Why member research often disappoints
The pattern is familiar: the association sends out a survey, a small share of the members completes it, and months later an overall report appears that mainly circulates within the board. The members who took part hear little more about it, and at the next measurement the response is even lower. Not because members are not engaged, but because taking part gives them nothing in return.
The question every member asks is simple: what is in it for me? As long as the honest answer is that mainly the board benefits, response stays stuck at a disappointing percentage and the study says less and less about the membership.
What good member research software must be able to do
The basics should obviously be in order: a clean questionnaire that works on every device, in your association's brand style, with a clear email invitation. But the difference lies in what happens after completion. Can the software give every member personal feedback? Can that feedback compare their own answers with the average of the other members, for example members of the same size or from the same region?
Also pay attention to repeatability. Member research only becomes truly valuable when it returns annually and shows trends. Software that requires manual work for every edition cannot sustain that. And because member data is involved: check where the data is stored and whether the vendor complies with the GDPR.
The secret: give every member something back
The associations with the highest response turn the logic around. The study is not there for the board, it is a member benefit. Every member who takes part immediately receives a personal benchmark report: this is how your company performs on revenue per employee, rates, staff turnover or whatever theme you survey, compared with peer companies in the industry. Members cannot get that report anywhere else, because nobody else has the figures of exactly this group.
The invitation changes too. No longer: help us with ten minutes of your time. But: compare your company with the industry and receive your personal report right away. Associations that make this shift see response rise structurally and get members who actively look forward to the next study.
From one-off study to annual benchmark
A single measurement is a photo, an annual benchmark is a film. From the second edition onwards, every member sees not only how they compare with the industry, but also whether they are improving themselves. For the association, a unique dataset emerges on the development of the industry, and that is material for member meetings, lobbying and press.
In practical terms this means: choose themes that will last for years, keep the core questions the same every year so trends remain visible, and reserve room for a topical theme block per edition. The benchmark thus becomes a fixed item on the association calendar, and a concrete answer to the question of why membership is worth the fee.
What does it cost?
Fully outsourcing a member study to a research agency easily costs thousands of euros per edition, and then usually only the board receives a report. With benchmark software such as BenchLab you arrange it structurally differently: from €99 per month, including personal reports for all participating members in your association's brand style.
If your association already uses a survey package, you do not need to give it up: BenchLab integrates with all major research packages and handles the benchmark and the personal member reports on top of your current environment. And if you would rather hand off the study entirely, you can engage a research agency that works with BenchLab. That way you decide for yourself where the line lies between doing it yourself and having it done.
Further reading
Your member research as a member benefit?
We will show you what a benchmark report for your members looks like, in your association's brand style. Schedule a demo or complete the sample survey yourself.