journey from the welcome pack to the emails along the member onboarding process are branded with the correct colour for the category the member is in.
The periodic table is an iconic image and the chemical elements that make up the table are the building blocks of everything we see, touch, taste and smell. It is for this reason that our 10-year anniversary postcard is branded with the chemical symbol as the ‘year’. So, our 10-year postcard uses the chemical symbol for Neon as Neon has the atomic number of 10.
Achievements
Our members now experience onboarding from the point of application. They are invited to take part in a survey allowing us to find out their drivers for joining membership which we then use to signpost members to areas of their membership that are of interest to them. They are then taken through a year-long membership journey tailored to their category of membership and career stage. This journey highlights different benefits throughout the year to engage the member gradually with new aspects of their membership as they progress.
4 week email - Specailist Interest Groups
At this time, it’s too early for us to measure if objective 3 has been met, however we look forward to seeing the results in the 2019-20 renewal cycle.
From the launch of our member milestone project we have seen indications of an increased loyalty and pride. The mixture of e-cards, phone calls, postcards and cards have been well received by members. We are due to run our Member Survey in 2020 and is where we hope to see evidence of an increase in the sense of loyalty and pride.
Since the introduction of our first-year onboarding project we have seen a higher level of engagement in membership from members in their first year. A noticeable increase of engagement has been with our Interest Groups, with the number of new members requesting to join Interest Groups more than doubling in the last year. This increase has occurred as a result of us providing new members with information at 4 weeks into their membership about what Interest Groups are, what they do and how they can get involved. This email is tailored by membership category.
Since the launch of the first-year onboarding process, we have now introduced some membership milestones, which enable us to thank our members and show them what their membership can do to support their community.
First year anniversary e-card
To provide some tailored content to the audience, we have introduced our top 5’s, a series of emails that are focused towards career stage. This allows our members to not only have an overall view of what they are able to access, but also to gain insight on what can make a significant impact on their current situation.
Our established members will now receive a mixture of e- cards, telephone calls and postcards to mark their 1st, 5th, 10th and 15th year anniversaries. On the 20th anniversary, a member will receive a letter in the post congratulating them on two decades in membership from our CEO and president. A card is sent out from our president to mark 30 years in membership. From 40 years onwards our milestone celebrations will continue as before. We have already seen positive feedback on social media for many of these activities.
We are continuously looking to improve our member onboarding process. Since launch, we have reviewed our first-year onboarding plan at the 6-month point, to make sure that every element performs it purpose. At 40 weeks into membership, we used to telephone members to touch base with them, ask the member if they had used any of their benefits and ask if they had any questions or queries for us. On the review, we decided the drop this telephone call, as many members felt they were still exploring the options available to them within their membership.
In November 2019, we reviewed our 10-year member milestone postcard. We have since changed the amount of text on the postcard, to be more impactful and less overwhelming as the old version was very text heavy. We also altered the font colour on the postcard to a darker one to contrast with the lighter background to aid our visually impaired members.
Targets & Statistics
The Royal Society Chemistry’s renewal rate is currently 86% across all categories, which is considerably higher than the 2019 industry mean of 80% for membership associations1.
In 2018 we saw a retention rate of new members who joined in 2017 of 79%, which is not far off the industry mean. This retention rate of 79% of new members who joined in 2018 was maintained in 2019. We are pleased to see the retention rate of our new members is so high, however we noted that their engagement levels are much lower than those of our established members.
As the new onboarding process was implemented in September 2018 and our renewals calendar runs from January to January, we are still within the first year so are yet to fully see the impact of the project on the retention levels of our newest members. However, we have seen a higher level of engagement in their membership from our newest members.
Financials
The money we did set aside for this project was spent on Chord UK, as well as the printing of new membership welcome packs, postcards, letters and formal cards.
It is worth noting that the main aim of the project was to increase engagement with new members throughout their membership; the focus was not to make a return on our financial investment in the short term. In the long term however, we should see increased renewals as well as additional income through membership products such as qualifications, training and event attendance.
As this project is still within its first-year cycle, we have yet to see a financial return of our initial investment. However, since the project started, we have seen an increase in the engagement of members in their first year of membership and beyond.
What would we do differently?
Speak to the teams we are working with to bring our project to life and agree in advance a reasonable timeline (that includes any potential delays) to bring the project to fruition and share updates regularly to make sure we are on track. This means everyone on the team has a realistic idea of when a project is complete, and everyone can work to the same timeframes.
Advice
Our best advice would be to involve the members in your ideas for your membership onboarding process. Although our project team based our ideas on our members survey data and anecdotal feedback, we made sure we had members involved in our committees and boards, who had the opportunity to feedback and shape the journey around what they had wanted to see as a new member.
Feedback & Testimonials
"Thanks Royal Society of Chemistry for reminding me of middle age! But in seriousness am pleased to be associated with this great institution after joining as a student".
One member sharing their 20 year letter on LinkedIn
"I should add that my 20 years @RoySocChem membership has totally been worth it; networking, interest groups, great meetings, free career advice etc. Definitely recommend to all younger chemists to join’. Another member shared receiving their 30 year anniversary card on twitter saying ‘Lovely to receive this from the @RoySocChem – it does make me feel old though!".
One member on Twitter
