New member survey
New member survey: ask twice in the first year.
Ask once at joining — why they came, how they heard, what they hope to get. Ask again at 60–90 days — are they getting it? The first tells you which recruitment works. The second gives you warning of a first-year lapse while there is still time to act.
Two short surveys that tell you why people join, where they heard, who is drifting, what to fix first
A new member’s first yeartwo surveys, one hand-off
- D0Jointhe join form records grade, route and who paysRECORD
- D7Joining surveywhy they joined, how they heard, what they hope forASK
- D60First-value checkare they getting what they came for?ASK
- D90Act on flagsa call, a booking, a fix — within a weekACT
- M10Renewalthe decision both surveys were buying time forRENEW
Measured infirst-year renewal
01/ why new members
First-year members are the likeliest to leave.
New members renew less often than members who have stayed a while. The chart has the first-year medians by type of association; in the same report, the median for all members was 85%. The most recent all-member figure, from a later edition, is 82% (MGI 2026). These are different editions, so do not subtract one from the other.
Tenure itself protects. In Bhattacharya’s study of 7,798 art-museum members, the risk of lapsing fell the longer someone had been a member, and members who received their membership as a gift were more likely to lapse.
So a new member needs a survey of their own, at the two points where an answer can still change something. The hub for every other survey is membership surveys.
Median first-year renewal rate, by type of association
- Trade associations85%
- All associations75%
- Combination associations74%
- Individual membership64%
02/ two moments
Two surveys, two different jobs.
The joining survey is acquisition intelligence. It asks what brought the person in and where they heard of you, while the answer is fresh. Read it by recruitment route and it tells your new member acquisition plan which channels and messages actually convert.
The 60–90 day check is an early warning. It asks whether the member has got what they came for. A “not yet” at day 60 is a problem you can still fix; at the renewal notice it is a lapse.
→ Send both. They answer different questions.
03/ joining survey
At joining: ask why they came, and from where.
Most associations guess why people join. The chart is what executives believe; a joining survey asks the members themselves. Their answers often differ by grade and by route, which is the point of asking.
Real examples are short. The Society of Women Engineers runs a brief new member survey on awareness, reasons for joining and expected participation. AAAS heard from nearly 3,000 new members in 2020 and published what they said back to members.
Don’t ask what you already hold. Grade, join date and payment route belong on the join form or in your database, not in the survey — the Government Analysis Function advises checking the data isn’t available elsewhere before asking.
Why executives believe members join (up to three each)
- Networking with others in the field67%
- Continuing education or certification42%
- Specialised or current information32%
- Best practice in their profession29%
- Supporting advocacy27%
04/ 60–90 day check
At 60–90 days: have they got it yet?
Satisfaction is set against expectation. In Oliver’s model, satisfaction depends on what someone expected and whether the experience fell short of it. So the check asks about the promise, not just the service: has membership been better than, about as, or worse than you expected?
Habits form early, and fade early. In a peer-reviewed study of 1,726 new members of a UK leisure trust, the share coming in each month fell steeply over the first months (chart), and a steady routine in month three predicted who was still coming in the final quarter. Gyms are an extreme case — see gym membership retention rate — but the shape is the reason to ask by day 90.
The welcome journey that comes before the check, and acts on it, is member onboarding.
- Month 1 100%
- Month 2 79%
- Month 3 70%
- Month 6 50%
- Month 9 38%
- Month 12 22%
05/ new member questionnaire
Two question sets, ready to copy.
Tap a question to add or remove it, then copy your set into any survey tool. Keep each survey to four or five.
Always end with permission. If you want to follow up a member’s answers, you need to ask: the MRS Code of Conduct allows re-contact only with the participant’s permission (rule 43). If you would rather keep answers anonymous, say so, and don’t follow up individuals.
At joining · tap to add or remove
At 60–90 days · tap to add or remove
Close every survey · tap to add or remove
7 questions in your new member survey
Areas covered: 3 of 3 · At joining, At 60–90 days, Close every survey
- What was the main reason you joined?
- How did you first hear about us?
- What nearly stopped you joining?
- Have you done the thing you joined for yet?
- So far, membership has been… better than, about as, or worse than you expected?
- What, if anything, has stopped you using more of your membership?
- May we contact you about your answers?
Two sets, one per moment: send the first in week one and the second at 60–90 days, four or five questions each. Answer options for the main reason can start from the reasons in the joining chart above — networking, education, information, best practice, advocacy — plus “other”. The full bank is on membership survey questions.
06/ when to send
When to send each one.
Send the joining survey within the first week, after the welcome email, not inside it. Send the first-value check between day 60 and day 90, when a member has had time to try something. Fold any 30-day touch into onboarding rather than sending a third survey.
Time it per member, not per calendar. A rolling trigger on join date means every new member gets the same two questions at the same point in their year — and you can compare one month’s joiners with the next.
Day 0
Join form
Record grade, route and who pays. No survey yet.
Day 3–7
Joining survey
Why they joined, how they heard, what they hope to get
Day 30
Onboarding touch
A nudge to the first benefit — not a survey · Member onboarding
Day 60–90
First-value check
Got it yet? As expected? What’s in the way?
Day 90–100
Act on flags
Call or fix within a week of the answer
Month 10
First renewal
Reminders and notice · Membership renewals
07/ first-year risk
Read each answer as an early warning.
A first-value check is only useful if someone acts on it. Score one member’s answers here and see which band they fall in. The bands are our triage, not a validated model; they lean on what the evidence above suggests: unmet expectations, no early use, and a membership someone else paid for.
Route each band to a person. If a member asks for an issue to be passed on, pass it on, as agreed with them — the MRS Code sets that standard for researchers (rule 52). A member who is drifting is the job of a member retention survey; one who has left belongs to the exit survey.
Score one member’s 60–90 day answers · 0/5 answered
01Have they done what they joined for?
02Membership so far, against what they expected?
03Benefits used since joining?
04Confident it will be worth it this year?
05Who pays?
Answer all 5 to see your result.
Bands and scores are our method. Gift memberships lapse more often in Bhattacharya, 1998; employer-paid is scored the same because the member does not make the renewal decision alone.
08/ length and response
Keep it short, and members will answer.
Length costs replies and quality. In a randomised web experiment, the longer the stated length, the fewer people started and finished, and later answers were faster, shorter and more uniform. Put the question you most need first.
The best evidence on what lifts response is a Cochrane review of 88 trials of online questionnaires. The chart has its odds ratios: above 1 raises the odds of a reply, below 1 lowers them. A brief invitation, a shorter questionnaire, a deadline and offering the results all help; the word “Survey” in the subject line hurt.
Expect modest numbers. The Society of Women Engineers reported a 5% response to its new member survey. Read who answered against who joined before trusting the result, and don’t send more often than you need: the Government Analysis Function lists frequency and length of contact as two of the four drivers of respondent burden. Sample sizes and non-response are covered on insight-informed membership.
What changes the odds of a reply to an online questionnaire
- Brief invitation, not a detailed one3.26
- A picture in the email3.05
- A more interesting topic1.85
- A shorter questionnaire1.51
- Offering the results1.36
- A deadline1.18
- “Survey” in the subject line0.81
Write every question so it reads once
- One idea per question — no double-barrelled questions
- No leading or loaded wording
- Five- or seven-point scales, used consistently
- Short stems and short answer lists
Writing rules from the Government Analysis Function’s survey design tips.
09/ research or marketing
Keep the survey separate from the sell.
A new member survey is tempting real estate for an upsell. Resist it. The ICO says genuine research is not direct marketing, but a research message that includes promotional material is — sometimes called “sugging”, selling under the guise of research. Then the marketing rules apply.
The MRS Code of Conduct sets the same line for researchers: no selling or fundraising under the guise of research (rule 4); tell people who is asking, why, and the likely length in minutes (rule 30); and if you offer an incentive, say what it is and when it arrives (rule 26). The Code binds MRS members; for anyone else it is the sector’s published standard. Check your survey before it goes. UK rules; not legal advice.
Is your new member survey research, not marketing?
01Is the survey free of offers, upgrades and donation asks?
02Does the invitation say who is asking and why?
03Does it give the likely length in minutes?
04Do you ask before following up an individual’s answers?
05Will answers be used only to improve membership, not to target offers?
Answer the 5 questions to see where you stand.
Criteria from the ICO’s direct marketing guidance and the MRS Code of Conduct 2023.
10/ what it is worth
What a better first year is worth.
Move the sliders to your own numbers. The arc is the extra subscription income each year from lifting first-year renewal, and nothing else.
Every point of first-year renewal you keep compounds: those members renew again at your later rate the year after. The model counts only that. Set the lift to what a fixed problem from your 60–90 day check might be worth, not to a target you hope for. For the wider renewal picture, see membership retention rate and membership renewals.
Your first year
Extra subscription income over 5 years
- Yr 1 £2.3k
- Yr 2 £4.1k
- Yr 3 £5.6k
- Yr 4 £6.8k
- Yr 5 £7.9k
Each point is worth about £5.3k
Over 5 years, at your fee and later renewal rate.
Defaults: 75% is the median first-year renewal rate in Marketing General’s 2024 report; 82% is the median renewal rate for all members in MGI’s 2026 report, used here as a stand-in for members past their first year. Both are US surveys and different editions. The rest is arithmetic on your inputs: no fee rise, no existing members counted.
11/ questions
New member survey FAQs.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes on your first year.
Book 15 minutes to look at your new member surveys, what they tell you and who acts on them.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02Your two question sets, read back
- 03The day-60 hand-off, sequenced
- 04A plain next step
Pick a day that suits · live availability
Book 15 minutes · no obligation
Ask new members twice, and act on the answer.
A joining survey that improves recruitment, and a 60–90 day check that catches a lapse before it happens.
13/ sources
Every claim, and where it came from
Every source was read on 8 October 2026. US, dated and sector-standard sources are labelled.
- Marketing General Inc. — 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report (full PDF) — first-year renewal 75%, by type; reasons executives believe members joinIndustry survey, US
- Marketing General Inc. (Tony Rossell) — Just released: the 2026 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report — 82% median renewalIndustry survey, US
- Edwards et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews — Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires (2023)Peer-reviewed systematic review
- Galesić and Bošnjak, Public Opinion Quarterly — Effects of questionnaire length on participation and indicators of response quality in a web survey (2009)Peer-reviewed experiment
- Rand, Goyder, Norman and Womack, Psychology of Sport and Exercise — Why do new members stop attending health and fitness venues? (2020) — 1,726 new members, monthly attendancePeer-reviewed, observed, UK
- Bhattacharya, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science — When customers are members: customer retention in paid membership contexts (1998)Peer-reviewed, US
- Oliver, Journal of Marketing Research — A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions (1980)Peer-reviewed, US
- Society of Women Engineers — FY23 member survey results — new member survey method and responseOrganisation’s own report, US
- American Association for the Advancement of Science — AAAS New Member Survey (2021 infographic) — nearly 3,000 new members respondedOrganisation’s own report, US
- Government Analysis Function — Tips for maintaining quality when designing surveys at pace (2020)Government guidance, UK
- Government Analysis Function — Monitoring and reducing respondent burden (2020)Government guidance, UK
- Information Commissioner’s Office — Identify direct marketing — market research and “sugging” (updated August 2025)Regulator guidance, UK
- Market Research Society — MRS Code of Conduct 2023 — rules 4, 26, 30, 43, 52Sector body standard, UK