Association Insight International & European | Page 46

Association Insights | Association Success Story

Activities
In order to achieve the Institute’s strategic goal of
amending our value proposition and expanding our
membership into non-traditional markets, the Membership
and Marketing Team proposed developing an electronic
only, paid student membership category.
This proposal, along with market sizing data, was presented
to the Institute’s Membership and Marketing Committee
(MMC) in Autumn 2012. It was agreed that additional
research around the content and pricing of the offer be
undertaken and presented at the next Committee meeting.
Developing an offer to meet students’ needs at an
appropriate price point was central to the eStudent offer’s
potential success. Extensive research was undertaken by
the IBMS Membership and Marketing Team with student
focus groups and via surveys, indicating that students
wanted information tailored to their needs and would
prefer to be communicated with electronically.
Having secured MMC approval to begin development of the
eStudent offer, the research undertaken with students, price
comparison and further financial modelling was undertaken
and a price point of £10 was proposed by the Membership
and Marketing Team and approved by the Institute’s MMC in
April 2013.

time for the product launch to coincide with the beginning
of the academic year in order to achieve maximum impact
and uptake.

Partners
• Clip Creative, Designers
• ArtOneZero, Web Supplier
• FormulaCRM, CRM Database Supplier

Challenges
Persuading some IBMS Executive Heads and Council of the
need for change regarding the Institute’s student offering
proved difficult at first. However, this was overcome by
marketing the Institute’s current student offer to course
and admissions tutors of non- IBMS accredited university
courses, with coded application forms sent. No application
forms coded to this campaign were returned.
As the IBMS had not previously offered online joining,
this had to be set up from scratch. This involved liaising
between four different teams – database support,
internal website team, external website support and the
Membership and Marketing Team.
Setting up a discrete renewals and upgrades process for
eStudent members, who are admitted throughout the year
rather than at quarterly intervals, as is the case other IBMS
membership grades.
The main technical issue that came up after the go live
date was the appearance of duplicate records on the IBMS
member database. Some students submitted multiple
online joining applications, resulting in multiple records
for that student appearing on the member database. This
was overcome through additional testing and website
development after the go live date.

The Membership and Marketing team then began work
with our web supplier and database manager to develop an
online only offer. This involved developing and hosting an
automated online joining and renewal process and creating
of a microsite on the main IBMS website featuring eStudent
branding and developing tailored content. The student
research was used to develop the tailored content on the
eStudent microsite and an eNews roundup.
The online only membership prompted the development
of an online version of the IBMS journal The Biomedical
Scientist. In partnership with our publisher.
The Head of Communications worked with a designer to
develop a brand and logo that would feel like it was part of
the IBMS brand, creating a sense of community, but with
a distinct identity of its own - emphasising the modern,
electronic nature of eStudent membership. The branding
was used for the eStudent website and all eStudent
promotional materials.

The Head of Communications developed a marketing
plan for the offer and system testing was undertaken by
the Membership and Marketing Team. Although it meant
working to very tight deadlines, work was completed in

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Success Factor s
The move to an online only offer and the removal
of the requirement for students to be on an IBMS
accredited degree course, enabled the Institute to offer
a competitively priced student membership to a far
wider potential market. The research the Membership
and Marketing Team undertook was central to delivering
an offer that was attractive to students while being cost
effective for the Institute.
It was important that the pricing of the offer was developed
in conjunction with student focus groups. A £10-15 price
point was considered fair by student focus groups and
competitive when considered alongside the pricing of
similar organisation’s student membership fees. We
considered the £10 price point recognised the financial
pressures faced by students, while providing good value
and covering the cost of the offer to the IBMS.
Financial modelling based on £10 and £15 price points way
also key, indicating that the predicted increase in student
uptake at the £10 price point would generate greater
income than the £15 price point. Modelling indicated that
the £10 price point would cover the Institute’s costs and
start generating income by year 2 of the new offer.
The online nature of the eStudent offer also meant that
unique content including; electronic journal access,
careers advice and guidance and tailored webinars are all
accessible online, ensuring equality of access to students
across the UK and overseas and enhancing overseas
student recruitment.

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