Chapter Success Through Member Engagement Tracking

Updated: Sep. 25, 2023  |  Categories: Member Communications, Goal Setting, Membership  

Since data is knowledge and knowledge is power, it becomes important to use available data collected by surveying members and non-members to understand engagement level, altering activities as needed to achieve the highest possible amount of member engagement.

But first, defining engagement is key.

Engagement is about involvement with the chapter and other chapter members. It varies from person to person, depending on what value they want to get out of becoming a member of the chapter or simply attending meetings without ever formalizing membership. Just like your chapter, each member or prospect has their own goals for their life and career. Therefore, the data you collect should provide insight into the engagement level your chapter consistently sees from members as their story unfolds within your chapter’s activities and how that engagement represents the fulfillment of members’ goals.

There are 10 basic levels of engagement, with the hope that every attendee at least reaches level 4 – joining the chapter. The scale represents the level of engagement with 1 being the lowest engagement level and 10 being the highest. Let’s take a look.

Scale of Engagement:

1. Visiting the website without taking any other action.
2. Signing up to receive the newsletter but not come to meetings.
3. Attend meetings without joining the chapter.
4. Become a member of the chapter.
5. Attend a conference as a member, either within the chapter or association.
6. Share their story at a chapter meeting.
7. Recruit colleagues to attend meetings and become chapter members.
8. Join a committee and participate in event planning.
9. Serve on the chapter board and have a stake in chapter planning.
10. Become a mentor to new members.

As a member moves up the scale of engagement, their involvement with the chapter increases. They have greater time commitment, yes, but more importantly, they are invested in the outcome of the chapter.  The greater the engagement level, the more connected they are with other members. And the more successful the chapter is as a whole. It is important to recognize that not every member will be at the same place at the same time. No chapter needs all its members to serve on the board, otherwise, what members are they serving? This is actually a positive occurrence, as it allows you chapter to evolve with the membership needs and engagement.

This is where tracking activities comes in to play. It goes beyond just surveying your members about their thoughts and opinions. Surveys are important, but of equal importance is keeping track of concrete action data, which is made simple in your chapter management software. For instance, tracking how many members actually open their e-mails or read the newsletter. Measuring how long readers spend on each article on the blog (Google Analytics can easily provide this data). Keeping tally of how many meetings members attend. Maybe even record how much time committee members spend planning an activity. All of this information speaks volumes about the value members garner from your chapter.

After all, providing value to your members is what all the hard work and planning is for. Knowing that it is being received as valuable contribution to the individual member’s story only adds to the success of the chapter. If you know that no one is reading the newsletter because no one is opening it, then you know where changes need to be made. Powered with this knowledge, you can ask your members what they want to see in the newsletter that would entice them to read.

Chapter engagement is the point of membership value. Being a member of your chapter is meant to better the lives and careers of your members. Tracking engagement provides the necessary knowledge that the chapter is successfully providing value to its members, or at the very least, offers guidance for growth. All that and it helps to attract and inspire the next round of engaged volunteers.

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