Here’s a question that comes in so often I’m adding it to the ‘Ask Amanda’ series.

“We have such a hard time attracting and recruiting new members. Help!” -Asks nearly everyone.

Years ago, the hosts of the Membership Marketing Benchmark Report used to ask what drove the most awareness for associations. The top answer was, ‘word of mouth.’ 80% of association marketing success was attributed to word of mouth.

This was a self-reported statistic, meaning the question was something like, “How do you think most members become aware of your association?” Self-reported data can be flawed, but I think the reports were absolutely correct. I saw the same pattern with my research with 477 members.

Members would tell me that their manager would tell them to join. Or a vendor would tell them they just had to attend the annual conference. Or a peer talked about a great experience with the organization, and they would get curious and join.

So what prompts a boss, peer, salesperson, colleague, direct report, or friend to recommend an association? Some level of engagement (even negative engagement—you’ll see what I mean in a moment.)

Word of mouth takes the form of three kinds of recommendations. The Answer Recommendation, the Active Recommendation, and the Anti-Recommendation.

The Answer Recommendation happens during a conversation when one party talks about a challenge or asks a question like, “Do you know any resources for….?” Someone might give an Answer Recommendation when they say, “I’ve heard of an organization, and they might [have a resource/have someone in their community/host an event] that may help you.” Generally, the recommender knows your organization or may experience moderate engagement. They are trying to be helpful by making a general recommendation for the other person to find out if your organization might solve the problem. This soft recommendation may or may not convert to a membership.

The Active Recommendation is an unprompted testimonial. It might go something like this, “I was at a conference last week, and it was soooo GREAT! By the way, you should look into it! I had the most amazing conversation…..” Active Recommenders are your evangelists. They REALLY love, 💕 your association. They may have just had an amazing experience at the conference, made a new friend at a chapter meeting, or had a unique experience in an online community or virtual event, and they are glowing. They’ll take every opportunity to recommend the organization they feel super engaged with. They will bring you up in conversations and promote you to groups. Energetic associations with lots of engagement have more Active Recommenders, and their recommendations convert at a higher rate.

The Anti-Recommendation can be a response or an unprompted anti-testimonial to a person or group. The recommender had a bad experience, and they are not shy about actively telling people not to go anywhere near the association. This doesn’t happen often, but it can happen with new members who never see the value and don’t have very good experiences during their attempts to engage. Sometimes, people who hear an anti-recommendation still join, but they are always on the lookout for a bad experience.

Negative engagement prompts Anti-Recommenations, moderate engagement can prompt Answer Recommendations, and enthusiastic engagement often prompts Active Recommendations.

Want to attract new members? One of the best things you can do is engage your existing members more.