Membership organisations are investing more than ever in digital tools – CRMs, portals, apps, content platforms. But in many cases, member engagement isn’t improving. In fact, it’s stalling.
This is the Member Experience Paradox: the more features you add, the less likely members are to use them.
It’s not because your systems are broken – it’s because your design is. And unless we rethink how we approach digital member experience, we’ll keep throwing good money after bad.
The problem: impressive tech, flat engagement
You’ve done everything by the book.
- Invested in a new CRM
- Rolled out a mobile app
- Built out a sophisticated portal
- Created personalisation tools and calendar integrations
- And yet… engagement metrics are stubbornly flat. Members still miss events, ignore updates, and drop off your radar.
It’s frustrating – but you’re not alone.
The real reason features fail
When organisations approach digital experience, the question often asked is:
“What do our members want?”
And that’s the right instinct. But internally, the answer tends to become a feature wishlist:
- Better search
- More personalisation
- Real-time notifications
- AI recommendations
- Mobile access
- Easier booking
- CPD tracking …and so on.
The result? A bloated ecosystem of tools, buttons, and pathways that overwhelm members rather than engage them.
Research shows that users typically engage with only a small fraction of available features. Nielsen Norman Group’s research on user engagement demonstrates that most users have low engagement levels and prefer simplicity over capability. They typically use just 5–10 core functions. Everything else is noise.
So why do we keep building?
Because internally, we often conflate capability with value. The more we can offer, the more valuable we assume the experience becomes. But that’s solving for what we can build – not what members actually need.
The hidden cost of complexity
Bloated digital experiences don’t just underperform – they actively damage engagement and drive up operational costs. Here’s how:
- Decision fatigue: Too many options cause paralysis. Members disengage entirely
- Support burden: More features = more confusion = more support tickets
- Adoption failure: New launches land with a thud – no uptake, no ROI
- Member churn: Frustrated members drift to simpler alternatives
- Wasted investment: Paying for features no one uses
Real-world examples of the paradox in action
Let’s take a closer look at how this plays out in practice.
Scenario 1: The personalisation trap
An organisation invests in a powerful email platform – but it’s not integrated with their CRM. Lists have to be manually exported, meaning data is out of date by the time campaigns go live. Members receive emails about events they’ve already attended or CPD they’ve already completed. So the team stops segmenting and sends everything to everyone. Personalisation turns into spam.
Scenario 2: The integration overload
The CRM is successfully integrated with learning, events, payments, and comms systems. But instead of a seamless experience, members receive duplicate notifications and conflicting updates. Support tickets surge – and the communications team loses confidence in the tools.
Scenario 3: The mobile myth
Based on internal assumptions, the team builds a mobile app. But usage data shows 80% of engagement happens during work hours, on desktop. The app costs £40k a year to maintain – and sees minimal adoption.
A better way: 4 steps to simplify and succeed
To break the paradox, we need to shift from “what more can we add?” to “what do our members actually use?”
Here’s a framework to help.
1.Audit actual usage – not assumptions
Most organisations don’t truly know what their members use. Guesswork dominates. To fix this:
- Review 90 days of usage data across portals, apps, CRM, email
- Identify which features are used – and by whom
- Map usage to support tickets, drop-off points, and engagement outcomes
Red flags to look for:
- Features with <10% adoption
- Features driving high support volumes
- Tools built “because other membership organisations have them”
- Duplicated functionality across platforms
Action: Create a usage dashboard. Get clear on where the friction lies and what’s adding real value.
2. Identify your core member value
What are the 3–5 things members really come to you for? Not what you wish they used – but what actually drives retention and engagement.
For example:
- Professional body: CPD tracking, peer networking, event booking, job boards
- Leisure association: Class booking, progress tracking, exclusive content, community features
Action: Interview 10–15 members across different segments. Ask:
“What do you value most?”
“What would make you leave?”
Look for common themes. Your core proposition sits there.
3. Ruthlessly prioritise
Once you know what matters, use this matrix to decide what stays and what goes:
Most membership organisations carry 30–40% of their features in the “Retire” zone – and still invest in them.
Action: Run a prioritisation workshop. Be honest. Free up resources to invest in what really works.
4. Design for simplicity, not capability
Now that you know your core – build around it.
Design your portal, app, and comms so that the most valuable experiences are immediately visible and intuitive.
Principles to follow:
- Clear entry points to your top 3–5 features
- Reduce paths to value (less clicking, less confusion)
- Use member language, not internal jargon
- Use progressive disclosure: advanced features exist, but don’t clutter the core experience
- Measure adoption – not just availability
Action: Redesign one member experience flow (e.g. event booking or CPD tracking) based on simplicity. Test with 20 members. Measure before and after.
The business case for doing less – better
Simplification isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about return on investment.
We worked with one membership organisation that had 12 portal features. Usage was scattered, support costs were rising. After a discovery audit, they identified their core four features and redesigned the portal around those.
Results:
- Feature adoption: 35% → 78%
- Support tickets: ↓ 40%
- Member satisfaction (NPS): 42 → 61
- Support cost savings: £28k per year
- Redesign time: 6 weeks
- Payback period: 5 months
The bigger shift: From capability to clarity
The Member Experience Paradox points to a broader challenge in our sector:
We’ve been trained to think more features = more value.
But members don’t want more. They want clarity, ease, and relevance.
Your job isn’t to build more. It’s to build better. And that usually means building less – but doing it brilliantly.