W222: Stop Creeping Out Your Members: How to Connect in a New Age of Privacy Expectations (and Worthless Open Rates)

Perceptions around digital privacy have evolved, and consumers are responding; already, 96 percent of U.S. users are opting out of Apple’s permission-to-track option. Across industries and especially in member-based organizations, consumers want (deserve!) a more human, personal experience with their intentional input. Until recently, messaging has been based mostly on what consumers do (their behaviors, purchases and internet browsing), gathered through 1st, 2nd and 3rd party data sources. From there, a lot of guesswork happens: if they’re at this stage in their career, they want this, if they visited this web page, they probably want that. This segmentation is an estimation at best and makes your organization seem like a Peeping Tom at worst. Instead of following your members, tracking what they do and then guessing what they want, what if you just asked them in real time and acted on it? That’s what American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) did to better engage their members, and it laid the groundwork for a whole new engagement strategy. Within just a few months, the AAP put together multiple campaigns that increased recruitment numbers, gathered valuable information, and inspired a list of future campaigns to further strengthen their member interactions and communications. Join us to explore how member attitudes, needs and wants are changing… and why your email open rate metric can be tossed in the trash for more meaningful measures of engagement. Presented by: Katy Lerman, Senior Manager, Membership Marketing & Engagement at the American Academy of Pediatrics, Brianne Wheeler