Here are the eight essential questions to include in your next member satisfaction survey. 

1. What are the key challenges that you (or your firm) currently face? 

While most questions in a member satisfaction survey focus on performance measures, we believe that it’s important to understand the challenges and pain points that members currently face. This gives us ideas for future programs and services. 

2. How satisfied are you with your Association’s ability to address each challenge with the services and programs that they provide?

In a follow-up question we like to list the challenges from the first question and ask respondents how satisfied they are with the association in terms of its ability to address these challenges with their programs and services. You can use a five-point rating scale from “very satisfied” to “very unsatisfied”.  Responses to this question allow us to identify gaps between “importance” and “satisfaction”. 

3.  How long have you been a member of (your organization)?

One of the key reasons to capture this information is that gives us the ability to break down the results into categories e.g. new members versus more seasoned members. 
Why is this important? The reasons for being a member will vary depending on the length of my membership. Put another way, my motivation for originally joining an association will be different than my reasons for renewing my membership 15 years later. If an association wants to provide value at different stages in the member journey they need to be sensitive the needs of members at these stages. 

4. What is the primary reason that you (or your organization) is a member of (association)? 

It’s critical to understand the reasons why members join your organization. Their reasons may not be what you expect. And, as mentioned above, it’s important to know how these reasons vary by where a member is in their member (and career) journey. 

5. How would you rate the value of your (association) membership? 

Knowing how members rate your value is a key performance indicator. Responses to this question can be tracked over time and will reveal if you’re making progress on providing greater value. Again, this can be a five-point rating scale from “very satisfied” to “very unsatisfied”. 

6.  What is the one thing that (association) has done particularly well over the past 12 months?

It’s helpful to know what offerings stand out for your members. Conversely it may point to initiatives that need to be better promoted. 

7.  What priorities should (association) focus on over the next two years? 

This question provides useful input including ideas for future initiatives. It will be helpful to look at the responses to this question based on those who are newer members versus your more seasoned members. 

8. Please indicate your likelihood of recommending membership in (your organization) to a colleague or industry peer? 

This question allows us to calculate a Net Promoter Score.  The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is an open-source management tool that can serve as a loyalty metric. Respondents answer by using a 0 to 10 “very unlikely” to “very likely” scale. A respondent is classified as a promoter (a score of 9 or 10), passive (scores of 7 or 8) or a detractor (6 or below). The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting detractors from promoters. 
We often conduct follow interviews with a small number of promoters and detractors. It’s useful to get a more in-depth understanding of what factors motivate a member to be a promoter versus a detractor. Armed with this information, it’s possible to pursue activities that will encourage more members to be promoters and fewer members to be detractors. 

Bottom Line

We have given you eight essential questions to ask in your next member satisfaction survey. We believe that the responses to these questions will give you the information you need to improve member value and engagement. As always, happy to answer any questions that you may have.