Membership Retention Gillian Hepburn – President, Warrender Baths Club
Membership retention – accident or design? • What creates retention – loyalty, inertia or something else? • Start with some stats: WBC Members • Swimmer • Non swimmer • Coaches/others
2014 480 223 20
2013 450 234 17
• Not all the same members – element of turnover (50 new swimmers every year predominantly from SwimEasy)
Tesco – how do they create loyalty? • Flexible products – meet a variety of customer needs (Tesco finest, basics, organic, • Engagement – online shopping, website, emails, clubcard points • Value for money – ‘every little helps’
• How does this model apply to Warrender BC ?
Flexible Products • Range of programmes to suit every swimmer • 15 squads and a clear pathway for swimmers – swimmer reports • Club and Youth squads – opportunity for swimmers to move into a ‘non competitive’ pathway through to Masters – not stringent about attendance!
Flexible Products • Club squad introduced last year to meet demand – both noncompetitive full for this season –44 last year and now 62 swimmers • Masters – Secured DCI funding to further develop this and add in coached sessions (retention and growth) • Opportunities for coaches – secured Sportsmatch funding for coaches education programme
Flexible Products for ‘Non swimmers’ • Waterpolo ‘thriving’ Existing swimmers given opportunity to move across Taster sessions –retention and growth Improved structure and progression opportunities • Parent members Over 100 volunteers STOs – Numbers continue to grow (currently 89) Team managers – 15 Fundraising Team – 10 people meet regularly Finance team- Treasurer plus 3 new volunteers Management committee and other roles e.g. membership, meet entries
Engagement • Website – relaunched in 2012 www.swimwarrender.com • Newsletter – new and improved
Engagement • Website – relaunched in 2012 www.swimwarrender.com (up to 1000 views per month) • Newsletter – new and improved • Annual swimmer/parent survey – introduced this year • Events – social and fundraising • Maximise opportunities – e.g. Warrender 125th anniversary
Value for money • Not to be confused with ‘expensive’ • Elite squad - £1.20 per hour
Challenges! • No ‘home’ venue so how to create a ‘virtual club’ to maintain engagement - Social media, twitter, events • Coach for Youth and Club squads • Club of 350 swimmers with a pathway requires a serious infrastructure (turnover - £500k) • Database and contact strategy • Maintaining momentum • Managing costs in order to deliver value for money • Volunteers
Future plans – next 125 years! • Warrender Association – maximise the Alumni (>250 opportunities) • Member survey - 2015 • Events and fundraising • Improve retention / replacement • IT infrastructure
Any questions?