Top Meetings and Membership KPIs

This week has been all about KPIs here at the MYB blog. We’ve hosted a conversation about why key performance indicators are critical for being a data-driven association, and we’ve shared a few underappreciated KPIs that can deliver surprising insights.

But if you’re brand-new to KPIs, you might be wondering: What are the essential KPIs? What metrics should you have on hand to make sure your event is having the impact you want, and that membership is growing?

There are dozens of KPIs, but let’s take a quick spin through eight of them---four in meetings, four in membership.

Meetings

Overall satisfaction. This KPI is a simple one: Did your attendees like the conference? It provides a quick snapshot of how they felt about the mix of education content, tradeshow offerings, networking opportunities, and more. Just make sure not to confuse satisfaction with importance.

Satisfaction with content. A conference is an experience---that’s why you ask the “overall satisfaction” question---but ultimately attendees are there to learn. Is your content mix too basic? Too high-level? Too focused on a couple of research niches? Asking about content satisfaction can reveal multiple opportunities for improvement.

Likelihood to recommend to a colleague. If you want to know how loyal your attendees are, there are few better metrics than whether they’ll tell somebody else they should attend too. One conference we worked with found that student and younger members were highly likely to recommend a major conference, but more experienced ones weren’t---a signal that the content mix needed tweaking.

Value for investment. Whether attendees are getting their fees paid by an employer or are paying out of their own pocket, a conference is an investment---days away from the office and family. And attendees want to feel like it was worth it. This KPI offers a snapshot of how valuable they feel your conference is.

Membership

Retention rate. Annual renewal time is where the rubber hits the road for membership. If they’re not seeing value in membership in your organization, they’ll tell you with their wallets. And just as with meeting satisfaction, you can break down retention rates by member types to see where your membership means the most.

Revenue per member. Dues aren’t everything. This KPI gives you a glimpse of how engaged members are with your association in a broader sense. If they’re spending on conferences, books, education, and more, they’re making meaningful investments.

Likelihood to recommend to a colleague. As with meetings, so with membership---if people are willing to encourage their fellow pros to get on board, you’re doing something right. But don’t neglect what your detractors have to say. The reasons people give for not recommending your association can reveal weak spots.

Email open rates. “You send me too much stuff!” is a common complaint among association members, who might feel bombarded by information about you. (And if you’re not doing effective email segmentation, it could be even worse.) One simple way to track member engagement is to look at the open rates for what you’re sending out. According to HubSpot, the typical open rate at nonprofits is 28 percent.

What KPIs have you found most valuable? Share your thoughts in the comments.