AI can’t be ignored, and its speed of adoption across multiple industries demonstrates how powerful its use can be, and in many cases, already is. With 100 per cent of membership bodies expecting AI to have an impact on membership within the next three years (Memberwise Digital Excellence Report 2023/24), it’s imperative that those within the sector begin, or continue, taking steps towards integrating artificial intelligence into processes and decision making. Those that are able to integrate automated and AI technologies effectively into their businesses are likely to get ahead of the curve. Memberwise estimates effective automation can free up as much as 35 per cent of a membership body's resource, which enables progress to be made in other areas by leveraging those efficiencies.
Details from the 2023/24 Memberwise report highlight the current state of AI adoption within the membership industry:
With a large number of membership bodies yet to automate basic systems, processes and tasks we are seeing:
57 per cent having key system/process automations in place for simple tasks like annual subscription fee payments.
A quarter of member-facing automations are linked to particular stages in member journeys.
23 per cent of automations are linked to online member behaviour and/or email opens/clicks.
Just eight per cent of automations are triggered via online member engagement.
14 per cent of medium/large membership bodies are using chatbots so they’re only able to respond via pre-determined questions and answers.
AI take up is currently in its infancy and only used by a minority of larger organisations but its use is now being understood from a process and online member experience optimisation perspective. Within medium to large membership bodies the report shares:
Five per cent are using AI to solve member challenges
Five per cent use AI to establish member issues and apply the best response - an example of this is if a member’s engagement diminished ahead of a potential cancellation
Three per cent use a chatbot to support member journeys and that bot is actively learning and not just providing specific answers to pre-determined questions.
What is clear is that organisations already making investments and amending strategies based on learnings to date will be further ahead in seeing results than those that wait to embrace the inevitable change.
What are the benefits of AI integration for the membership industry?
Whether your organisation’s goal is to grow new members or improve retention rates, artificial intelligence can play one of a number of incredibly useful parts, far beyond the realms of just chatbot functions. For example, it can provide a deeper understanding of member trends and behaviour, offering up intriguing insights and helping organisations with effective data-driven decision making (DDDM).
Utilising AI for DDDM is particularly useful for organisations because it conducts more powerful data analytics, and interprets data in ways which may not have been obvious to humans. It also tracks user patterns and predicts their chances of renewal based on how they interact with content, which in turn can be used to send out personalised messaging to encourage subscription maintenance.
Another way in which AI integration can prove useful for the membership industry lies in improved content personalisation. AI can have the ability to analyse content with which the customer engages most, as well as map and track user journeys to understand areas of frustration for the customer. These aspects can be utilised to diagnose sticking points for site visitors, in turn improving the overall user experience (UX) of the website.
AI awareness factors
Of course there are considerations to be mindful of, including the moral challenge of using AI-generated creative content. Due to the ways in which it accesses and generates content, AI interpretation is not always perfect. This could open you up to being subject to inaccuracies and feeding wrong, or misinterpreted information.
In addition, if you’re considering implementing AI-led chatbots, the quality of the conversation can impact overall customer trust and loyalty. It’s imperative that organisations set these up to provide value to site visitors. Make sure you you are reviewing the available options and the tools they offer around machine learning to create tools that get better over time.
Equally, ensure you’re conducting your due diligence, considering any legal implications and ensuring that your management team is comfortable with the decisions you are making.
Key considerations for the membership industry
Here are some of our top suggestions for using AI in membership organisations:
AI-generated chatbots can provide 24/7 support for members, automate certain tasks and answer FAQs.
AI can automate many tasks to free up time for staff to spend on bigger priorities, creating better efficiencies: this can include admin tasks like invoicing and scheduling, or idea creation and outreach.
AI can collect and analyse data, identify patterns and insights to aid more informed decision making, tailor outreach and improve engagement and operations.
Ultimately, it’s more cost effective to retain existing members than recruit new ones, which places member engagement high on the list of priorities. AI’s abilities provide organisations with the opportunity to aid both, assisting with longer-term growth and membership stability.
If you’re unsure on the best ways to integrate AI to help uncover valuable insights and achieve your business goals, our Membership Marketing experts can help.