Access to experts and leadership is an important membership benefit according to data collected by Colleen Dilenschneider and the folks at IMPACTS Experience. (sub required)
The top ranked benefit is some form of free admission followed by benefits related to priority access/seating, exclusive membership events, etc. However, access to experts and leadership have been increasing in value for both exhibit and performing arts organizations.
The increase has been greater for exhibit based entities than performing arts entities largely in part because performing arts have a longstanding practice of talks, program notes, and interactions with creative staff.
IMPACTS says that it is a mistake to underestimate the value of these interactions.
The performing arts sector already has a strong tradition of artistic interpretation: pre-performance talks, post-show conversations, rehearsal observations, program notes, artist interviews, and donor salons. But the data suggest that these benefits may deserve to be understood not as “nice extras,” but as membership and subscription value drivers.
Even though performing arts have had this longstanding practice, it is important to make sure these offerings are providing experiences that the members value rather than what staff and experienced insiders values.
In fact IMPACTS encourages membership levels based on the outcomes people desire.
But the data suggest that motivation may be just as important as price point.
Two members at the same level may want very different things. One may want savings, ease, and priority. Another may want impact, insight, and belonging. One may want guest passes. The other may want to hear from the curator about why the new acquisition matters. Both are valid. They are just not the same person.
This is where membership programs often get into trouble. They treat members as a benefits category instead of a relationship category.
They also suggest that access to leadership and access to experts be two separate benefits. In part, this is to keep access limited and valued in addition to allowing leaders and experts to perform their core duties. But what a curator, choreographer, researcher, stage director has to offer is a different product from that of an executive director, V.P. of Marketing, etc.
The one insight from the article that really caught my attention and made lightbulbs come on is that while free admission may be the most valued benefit by far, it is not the benefit that will keep people engaged.
If the main value of membership activates only when someone visits, then the member has a rational reason to wait until they visit. If the organization says, “Renew now so you can get free admission when you come back,” the member may respond, quite reasonably, “Great. I will renew when I come back.”
Welp.
Expert and leadership access can help solve this problem because it creates value before the next visit. A member-only curator briefing, digital conservation update, artistic preview, or leadership conversation can make the membership feel active even when the member has not yet planned an onsite experience.
This is important because membership should not only be a stored-value card for future attendance. It must become an active relationship.
I hadn’t really thought about what sort of behaviors membership benefits were encouraging in visitors. A discount on the next time someone visits leaves their next visit up in the air. Providing reasons to return throughout the next year helps to solidify when that next visit might happen.
Members may not be able to take advantage of every interaction with an expert due to competing priorities but providing those opportunities keeps members paying attention to the schedule. That results in a higher degree of engagement than knowing you can get a 15% discount at the bar on your next visit.
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