Content, Social & Digital Marketing | membership marketing | ux | ROI
- Share:
I’m sure by now you have heard of the shorthand for the buzzword user experience or “UX”. What is not clear is how it applies to everything that you do and how to go about optimizing for it. I am going to give you a couple of free tools and some pointers on how to incorporate UX thinking into your marketing practices for better ROI.
What is the experience of checking out on your website?
One of the main drivers of revenue for associations is membership dues. So, what is the amount of time it takes a new user to sign up to be a member? Does it take more than 60 seconds? (It is rare that it should take more than a minute.) Start by measuring the time it takes someone to sign up on your site, then go to a comparable association you think is doing a good job and measure how long it takes on their site. What pieces of information do you really need versus want? You can always collect more data later.
Does the page take too long to load? Are the call to action buttons clear enough or could they be optimized? A/B tested? Words changed and/or colors switched out? Are there too many steps in the process?
Free tool #1: You can test your page loading speed with Google PageSpeed Insights. It will quickly give you a score for both mobile and desktop and prioritize tasks to implement in order to improve.
What is the check out time for an event?
Follow the same process as your membership sign up process. Compare your experience with that of another organization.
Free tool #2: You could ask someone in your office to go onto your website, but chances are they’ve already experienced your site. Or you could submit your site to an anonymous user and get a free 5-minute video back on their unbiased, new-user experience of your website using Peek User Testing.
Get Valuable Feedback
Gain insight into your user’s experience by running a campaign that asks, “How was your renewal experience?” Or simply say, “We appreciate it, let us know how it was, thumbs up or down.” Or work this piece into the flow after a new member signs up or an existing member renews their dues.
Good UX Examples
I'll leave you with a couple good examples of what other associations have done, but I encourage you to do some homework and begin to notice some of your own user experiences across the web, the check out process, signing up, etc. First, Colorado Society of CPAs created a student specific site out of an initiative to attract millennials and new members. Check out the "Why Join COCPA?" section of the site. Go ahead and go through that process, notice it only shows one question at a time, there is a progress indicator at the bottom, it's super easy to step through. Next, Maryland Society of CPAs created a student section of their website. On their site, they have a pop up telling you they are on standby for any questions. It's a great feature to be able to answer questions in real-time, live while the user is on the website. Plus, HubSpot just rolled their own version of this!
Lastly, I would point out the, "Guide to becoming a CPA" section of the Colorado student site. COCPA discovered a knowledge gap with students between graduating and fulfilling requirements to actually becoming CPAs. Does this apply to your industry? Is there a way to provide a good user experience and express membership value by uncovering knowledge gaps or needs of your students and potential members?
Of course we could go much deeper into UX theory and best practices, but these are some good jumping off points to put yourself in your users shoes. With that insight, you can take the necessary steps to improve. Speaking of optimizing based on greater insights, have you seen a demo of our HighRoad Marketing Cloud?
