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Inspiration
East Midlands Chamber
How to recruit, engage and retain members
The Brief
East Midlands Chamber is a networking and support hub for local businesses. Their key challenge was that members were not taking full advantage of their services. This, in turn, made it more difficult to hold onto them at renewal time. Our brief was to examine their operating model, primarily manifested in their website messaging hierarchy and propose a solution that created a clear and rewarding user experience, making it easier for members to engage.
The Method
This project took us from research through to brand experience.
Our first step was to carry out a competitor landscape review, looking not only at their immediate competitive set but also at other member organisations and adjacent categories with similar challenges.
We then looked inwards, at how the organisation was perceived by members, staff and other stakeholders. This consisted of a series of interviews and focus groups with the aim of identifying pain points and opportunities.
We mapped the outputs of the research into a straightforward graphic that showed how the various elements of their offer fitted together and how they could be presented to members in a coherent and engaging way. This was a pivotal moment in the project, where minds had to be changed and difficult discussions held.
Our recommendations were ultimately accepted and the messaging hierarchy of the website was transformed into clear, easy to navigate pathways, organised around what members wanted.
The Value
A shift in messaging is often a painful process, because it can also require a shift in organisational culture. A project that appeared at first sight to be a simple website messaging restructure became a catalyst for a new way of thinking. This meant a shift from
‘Here’s a list of things we do’ to embracing a member-centric approach, starting with the wants and needs of members and building the messaging and user experience around them. This transformation in culture is not unusual in these types of projects, after all, messaging needs to be truthful as well as relevant for it to be meaningful and effective.
The Bits We Loved
Our work went beyond comms and gave East Midlands Chamber the insights they needed to adopt a more customer-centric culture
The new website now reflects how East Midlands Chamber puts members at the heart of their organisation
It’s Eudaemonic Transformation in action - a change in thinking that has had positive outcomes. It made a difference not only to the members but also within the organisation.
