American Museum Membership Conference - September 2019

Abstract

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a high member retention rate relative to other cultural organizations. However, we know that first-year members are the most vulnerable to churn. In this session, we share the analytics we used to quantify this problem and identify potential solutions. Retention for first-year members is strongly related to the number of visits they make to the museum. My colleague shares some strategies that our team has used to increase engagement and encourage visitation, such as new member meet-and-greets. While these strategies have increased visitation among participants, they have had a limited impact on retention rates overall because of the relatively small number of attendees. We end by sharing thoughts on next steps such as how to expand these opportunities and similar messaging to a larger swath of new members.