A survey and telephone interviews to inform the corporate strategy

The Chartered Governance Institute needed to conduct research with members and subscribers to inform their five-year corporate strategy, member value proposition and plans for recruitment, retention and engagement. 

In addition to this member-focused research, the Institute also needed to better understand why members due to renew at that time were not doing so, and why members had lapsed in recent years. For both of these groups, the Institute wanted to reiterate the benefits of membership and encourage prompt renewal or re-joining.

Method:

Ashridge acted as the principal consultancy, working with Chord - membership outbound calling specalist - to deliver the research programme. 

Ashridge developed and delivered an online survey for members and subscribers, providing detailed insight on member profiles, how they engage with the Institute, where they see most value in their membership and what they need and want from their membership body, now and in the future.

Chord conducted volume outbound telephone calls, speaking with lapsed members and those pending renewal.  Personalised emails and a short online survey provided an alternative method of capturing feedback from those who were difficult to reach by telephone. A dedicated phone line was provided for enquires, and questions from contacts that fell outside the remit of the campaign were referred to the Institute’s membership team.

Outputs:

Ashridge and Chord supplied separate reports for each element of the research programme and, together, delivered and discussed their recommendations with the Institute’s team. 

Ashridge and Chord worked extremely well collaboratively to deliver the insight and outputs we needed at an important time for the Institute. The research with lapsed and pending members delivered good response levels, as forecast.  From the file provided over 58% of members indicated their intention to re-join or renew and the feedback provided us with knowledge and suggestions for improving our future renewal activities.

Having not carried out any member research for around 5 years, the online member and subscriber survey has been invaluable in helping us get the breadth and depth of understanding we needed. Of particular value was the use of Ashridge’s Net Engagement Ratings, which enabled presentation of KPI findings for member segments in an easy-to-understand format. Recommendations were carefully considered and very useful.  We thoroughly enjoyed working with the team.

Jane Galbraith, Head of Membership, ICSA – The Chartered Governance Institute.