Which benefits are most important to members? According to a survey commissioned by the IEEE Membership Development Committee, the answers are a society membership, a subscription to IEEE Spectrum, and downloads from the IEEE Xplore digital library included with basic membership.

Members were asked to rate how valuable they find the IEEE’s current 67 benefit offerings and 13 proposed new ones. The results of the Member Value Survey could lead to major changes in the IEEE’s model for membership, which now bundles products and services together for one price.

“Increasingly, members are telling us that the price is too high for the perceived value,” says Senior Member Jan Brown, chair of the Membership Development Committee. “However, when presented with the complete list of benefits, members are amazed at how many there are. This survey is only the first step in understanding how we might change our membership model.”

The seeds for a review of the current membership model were sown early this year when IEEE President Michael R. Lightner issued a challenge to each unit of the IEEE. He asked them to consider how they would restructure their activities and offerings if the IEEE reduced its dues to cover just the cost of basic services, such as processing membership applications and mailing membership cards. For all other services, members would pay extra. The first step in answering Lightner’s challenge was to find out from members how they value the IEEE’s offerings [see “Creating a New IEEE Membership Model,”].

An online survey was sent to 5985 current and 9991 former higher-grade members between 16 and 25 May 2006. Of those, 1502 current members (students and life members were excluded) and 969 former members (those who let their membership lapse since 2004) answered the survey, a response rate of 25.1 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively. The numbers were considered representative of the entire membership.

Respondents were asked to select from among the current offerings and the proposed new ones, and to rate each according to its desirability [see “What Members Value”]. The current offerings include, for example, subscriptions to publications, membership in any of the IEEE’s 39 technical societies, travel and career services, discounts on IEEE conference fees, and educational programs that benefit the public and the profession. Proposed new offerings included a limited number of downloads from the IEEE Xplore digital library, automatic membership renewal, and a magazine targeted at engineer-practitioners rather than researchers.

Current members were asked in three different ways to choose the benefits they value most. In the “Ideal” membership, the sky was the limit; they could choose as many benefits as they wanted without concern for price. All told, of the 1502 respondents, 1475 different combinations of benefits were selected.

In a “Limited” membership, members had to restrict themselves to 10 offerings. But that proved to be more than many felt they needed. They chose an average of 8.4 benefits, while former members chose 7.3.

In the “Would Pay Extra For” category—otherwise known as the à la carte category—respondents were asked to choose benefits for which they would be willing to pay a “reasonable extra fee” on top of nominal basic dues. Here the respondents tended to hold onto their wallets. Current members said they would pay extra for 5.3 benefits on average, while former members said they would pay for 3.2.

HOW VALUABLE? The results indicate that most members find only a small subset of benefits to be of value. Further, this subset is very different for each member. While no one benefit had universal appeal, each appealed to some members. The three mentioned at the beginning of this article—a limited number of IEEE Xplore downloads is a proposed benefit—were in the top 10 of those most highly valued. The IEEE Computer Society was the most popular of the societies.

Other benefits rated highly include discounted conference fees, the IEEE e-mail alias, and a possible new offering that lets members join for more than one year at a time. Rated as less valuable were the IEEE History Center, the proposed magazine for practitioners, and programs aimed at improving the image of the profession.

“We offer a smorgasbord of benefits, so it’s not surprising that the majority of people don’t find value in every benefit,” Brown says. “But the reason they buy a membership in the first place is because they receive value—whether it’s getting our technical information, interacting at the local level, or reading IEEE Spectrum,” Brown says.

NEXT STEPS Armed with the survey’s findings, the IEEE is now conducting Phase 2 of the study. Different membership models offering various benefits are being tested with eight focus groups. The groups are made up of current higher-grade members and former members who were with the IEEE for at least two years, along with current graduate students, former student members, and nonmembers. Results of this phase of the study were not available at press time. Phase 3 will then test prices for the models that the focus groups find most appealing. Findings of that phase are to be released early next year.