The crowd at one of Memberwise's DIGX or MEMX events
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MemberWise

Optimising an Online Community to Increase Engagement

The MemberWise Network is the leading professional network for membership and association professionals in the UK & EU. MemberWise were eager to significantly increase engagement with their members, as well as improve the overall experience for members on-the-go.

A demonstration of the dashboard screen from the Memberwise app

The mobile browsing market has grown significantly over the past ten years, now representing 72% of all minutes spent online, both in-app and on mobile web browsers. This was not represented in the user behaviour of the MemberWise community, the majority of its users accessing the community via a desktop. Mobile, therefore, represents a huge area for future member value to be delivered, and MemberWise wanted to be able to showcase this value via a best-of-breed community app. As an ongoing partner of MemberWise, Cantarus offered to build the app on the MemConnect platform.

Screenshot of memberwise forum functionality
Delivering Member Value

We wanted to utilise all the great features and functionality of the main MemberWise website. With that in mind, we ensured the app included discussions, community profiles, messaging, the member directory, jobs board, and much more. We didn’t want to merely recreate the website; we wanted to make sure that the app was its own unique, mobile-optimised experience for members. MemberWise wanted a way of delivering value to their members at par with in-person events. With the MemConnect app, MemberWise could achieve an online community experience that allows members to stay ahead of trends.
A series of app screens showing the wide variant in possible layout

Introducing: MemberWise Connect

MemberWise Connect, their online community, leverages a leading community platform to meet the need for better, consistent member communication within the web browser. However, in general, users tend to look to apps for interpersonal interaction anytime, anywhere. The MemberWise app leverages powerful integration and features that have no peer within a website. Offline experiences fill the void for members on the move. Community solutions allow members to interact with their peers, know where common challenges have been addressed with innovative solutions, and join in professional and social conversations: apps need to lead the way for these experiences. The MemberWise app leads the way for their network. Push notifications are a key differentiator between apps and websites. While websites are fundamentally passive communication channels, apps allow for active communication tools thanks to push notifications.

MemberWise can utilise personalised push notifications to promote their events and funnel users towards their outstanding news content and industry insights, bringing members back to the app time and again. Benefit delivery, not spam. Blogs and other resources are integrated from the main website but optimised for a better user experience on mobile. It was important to MemberWise that the app was not a separate content silo to the existing website, and therefore content is pulled directly from the MemberWise site in real-time. MemberWise also required their annual national conferences and Select Seminars to be viewable and browsable. Consequently, we built an Events Calendar inside the app which lists all upcoming events, and these can then be added to the user’s personal calendar.

Given MemberWise’s position within the membership industry, it's the first place to check for membership professionals looking to transition to a new role. Providing a great mobile job experience was identified as a huge value add because it is one area that is less likely to be used on a desktop at work. Jobs can be searched for by keyword and members are able to browse through new jobs seamlessly. Members can also communicate effortlessly with each other via the messaging functionality – messages will go straight to another member’s inbox. It is also quick and painless to locate other members via the member directory.

Want to know more?

Our Chief Product Officer, Mark Eichler, would love to chat with you about your online community needs.
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