The Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society™ (WOCN®) is a professional, international nursing society of more than 4,800 healthcare professionals who are experts in the care of patients with wound, ostomy and incontinence issues. The Society strives to shape the future of wound, ostomy, and continence (WOC) nursing and support our membership through the implementation of campaigns to recruit members and exciting initiatives to promote retention.
One of the most successful tactics that we implemented to encourage lapsed members to renew is through promotional codes. These promotional codes can be used to discount member dues, or they can be redeemed at our online store to purchase products once a member has renewed. The codes are marketed to lapsed members through an email blast that highlights the Society’s newest products and services since they have been a member. From January 2012 to present, 67 members have renewed their dues from the execution of promotional code campaigns.
The promotional codes are an easy way to reach lapsed members electronically and track progress, but what about the lapsed members that you cannot reach through email? Why did they not renew? After pondering this question for awhile we decided to find out through a survey.
We constructed and mailed hard copy surveys to 950 lapsed members (that we had attempted to contact in the past 2 years via email) and included a promotion to join the Society once again. We saw a 17% response rate from the survey and 43 renewed their memberships using the promotion.
Through responses we gained a lot of valuable insight as to why members were not renewing. The most common reason was retirement from nursing. As a result we promoted our “Retired” membership category to these individuals. From one communication 11 members renewed their membership under this alternative member type.
Of course, retaining members is extremely important to the Society, and there are always new and innovative retention strategies on the horizon. But how do we gain new members? I am sure this question is on every association professional’s mind. One tactic we’ve tried is to reinstate our “Refer a Member” campaign where we ask members to do some of the work for us, recruiting new members. Through this method in 2012 we recruited 10 new members.
We also recently proposed a bylaw change to our Board of Directors to revamp our student membership category. Over the years of managing the Society’s membership, we noticed a trend with this category and felt that it should be open to all students, not just those in a WOC accredited program. The discounted rate would economically assist all students and would open the door to new members and to the future of WOC nursing. The new student membership category was voted on and passed by the membership and has enabled us to accrue 70 new student members from May 1 to present. This number more than doubles the number from 2012 in that timeframe.
Membership is vital to all associations. Strategies for both retention and recruitment are always on the radar for staff, volunteers, and current members. Member incentives, monitoring trends, and communication are a few key components to developing new initiatives and driving your membership to success.
To learn more about the WOCN® Society, please visit www.wocn.org.
Heather Martinek serves as the assistant executive director for the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society™ (WOCN®). Heather studied Public Health at Temple University and has worked and volunteered for non-profit organizations for over 10 years. She has planned and orchestrated large-scale events and fundraising efforts, such as the Muscular Dystrophy Associations’ Telethon and its national summer camp, as well as client programs for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Currently, Heather also sits on a leadership committee for a women’s homeless shelter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is on the Board of Directors for the Friends of Ostomates Worldwide (FOW).
