ACS COMMENT
Listening To Our Members MADELEINE JACOBS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
domestic or international, and irrespective How can we serve you better? We do this of whether they work in industry, governthrough formal surveys, focus groups, ACS ment, academia, or elsewhere. The overall Network discussion groups, and informal satisfaction rating was nearly identical to chats. By listening to you, the two previous surveys; we learn what you value, the percentage of very need, and like. satisfied has increased by Earlier this year, more 11% from the 2004 survey, than 24,000 randomly sewhich is movement in the lected members received right direction. invitations from me to parOnly 4% of members ticipate in an online Memsaid they are somewhat bership Satisfaction Survey. dissatisfied (3%) or very The survey was conducted dissatisfied (1%) with ACS, under the auspices of the similar to the percentages ACS Board of Directors in the two previous surveys. Committee on Professional We do take these findings & Member Relations by seriously, and we consider market research firm Harris them to be part of our onInteractive. The questions going efforts to listen to One definite takewere nearly identical to pre- away message members’ concerns. We vious surveys conducted in know about some of these from the survey 2004 and 2007, thus allowconcerns from commentarabout our ing us to compare results. ies on blogs, Listservs, and programs and ACS members are busy in letters we receive. benefits is “If you people, yet nearly 6,500 of The three most widely try it, you’ll like it.” used programs, products, you took the time to share your opinions. Moreover, and services stayed the because the 2010 survey same in 2010 compared went to many more people with 2007: C&EN, the than the 2007 survey and the response rate ACS website, and technical publications. was also higher, the 2010 survey generated Among those who have used ACS services, nearly 10 times more responses—1.5 miltechnical journals and Chemical Abstracts lion data points! Let me share some highService are the top-ranked programs in level results. My thanks go to ACS staffers terms of importance and satisfaction. In Jeff Allum, Gareth Edwards, and Alicia 2010, 85% of respondents said they probFilson for providing data analysis for this ably or definitely would recommend ACS comment. to a colleague. This is down from 2007, First, why do members join ACS? The however, when 89% said they would probdata show that products and services that ably or definitely recommend ACS to a colprovide direct, tangible benefits to memleague. Although this is not a large decline, bers are the primary reason members value it is something we will want to look into. ACS. In particular, the top three reasons people join are for access to scientific and ONE DEFINITE take-away message from other information, networking, and profesthe survey about our programs and benefits sional and career advancement. is “If you try it, you’ll like it.” Nearly all of On the whole, members are satisfied the 26 different membership benefits dewith ACS. In 2010, 84% of survey responscribed in the 2010 survey were given high dents were either somewhat satisfied importance and satisfaction ratings among or very satisfied with ACS overall, with respondents who actually used them. But more in the very satisfied category than some membership benefits are not used somewhat satisfied. This percentage is widely. Career services, for example, are generally the same whether members are typically used only when members are seekPETER CUTTS PHOTOGRAPHY
PERIODICALLY, ACS asks our members:
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OCTOBER 11, 2010
ing employment or professional development opportunities. By contrast, C&EN, the ACS website, national meetings, and technical publications are widely visible and recognizable. They, too, received high importance and satisfaction ratings. ACS offers a huge array of programs, products, and services. One of our challenges is to continually raise and refresh your awareness of these offerings without simultaneously overwhelming you with information. For instance, since the survey was taken, the ACS website has been refreshed, with a new layout, new content, and improved search capabilities. Members have to know about what ACS offers; otherwise, they can’t tell us whether they like it or not. The final question on the survey asked, “What, if anything, can ACS do to improve your membership experience?” Nearly 4,000 members responded to this question alone. We are currently analyzing these responses and expect some great ideas to emerge. In addition, at the ACS national meetings in San Francisco and Boston, we hosted eight informal focus groups with meeting attendees who shared their thoughts on topics ranging from networking to diversity. By taking the pulse of our national meeting attendees in this way, we hope to nurture member relations and inform the continued development of member programs and services. To everyone who responded to the survey, thank you for giving us the gift of your time and opinions. Five lucky survey respondents won Amazon Kindles, and we hope that they are enjoying them! Ultimately, we want to understand the unarticulated needs of our members. Finding out about those unspoken and sometimes unknown needs is difficult, but we are thinking about a way to periodically query a lot of our members in the coming year with such questions as, “What keeps you up at night?” and “What does another organization with which you interact provide that ACS does not?” In the meantime, please speak up! We are listening to you to ensure that ACS is the indispensable professional and information resource. I would love to hear your thoughts at
[email protected]. ■
