Research is often positioned as a central part of a trade association’s value proposition. After all, associations are in a unique position to collect industry intelligence on behalf of their members and provide unbiased output that can help members grow their businesses or plan their next moves. However, many of these same associations struggle to transform the information they collect into a form that provides strategic value for their members.
Why the disconnect? Often, it’s due to a lack of a clear framework for turning data into action. Successful associations don't just collect data – they follow a clear roadmap for turning research insights into strategic action plans that drive measurable member success and industry advancement.
Creating a Framework for Association Research
As an objective third party, associations are in an excellent position to capture data from their members. Members often prove more willing to share sensitive company data with associations as an independent third party that can compile a trove of industry data into reporting that helps inform decision-making.
Yet, associations that start by collecting as much data as possible, with the hope that the value will emerge over time, can quickly find themselves overwhelmed and lacking member support. To ensure your association is collecting data with a purpose, it’s important to put a framework in place to shape your research strategy and focus on data of most interest to your members. With this framework in place, associations can strategically expand their data collection and reporting over time.
With this strategic planning for associations’ research, members will gain clear value by considering the following steps:
1. Prioritize Member-driven Research
Effective research is usually driven by members and rarely by association leaders and third-party researchers. Your members know their industry best, so they should be involved in determining what data points will be most useful to secure.
2. Connect Research to Your Strategic Plan
At a high level, the most effective association research is driven by – and integral to – the association’s strategic plan and member needs. The association’s mission and values can help guide the types of data that you deliver to inform members’ decision-making. Especially when starting a new research initiative, it is key to have a multi-year plan that outlines how the research can grow, how members can use it to help run their businesses, and how it can promote the overall industry.
3. Put Member Advocates to Work
As members speak up about the data that would be of most use to them, encourage those same individuals to get involved in shaping the research direction. A group of member advocates can help launch research programs and maintain value through periodic committee reviews.
4. Start with the End in Mind
Research can (and typically should) be leveraged in a number of ways. It can provide an industry pulse, help demonstrate data trends over time, support benchmarking, drive advocacy, and expand awareness of key issues. Identifying the many ways in which data could ultimately be utilized can shape the amount and level of data collected.
5. Create an Environment that Encourages Member Participation
The success of your research depends on members’ participation. Having antitrust guidelines and other legal guardrails in place can encourage engagement by providing members with assurance that their data is safe. Inviting a third party to manage sensitive data is an added step that can give companies confidence that participating in the program will not risk the confidentiality of their data.
6. Keep Reviewing Research Needs
As members’ needs change, research programs may need to change as well. For example, programs may need to expand to gather different types of data as new product types hit the industry. In addition, programs launched to provide data on the North American market may expand over time as member companies reach global audiences. To ensure research does not become stale over time, it’s important to establish a timeline for periodic reviews. In order to see this timeline is met, it is important to establish a group, whether a research committee or board-level group, that holds responsibility for this evaluation.
Look Forward to Shaping Strategic Planning
While it is important not to get lost in granular data, strategic planning for associations should also include considerations for curating research data that members may need in the future. Historical data that provides insight into how an industry responded to unusual market conditions in the past can inform decision-making. But getting that value may mean structuring research today with the faith that it may prove fruitful years in the future.
For example, when Vault Consulting began working with Battery Council International (BCI) to collect data on automotive and industrial battery shipments, that data centered on lead batteries, as that solution comprised the majority of the market. However, the association added lithium-ion battery categories to its shipment reports in 2023 in anticipation of market shifts. While few members had data available in this category, it was already clear that this product marked a new direction for this industry. Including opportunities to provide new product types early would help establish historical data that could, in time, prove valuable in identifying trends. Moreover, collecting this data provided an opportunity to engage lithium battery manufacturers and help expand the value of the association to a new audience.
In this case, association leadership recognized that this information would not likely be ready to publish immediately. However, BCI understood that building a strategic framework to collect new data as this industry sector grew would provide insights that appeal to current and prospective members and help establish their association as a proactive thought leader in an emerging area.
Having faith that granular data will provide value in the future requires solid insight into one’s industry and a forward-thinking mindset. It also benefits from having a partner who can help structure research in a way that maximizes value today and tomorrow. This is an area where Vault Consulting excels. To learn more about how we’re helping associations leverage their research to better serve their members, contact us today to get started!