Member needs assessment survey
Member needs assessment survey: what members need next
A member needs assessment survey asks members what they need from you over the next few years, and how well you meet each need today. It is the survey to run before a strategy review, a new benefit or a change in price.
A satisfaction survey looks back. A needs assessment looks forward, and tells you where to spend.
Needs assessment
01/ when to run it
Run it before you change the offer.
Every two or three years, and before any decision that changes what members get: a strategy review, a new category, a price rise, or a benefit you are thinking of cutting.
Peer-reviewed research on professional associations found members’ views of benefits were linked to their intention to renew and recommend (Ki and Wang, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 2016). Knowing which benefits matter is a retention question, not just a product one.
The annual look back is on member satisfaction survey.
02/ the method
Ask importance and performance, side by side.
The most robust simple design rates every need twice: how important it is, and how well you meet it.
It is importance–performance analysis, published by Martilla and James in the Journal of Marketing in 1977. Plot one rating against the other and the needs fall into four groups: concentrate here, keep up the good work, low priority, and possible overkill.
Re-rate each need in the plot with your own results. The needs that are important but poorly met are where the next pound should go.
Importance against performance
Example ratings, not survey data. Re-rate each need with your own results.
- CPD and trainingConcentrate heregap +3
- Lobbying for the professionConcentrate heregap +2
- Expert advice lineKeep up the good workgap 0
- Jobs boardLow prioritygap 0
- Networking eventsKeep up the good workgap -1
- Printed magazinePossible overkillgap -3
Importance–performance analysis · Martilla and James, Journal of Marketing, 1977 · peer-reviewed method.
03/ the questions
Twelve needs, two ratings each.
Before writing a question, check whether you already hold the answer: the Government Analysis Function advises confirming data is not available from other sources first. Your records already show which benefits members use; the survey should ask what records cannot.
Keep the list of needs to about twelve, in the member’s words, each rated twice on a five-point scale. Then add three open questions.
A starting set of open questions
- 01What is the biggest challenge in your work over the next two years?
- 02Where do you go for help with it today?
- 03What one thing could we start doing that would make membership more useful to you?
Rating questions by topic are in membership survey questions.
04/ analysis
Read it by segment, not just overall.
An average across all members hides the split that matters. Cut the results by grade, career stage, sector and length of membership: early-career members and senior fellows rarely need the same things.
Report the gap (importance minus performance) for each need, ranked, with the number of responses beside each segment so nobody over-reads a group of twelve.
05/ acting on it
Tell members what you will change.
Publish a short “you said, we will” summary within three months: the three needs you will invest in, the one you will stop, and why.
Tell members how their answers will be used when you ask the questions, not afterwards (ICO, when to provide privacy information; regulator guidance). If answers will be linked to their membership record, say so.
Turning the results into an offer and a price is membership fees and benefits work; the wider survey programme is on membership surveys.
Written by Dan Keegan
06/ questions
Member needs assessment survey FAQs.
What is a member needs assessment survey?
How is a needs assessment different from a satisfaction survey?
What questions should a member needs assessment include?
How do you analyse a needs assessment survey?
How often should we run a member needs assessment?
Member needs assessment survey
Ask what members need, then invest there.
We design, run and analyse member needs assessments, and turn the gaps into a plan.
08/ sources
Every claim, and where it came from
- Journal of Marketing (Martilla & James) — Importance–performance analysis, 1977Peer-reviewed
- Nonprofit Management & Leadership (Ki & Wang) — Membership benefits matter, 2016Peer-reviewed
- Government Analysis Function — Top tips for maintaining quality when designing surveys at paceUK government guidance
- ICO — When should we provide privacy information?UK regulator guidance