Improve Club Communications with Member Driven Data
By Alyson Stevenson, Director of Sales, Southeast US, Northstar
1. Member mobile activities and consumer habits are no different than your own – member smartphone usage mirrors your own mobile behavior, especially when you are not at the club (work).
2. Rethink the way you are collecting and managing your member data - create a centralized resource in an easy-to-use environment where your members can manage their profile and club preferences, and that in turn will provide you the most accurate and relevant information about them.
3. Understand what is currently NOT working in your existing marketing & communications landscape – examples include; capturing club interest data, communication lag-times, low response rate, identifying demographics, too much or irrelevant content.
4. Mobile app vs. mobile website - realize there is a big difference! A mobile app is native to an IOS or Android operating system that is easily downloaded from an app store or marketplace. It’s a cleaner, condensed user interface that is easier to navigate, faster and more effective in communications with additional features like push notifications & beacon enabled location based services; which a mobile website cannot provide.
5. Choose an app that conforms to your club brand values that is easy to use and manage – determine what functionality you want to offer your membership today and a couple of years from now i.e. push notifications, location based beacon technology, mobile payments, event & activities registration, club dining and tee-time reservations, mobile food ordering, member roster, automated door access, member check-in, etc.
6. Implement a "facebook like culture" among your membership – your member app should be an extension of your Club's brand by making it a utility in your member’s everyday lives. Make it a social experience for your members to see what's happening at the club with news feeds, inter-app messaging or simply knowing who's attending what event.
7. Define member interest tables for target marketing that will increase club traffic & revenue – general demographic information, club within a club interests or any other special identifying matrixes.
8. Capture transactional data that will categorize member behavior & spending analytics – “past performance predicts future behavior” - a member's club usage can help you create loyalty programs for the more frequent member, generate incentives for the member at risk, or identify new club events and activities that will cater to your entire membership.
9. Determine the most effective and preferred type of communication with your membership – subsections of your membership may have different preferences (email vs. text messages, push notifications, etc.). Normally, smaller packets of information are easier to process and deliver personalized and more relevant content.
10. Educate your membership on the benefits of using the mobile app – "help me, help you"! How, what and why as a member an app will benefit them by increasing the level of service and communication within the club and its staff.
Top 10 Topics of Conversations you should be having at your Club right now:
1. Here's Why Your Business Needs Its Own Mobile App - November 17th, 2014 By Melanie Haselmayr
2. Benefits of a Mobile App – Why You Should Invest - February 16, 2017 By Promatics
3. App Download and Usage Statistics 2017 - October 16, 2017 By Artyom Dogtiev
6. How Mobile Technology Is Changing the Hospitality Industry? - September 29, 2016 By Varsha Kumari
7. 28+ Powerful Facebook Stats Your Brand Can’t Ignore in 2017 - September 11, 2017 By Maddy Osman
8. What's the Difference Between Push Notifications & Email? - June 26, 2017 By Megan Marrs
10. Mobile Usage Facts and Figures 2017 - January 8, 2017 By Jackie Goldstein