Background: An international trade association faced challenges with its digital strategy, attempting to cater to both consumers and members within a single, confusing website architecture. The association aimed to promote its members to consumers while providing valuable resources, marketing benefits, education, and certifications to its members.
Challenge: The initial attempt to revamp the website with a company inexperienced in membership organizations led to recommendations that missed the mark. The association needed a partner that understood the unique dynamics of a non-profit serving both direct consumers and members.
Solution: Etchasoft emerged as the ideal partner, proposing a dual-website strategy to distinctly serve each audience. This approach involved:
- Consumer-Focused Website: Designed to inspire and inform consumers about the industry, featuring promotional content and member locator tools to connect consumers with member companies in their area.
- Member-Focused Website:: Dedicated to serving the association’s members, with targeted content, resources, marketing benefits, education, and certification opportunities, all tailored to enhance the member experience.
Both sites were engineered to share content through a single point of entry, allowing for efficient content management while presenting it in audience-appropriate formats. Etchasoft also implemented an online learning system for member education and certification, alongside metrics to track lead generation activity from the member locator as a tangible membership benefit.
Results: The dual-website strategy significantly improved user experience for both consumers and members, eliminating previous confusion and enhancing engagement. The association now benefits from:
- Clear separation of content, optimizing user interaction for each target audience.
- Increased lead generation for members, with measurable metrics to demonstrate value.
- Enhanced educational offerings through an accessible online platform.
Ongoing Partnership: The association relies on Etchasoft for continuous website enhancement and support, setting annual goals and budgets to introduce new features and functionality. Feedback-driven updates have simplified the member site UI, integrated member database features have replaced outdated systems, and leads from the consumer site now feed into a drip marketing campaign, generating additional sales for members.
Conclusion: This case study highlights the importance of a tailored digital strategy for membership organizations, demonstrating how a specialized approach can resolve complex challenges, enhance member value, and drive industry engagement. The partnership between the trade association and Etchasoft continues to evolve, ensuring the digital presence meets the growing needs of both the association and its diverse audiences.