The Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) has reported a jump in the rate of membership renewals since launching regular e-mail campaigns for expiring memberships. AHRI now send out an e-mail renewal notice that arrives precompleted, to members as they come up for renewal. Members can either print and fax or post back this renewal,or click through to pay online and the results demonstrate that the new email campaigns have really paid off

Michael Edgley, manager for membership and corporate relations at AHRI reported thet there has been an immediate jump in the rate of renewals right from the first electronic invoice. "The result is just what we were aiming for. Online registrations are faster to process and more accurate. And not only has the speed of renewals improved" says Michael "but the overall number of renewals is showing an improvement. I think the professional presentation of our communications as well as the ease with which members can respond is bringing extra value to memberships. Another bonus is that through the renewals, online surveys and newsletters, members have become better aquainted with the website and online activity has dramatically increased as a result."

Utilising e-mail delivery for membership renewals offers serious benefits for associations . Although the cost saving is usually the prime mover, the other benfits that come as an added bonus make the move very attractive indeed. Faster turnaround of renewals means better cash flow. More accurate data entry and less manual data handling means lower error rates and reduced man hours. The measurability and trackabillty means that members who don't respond to the e-mail can be easily identified and contacted through post, increasing the penetration rate to close to 100%.