Article

People join and stay in member organizations because they see value in doing so, whether to gain access to specialized content, connect with other like-minded members, or acquire new skills.

However, providing benefits to members online is often harder than it needs to be. Many organizations rely on older platforms, like legacy association management systems (AMS), that prevent them from taking advantage of emerging technologies that can help them deliver more value to their members. It can seem like the only option is a complete overhaul, a costly and daunting effort. 

Luckily, there’s another way. Through our extensive experience working with member associations such as the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), the International Trademark Association (INTA), and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), we’ve seen how implementing a SaaS search platform can help provide immediate value to members without the need to completely re-do the website.

The Most Benefit for the Least Effort

At Foster Made, we’re advocates of composable tech. Composability allows you to pick the individual components that suit your organization, giving you more flexibility over traditional monolithic design and eliminating the need to completely overhaul your website every five years.

But as beneficial as it is, your organization may not have the capacity or funding to completely re-platform and retool your website with a modern composable tech stack. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing venture. For member organizations, a great place to start is with search. Going with a commercial SaaS-based search platform is an easy way to bring a lot of value to your members for a comparatively modest investment while at the same time starting the transition to a composable future. 

What a modern AI-powered search platform like Algolia can offer is lightyears ahead of what’s built into your AMS, allowing you to:

• Make all types of content easier for members to find

• Help members connect with each other more easily 

• Gain a deeper understanding of member behavior through superior analytics tools

Content is King

Almost thirty years ago, Bill Gates wrote “content is king” in an essay on the future of the internet. And while a lot has changed since the ‘90s, that particular statement still holds true today. The vast amounts of content that member organizations typically generate–articles, videos, white papers, images, podcasts, and more–are of great value to their members. But organizing and presenting that content is another story.

While we recommend the combination of intuitive navigation and a powerful search experience to optimize content findability, if you had to pick one or the other, we would say search. Layering in a modern SaaS search platform can pay immediate dividends. In addition to providing faster, more accurate search results, we’ve been able to deliver other modern features to our member organization clients including:

Federated search

This allows members to search multiple content sources and types at the same time. For example, searching a single word or phrase could bring up videos, articles, PDFs, member recommendations, and upcoming events all within the same user interface.

Personalized content

We can personalize content through a variety of methods, from boosting content based on user attributes and preferences to one-to-one AI-driven personalization based on user behavior, providing search results that are tailored to each member. We can also limit content based on permissions, ensuring we’re surfacing the right content to the right people at the right time.

Cross-promotion with banners

We can provide personalized promotional banners for upcoming events, membership renewal dates, or special publications directly into searches, providing members with additional information and calls to action that are timely and relevant.

A Match Made in Heaven

Another reason that people join member organizations is to connect with others who share their interests or profession. This might be easy if your organization only has a few hundred members, but when you have tens of thousands of members it gets trickier to facilitate those connections. 

Most monolithic AMS platforms aren't up to the task–at least not in an especially meaningful way–but a modern composable search platform can do wonders for member search and member matching. 

One example of this is the work we’ve done on the ICSC website. We implemented Algolia to improve ICSC’s search functionality in general, including member search. Now, members can be matched with other members who have similar job titles, work for similar companies, or have similar interests. Members can also create custom searches to connect with others for a specific purpose, such as finding legal services or a tenant for a particular piece of real estate.

Knowledge is Power

Improved member search and better access to content are quick wins that implementing a SaaS search platform can offer, but there’s another benefit that can pay dividends in the long run: in-depth analytics.

By tagging analytics with member data–such as location, company, or member type–you can gain insights into how members are using the site and what they’re searching for. Having a deeper understanding of member behavior can help your organization not only improve the search experience but also know where to invest to provide the most value to members, whether that’s in specific types of content, new website features, or other improvements.

Foster Made Can Help

Member organizations and associations live and die by the services they provide for their members. If your search functionality leaves members frustrated, then they’re going to be more reluctant to use the site in the future. And when members don’t engage, they can start to question the value of their membership. Implementing Algolia or another modern search platform is a great way to quickly add value to your members, and can keep them coming back to the website again and again.

The points we’ve made in this article aren’t just hypothetical; they’re all things that we’ve done for our member organization clients. We have extensive experience layering SaaS search platforms into existing AMS-based sites and are familiar with the unique needs and requirements of member associations.

Reach out today to learn how we can help your organization update its search capabilities.