Beyond Push Notifications: Membership App Engagement Tactics

Your membership app was buzzing with activity during the annual conference. And then…

Womp womp, as soon as the conference was over, they forgot it existed. Your members are missing out on networking, professional development, and community connections that could enhance their careers and you're missing opportunities to strengthen member loyalty.

To get their attention amidst all the digital distractions in their life, you need a plan that goes beyond using simple push notifications to bring them back to your app.

Beyond Push Notifications: Membership App Engagement Tactics

Here’s a plan for taking advantage of membership app features that encourage year-round engagement.

Interactive membership app activities 📲

Polling is a powerful feature. People love being asked for their opinion—and finding out what others think. But it only works if you match the right question to the right audience. Never text a question to everyone if even one member segment will find it irrelevant. Polling by segment is a better option.

Don’t poll for the heck of it. Plan to do something with what you learn. Only ask about things members care about.

• What do you think will be the biggest industry trend/challenge/news in 2026?
• What’s the most important advocacy or regulatory issue for you right now?
• What are the top two skills you want to learn in 2026?
• Which tool/method/approach do you prefer to use for X situation?
• Do you feel overworked?
• How was yesterday’s webinar/volunteering experience/meetup?

Use polls to prompt members to add information to their member profile, like career stage or top interests.

Member-generated app content 👩‍💻

Peers are micro-influencers. Members are more likely to pay attention to what their peers share than to what you share. Sorry, but it’s true. Because their peers do the same job, members assume they better understand their content needs and preferences. But you can play the role of editor: seek, gather, prepare, and publish what members create for their peers.

Ask members to send you links to the articles, podcast episodes, and videos they enjoyed this past week.

Encourage them to notify you about career and business milestones, such as new hires, promotions, launches, awards, and other accomplishments.

Ask them to send in shout-outs about members who deserve recognition for personal or professional activities, like volunteering elsewhere, finishing a triathlon, or reaching a large audience with their YouTube channel. Give members the opportunity to find and connect with others who have the same personal interests.

Consider other ways members can contribute content:

• Opinion posts
• What they’re seeing in the industry this month
• Observations about what's happening in their local market
• Lessons learned
• Advice column for anonymous questioners

Before launching, establish guidelines and editorial approval policies and processes so consistent standards are applied to all.

Membership app mini-challenges 🏅

Announce a video or photo challenge with prizes for the best 30-second or 1-minute workplace tour, day-in-the-life, “what’s on my desk,” or “how I set up my workspace” video.

Organize mini-challenges (with prizes) that tap into the reasons members joined your association: to develop relationships with other people in the industry and to increase their skills and knowledge. For example, challenge them to connect with three other members this week.

Encourage them to spend a few minutes each day on a mini-challenge that advances their knowledge and career. Host a week-long learning sprint on your integrated learning management system. Every day, send push notifications with links to microlearning modules focused on an in-demand skill or trending topic.

Design a 30-day learning challenge with daily microlearning modules that are substantial enough to lead to a microcredential and digital badge. Offer a learning cohort option for members who prefer to tackle the content alongside others. Set up a group in the app that cohort members use to message each other and schedule weekly virtual meetups.

 Live chats on your membership app 🗨️

A member’s phone is their gateway for connecting with other members through individual and group messaging, and participation in virtual events, such as:

• Weekly coffee chats or lunch and learns
• Solution rooms
• Hot topic discussions about industry news and issues
• Office hours with staff and/or member experts
• Regional meetups for local yet virtual networking
• Career transition support groups for members in between jobs
• Individual or group mentoring
  
  

 Using the app for new member onboarding and retention 👨‍🏫

Start the membership app habit early. During your onboarding campaign, introduce new members to the benefits of using the app. Schedule mobile-friendly, quarterly new member welcome sessions.

Ask volunteer membership ambassadors to use app messaging to welcome new members, learn about their membership goals and interests, and answer questions. Ambassadors can also help new members set up their preferences for the app’s newsfeed and complete their member profile. Encourage ambassadors to check in with new members at least once during the rest of their first year.

Membership ambassadors can also use the app to check in on inactive members who are at risk of not renewing.

 App-only content previews and announcements 📣

People love being the first to know. With your membership app, give regular users an exclusive experience by sharing:

• Early access to news coverage, survey results, and industry reports
• Board meeting highlights
• Speaker previews of upcoming programs
• Sneak peeks at new online courses and other educational content
• Early announcements about conference housing and exclusive events
  
  

 Personalized push notifications 💌

In this post, we’re encouraging you to expand your membership app engagement efforts beyond push notifications. But we still love push notifications, especially if they’re personalized based on a member’s interests, position, career stage, past behavior, or another segment attribute.

Many of our clients were initially nervous about using push notifications. However, they soon discovered that members never complained or disabled them—as long as the notifications were relevant.

Use post notifications to encourage members to interact with your association. Ask them to answer a polling question, vote, provide feedback, give their opinions or observations, or reply to a question in your online community—as long as it’s a relevant question.

Every association’s challenge is making members feel like a valuable part of a community and making your association feel like a valuable part of their lives. Your membership app is a gateway to networking opportunities, professional development resources, industry insights, and community connections that enhance members’ lives year-round.

For more tips on using your membership app to connect members with each other and with your association, check out our Ultimate Guide to Mobile Engagement.