Universities and alumni relations associations have faced a host of structural and strategic challenges in recent years, including radical shifts in the realms of higher education, professional networking, and social engagement. Following the disruptions of the COVID-19 crisis, many continue to face tighter budgets, limited staff, and outdated infrastructure – leading to backlogs in membership card fulfillment and threatening member acquisition, retention, and engagement overall.
Many alumni relations professionals are now asking, how can our program evolve to meet the dynamic needs of our constituents and truly thrive in this new era?
Enter Digital Membership Cards, powered by Cuseum!
From streamlining fulfillment to providing new avenues for engagement, Digital Membership Cards can be a key asset for your alumni association in the digital-first era. As we move forward embracing new technologies will be critical for alumni organizations of all kinds to stay relevant and offer value to their members.
If your next question is, how do I introduce this new offering to my members? Fear not! We’ve got you covered.
Here are 5 key strategic steps to rolling out a streamlined and successful Digital Membership program:
1. EMBRACE THE DEMAND FOR DIGITAl
Even prior to the pandemic, digital adoption rates were on the rise, but the arrival of COVID-19 triggered an expansion and acceleration of that trend. 85% of Americans now own a smartphone, According to a 2021 Pew Research Center study, and more than half of smartphone users will be using mobile payments by 2025. As a result, the demand for digital goods and services continues to rise.
This phenomenon has been particularly significant in the domain of education and alumni relations, with remote learning and online social networking transforming the technological infrastructure of universities and their alumni associations alike: According to the 2021 VAESE report, 77% of alumni organizations have success in engaging their alumni using compelling digital content, including social media, blogs, and e-newsletters. In fact, this content is the most effective tool for alumni engagement.
Plus, recent reports show that 78% of alumni state they would rather be able to access their alumni benefits online, and 75% of surveyed alumni or constituents state that they would be more likely to engage with their organization if the benefits information were mobile-friendly.
So, what's the upshot?
Digital is in demand at the individual and institutional level.
Between the explosive rise of contactless technology across all sectors, the new value that digital can offer, and the new digital savvy that’s sweeping the world, it’s clearer than ever that now is the time to go digital.
2. streamline your rollout strategy
Once you choose to go digital, the next important decision you’ll make as you prepare for your launch is choosing a rollout strategy. In other words, how do you want to phase in Digital Membership Cards?
Let’s look at the three most common rollout plans:
Digital Cards as a Transitional Step into a Fully Digital Future
Most commonly, organizations like to phase in a Digital Membership program. With this opt-in approach, you can let your members decide what works best for them: physical or digital! This strategy gives organizations the opportunity to phase out physical memberships down the road if they choose to, without any abrupt change, or simply continue to offer both. Ultimately, this approach results in cost savings, as many members prefer the convenience of Digital Membership, reducing costs associated with the maintenance and renewal of physical membership cards.
Offer Both: Digital Cards as a Supplement to Physical Cards
Similar to the previous strategy, continuing to offer both digital and physical membership cards is another way of empowering your members to choose the experience that best suits their lifestyle. Offering both digital and physical membership cards adds extra benefit for members who want to go with the mobile option, while maintaining the status quo. Institutions such as The University of Tennessee have worked with Cuseum to implement this dual-approach strategy.
100% Digital: Digital Cards to Replace Physical Cards
Digital Membership Cards are perfect for organizations looking for an easier way to save all around on membership operations. Starting on a specific date, and moving forward, every member will get a Digital Membership card and physical cards will be eliminated — simple as that. Your organization saves money, saves time, and the environment gets a little saving too. Cuseum has worked with organizations such as Southern Oregon University Alumni Association, and Southern Illinois University Alumni Association to implement this strategy.
Overall, your Digital Membership launch strategy is highly customizable and you’ll be able to engineer an approach to rollout that works best for your organization!
3. customizE for your constituents
Now that you know 3 of the most common roll-out strategies, let’s talk about the strategy for “who” gets their digital card and “when.” Once again you have a range of options:
New and Renewing Members
One of the best ways to roll out digital cards is to offer them to new and renewing members. In other words, when someone signs up for another year of membership, that’s when they receive their digital card. This can be an efficient and highly effective way to transition your entire membership base to digital over the course of a year.
All at Once
Depending on the size of your membership base and how tech-savvy your members are, a rapid transition may be the way to go!
Go By Membership Level
You can deploy digital cards to a specific segment or membership group as a transitional step along the way to a full switch to digital cards.
We’ve provided a few options here, but remember that there is no one right way to roll-out your new Digital Membership program. Take a good look at your visitors and members to decide which strategy (or combination of strategies) will work best for your organization and its members.
4. Maximize adoption
The mass pivot to digital across industry has effectively lowered barriers to adoption on the individual level, and cultivated a rich opportunity for institutions that have not yet made the transitionto do so – including colleges, universities, and their respective alumni associations. Alumni associations at University of Michigan, University of Texas San Antonio, University of South Carolina, and Western Washington University are just a few examples of organizations that have recently boosted adoption by transitioning to Digital Membership for their alumni cards.
Current college students, recent grads, and young professionals are overwhelmingly digital native, so membership opportunities that are of value to them will necessarily be digital-first. But the shift to digital has also triggered a rise in adoption rates across every demographic – including among those who traditionally have been reluctant to transition, like older Americans.
Many alumni organizations have worried about alienating their older members with a rapid transition to digital, the pandemic increased digital literacy among seniors and significantly eased the adoption process, leading to a rise in demand for digital goods and services among older Americans. This opens up new sources of member acquisition, as well as creating the opportunity to drive digital adoption and bolster communication and engagement with existing members.
5. Drive engagement with communication tools
The benefits of Digital Membership Cards are manifold: besides being more affordable, they are more convenient, more accessible, and crucially, they help improve communication and drive digital engagement among your alumni base.
Digital Membership Cards include built-in opportunities for increased engagement, including back of the card text and push notifications:
The back of the digital card can be used as a centralized place to store information, and it can be customized to provide up to date information for different segments of your alumni, based on their local chapter or club. With Digital Membership Cards, you can use push notifications to send renewal reminders straight to your members’ mobile devices, as well as a whole host of other important information. From location-based notifications for local alumni meetups to invitations to donate, push notifications can be instrumental in fostering alumni engagement and alumni giving.
As a bonus, Digital Membership Cards can integrate and work in tandem with a host of other digital tools geared towards increasing member engagement, including SMS text messaging. SMS software allows you to promote events, networking opportunities, and other virtual or in-person benefits on-demand in real time, and has an open rate of 98%, outpacing email’s 20% and far above other traditional channels like phone calls and direct mail.
With these features – plus seamless integration with top CRM systems – a digital card becomes so much more: it’s a communication channel, a networking tool, and a direct connection to your constituents, keeping them up-to-date, informed, and engaged.
Maintaining an active and engaged alumni network is no easy task, but with Digital Alumni Cards powered by Cuseum, you can save on time and costs, streamline fulfillment and distribution – all while driving alumni engagement, retention, and loyalty.
To learn more about strategies for rolling out a Digital Alumni Membership program, request your free demo today!