voice of customer report - aiesec alumni...

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Voice of Customer

Report AIESEC Alumni International

Agenda

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Executive Summary

Objectives

Process

Profiles of Interviewees

Outcome

£  The Perceived Value of the AAI Membership

£  AAI‘s Mode of Communication

£  AAI‘s Products and Services

£  AlumNet

£  Fundraising Efforts

Next steps

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E xecutive summary

Executive Summary

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Background: MCI has been tasked to run a fundraising campaign for AIESEC Alumni International. In order to ensure the success of the fundraising campaign, MCI has conducted 17 interviews with AAI members and non-members of all age groups and from all continents served by AAI.

Outcomes: First and foremost, this survey shows 1) why people might choose to financially support AAI (outcome: sentimental reasons like nostalgia and enabling younger generations as well as a strong belief in the positive impact of AlumNet on AAI) and 2) areas of improvement which currently hinder a positive response to an AAI donation request (outcome: members lack awareness of products, benefits and value, members lack trust in AAI’s capacity to drive initiatives forward).

Conclusion: The voice of customer report has shown that the willingness to donate is closely linked to the perceived value the donor gains. Therefore, MCI will propose a strategy which equally looks at increasing AAI‘s value proposition to ensure the best possible fundraising outcomes.

Next steps: Based on the outlined findings, a strategy of how to approach the fundraising for AAI will be proposed by MCI, including how to approach fundraising with alumni and corporates as well as through crowdfunding.

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O bjectives – The aim of the survey

Aim of the survey

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One of AAI‘s current top priorities is to run an effective fundraising scheme to be able to sustain and grow the association by developing new tools like AlumNet. In order to convince potential donors to invest their money in AAI, the perceived value of the AAI membership, products and services needs to be understood. Only once the needs and interests of (potential) members are clear, one can identify the most effective approach to the fundraising effort.

Objectives of the Survey:

£ Capturing the general opinion of a representative sample of people on AAI

£ Identifying needs and interests of (potential) members

£ Understanding the perceived value of AAI

£ Understanding how (amount and mode) and why (motive) people might choose to financially support AAI

£ Ascertaining areas of improvement which currently hinder a positive response to an AAI donation request

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P rocess

Process

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Process

£  17 interviews: 13 conducted over the phone, 3 face to face, 1 in writing

£  Interviewees identified through AIESEC and MCI network without using the AAI contact database; MCI attended Brussels AlumNite to obtain further contacts / recommendations

£  Interim report identified need for more varied sample of interviewees leading to a broadened selection

Process

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Questionnaire

£ 2 questionnaires: 1 for donors, 1 for non-donors

£ 16 questions (previously agreed upon with AAI)

£ 5 topics: The Value of AAI Membership, AAI‘s Mode of Communication, AAI Products and Services, Expectations for AlumNet, Fundraising Efforts

£ Average time frame: 45 minutes, with the longest interview lasting 1.5 hours and the shortest lasting 30 minutes

£ High percentage of open questions

£ Set as a discussion and NOT a question / answer session

Note: The questionnaire is included as a Word file in the report folder.

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P rofiles of interviewees

Criteria for choosing interviewees

The aim was to cover all generations as well as all continents in order to truly represent AAI's geographical reach and potential to have a lifelong influence on its members.

Members were chosen based on the following aspects

£ Geography

£ Seniority

£ Membership status

£ Donor status

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Areas covered through interviews

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North America USA South America Mexico

Europe UK, Belgium Germany Poland Hungary

Africa Rwanda Egypt

Asia Russia China Singapore

Australia Australia New Zealand

Seniority of interviewees

Given AAI‘s potential to add life-long value to members‘ career progression, starting from the moment AIESECers leave university, all age groups should be considered.

Based on their stage of life, potential AAI members can be split into two groups:

1) Those who are looking for support from AAI in order to advance their career (Takers – majority under 50 years of age)

2) Those who want to give back to AAI and the younger generations (Givers – majority over 50 years of age)

Upon completion of the interviews, we have identified that the first group can be further split into

a) Freshers - AIESECers who have just left university and are facing their first years in a business environment outside the AIESEC bubble (majority under 30 years of age)

b) Climbers - AIESECers who have overcome the first difficulties of establishing themselves in the business world and are now heading towards the top (majority over 30 and under 50 years of age)

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Seniority of interviewees

This leaves us with the following identified structure which is based on the needs of the potential members.

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Life-long value to

members

Alumni

Takers

Freshers (Under 30)

Climbers (Over 30)

Givers

Seniors (Over 50)

“The motivation to be part of this circle is linked to the stage of life of each person.” à AAI member pointing out that people have varying reasons for joining AAI depending on age and current stage in career progression

Membership status of interviewees

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Interviews were balanced between members and non-members in order to capture the opinions of a truly representative audience.

Donor status of interviewees

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Interviews were balanced between donors and non-donors in order to capture both views and understand how to approach fundraising in future.

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O utcomes

The perceived value of AAI membership

Reasons for joining AAI General Involvement

£ Staying involved with AIESEC community

£ Being part of adventure to make this happen

£ Supporting AIESEC – giving back

Special AIESEC atmosphere and community

£ Nostalgia

£ Fun

£ Shared values

Networking

£ Reconnecting with old friends and finding new ones

£ Meeting younger AIESECers

£ Networking for hiring purposes

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Measuring the perceived value (on a scale from 1 to 5)

The overall average currently lies at 2.0 which means that being member of AAI is perceived as hardly useful. There are differences between the three generations, however, as demonstrated in the graph below.

1 – not useful

2 – hardly useful 3 – useful 4 – very

useful 5 –

extremely useful

The interviewees under 30 feel that AAI membership has no value at the moment. Average value = 1

The interviewees over 30 feel that AAI membership only has little value at the moment. Average value = 2.1

The interviewees over 50 feel that AAI membership has good value. Average value = 2.8

Not useful Hardly useful Useful


Quotes demonstrating interviewees opinions on AAI membership

“I don‘t understand the value of AAI to be honest. I don‘t know much about it. […] I am a member of the national alumni organisations in New Zealand, the UK and Germany though.”

“There is no value at the moment. […] there is no clear value proposition at the moment.”

“I think AAI membership offers good value … but there is loads that can be improved as well.”

“I do see some value in the AAI membership but I find the regional level is more important than the international one.”

“[AAI membership] has very little value today until AlumNet is live. The value really is three fold: you have everything relating to self development like career opportunities and advice, business development, education, and sharing ideas; the second would be the charitable interest or altruism to positively influence the world through shared values and to make a difference and the third is driven by nostalgia so to reconnect with old friends.”

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Under 30

Over 30

Over 50


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Reasons for not joining

£ Value of the AAI membership is not clear

£ Slow progress due to structure: all supporters are volunteers, no full-time staff to drive initiatives forward, volunteering is not being taken seriously

£ Lack of information: database is not working, (potential) members not aware of initiatives / projects

£ Lack of identity: AAI currently exists due to its link to AIESEC but it doesn’t have an identity in its own right

£ Alumni groups on local level offer more support

The perceived value of AAI membership The competitive landscape

The interviewees are members of or have been approached by the following professional organisations:

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Name Acronym Geo-graphy

Description Member count

Website

Junior Chamber International

JCI Global Initiative to solve local challenges focused on sustainable impact locally and globally

200000+ https://www.jci.cc/

International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience

IAESTE Alumni Network

Global Reconnecting former IAESTE student members (more a competitor to AIESEC in general than to AAI specifically)

10000+ http://www.iaeste.org/alumni/

European Confederation of Junior Enterprises

Jade Alumni

Europe Initiative to support young people with their entrepreneurial businesses

Not specified

http://www.jadenet.org/

Rotary n.a. Global Initiatives to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems

1.2 million

https://www.rotary.org/en

Note: Interviewees are also members of professional societies relevant to their working field and university societies, however, these do not directly compete with AAI as they target a different member base and have a different product offering compared to AAI.


The value of the competing organisations

Benefits of membership to the mentioned organisations

£ Gaining expertise

£ Supporting great causes

£ Continuing educational and professional development

It was pointed out that due to its volunteering structure AAI has, in comparison to other organisations, the least manpower to drive initiatives.

Furthermore, it was mentioned that other organisations’ activities are more visible than those of AAI, meaning that AAI’s mode of communication needs to be improved to be able to compete with other market players.

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“There are plenty of other organisations out there like Jade. And I was also contacted by JCI but refused. If I want to join an association it would be AIESEC.”

The perceived value of AAI membership AAI compared to local alumni groups

Apart from the competitors mentioned in the previous slide, the regional AIESEC alumni organisations can also be seen as competitors to AAI as they target the same member base. “There is definitely a difference in value if you compare the local alumni organisations to the international one. In China the local alumni organisation is much more valued as people are more interested in the national level […] face to face is preferred and internationally this cannot be provided as regularly.”

“I find that the national alumni organisations are better structured and also that their value is better defined. […] They are ‘closer to the ground’.”

“I am a member of AAI and AAG. I have been member of AAI before becoming member of AAG. There are big differences between the two organisations. AAI is still trying to establish itself whereas AAG is very established and well structured and therefore easier to grow. Generally I think that Germans are more interested in the regional version meaning AAG.”

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“Member of AIESEC alumni Russia, alumni of Swedish institute, alumni of Financial University. The benefits are: close involvement, living social network, off-line events, high level of trust and cooperation and help therefore. All three organizations' activities are more visible for me than AAI's activities up to now.”

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Interviewees‘ suggestions

“In general there needs to be less talk, more actions. Be present, be real. Communicate your value. Undertake a proper, detailed profiling of your potential members and continuously tailor your products and services to their needs.”

“Proactivity is key to activating or engaging alumni and to be proactive very good planning is needed 1) timewise - alumni are busy - and 2) in regards to the database which is not updated. People can't keep track of who they have contacted. Even formerly very active people are not receiving any information anymore.”

“Local demography has too much influence on the various AAI chapters – compare Afghanistan to Germany for example - and those differences need to be bridged. AAI might be able to help here. I would like to see more cooperation between AAI and AAHK; I am sure they can really support each other and it would also be great to make sure the same messages are communicated / the same agenda is being followed.”


“Establish a better structure; volunteering needs to be taken seriously and pulled through so initiatives can be driven forward. Make sure your signature programmes like AlumNites and A-groups are constantly re-vived and driven forward.”

AAI‘s mode of communication

General opinion on AAI communication

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Do you feel the AAI value proposition as a lifelong professional networking and collaboration support is well articulated by the organisation?

“No, I heard of AAI through Facebook for example. I also think that communication should be aligned between AAI and AIESEC student in order to make everyone aware of the lifelong and varied support network on all levels. AIESEC student currently does not inform about alumni. I would like that to make the transition easier. […] I was not at all aware of AlumNet before you contacted me.”


Challenges £ Communication through various channels (e.g. several Facebook and LinkedIn pages) on various levels (local, national and international)

à Information not readily available as there is no single source of information

à Communication should be more streamlined

£ Currently there is no marketing plan for communicating general AAI news or promotion plan for the launch of AlumNet in place

à Only sporadic provision of information / updates / outreach to (potential) members which has caused frustration with interviewees

à Difficulties in managing expectations as members receive updates through word of mouth

£ Database management: Difficulties in reaching people as database is not effective.

à Outreach is time consuming and difficult to structure

£ Communication is currently “top down” and does not include enough testimonials from members

à communication too theoretical as no real life examples of how people engage with AAI and profit from the products / services

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Improvement ideas from interviewees

“In general there needs to be less talk, more actions. Be present, be real. Communicate your value.”

“Communication needs to be detail oriented. In terms of brand perspective there is a lot of work needed. Search optimisation would help too - you cannot find AAI at the first click. The website is ok. AIESEC student marketing is fine, it's not that good but it is also done by students so it is to be expected. AIESEC alumni however is a professional organisation so their marketing should represent them as such. Communication has to be around business targets - communication is only there to support the larger strategic business initiatives but if those aren't clear - like in the case of AAI - then it becomes very difficult to put an effective marketing campaign in place. Also, due to the general overload of communication, e-mails, social media, etc. people hardly got the time to read their e-mails. E-mails without a specific call to action are immediately filtered out. People are very selective with the information they have the time to take in. E-mails therefore need to be highly personalised and directly sent to the professional e-mail address to catch attention.”

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Preferred mode of communication

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The AAI website

Usability

47% of interviewees said that they visit the AAI website never or only rarely.

Improvement Ideas from interviewees

£  More manpower needed to keep website updated

£  More audio and video material

£  Search optimisation to find AAI website at the first click

£  Make it more engaging

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“[The website] is not engaging at all. It is appealing from looks but no interesting info is shared. Content is being shared but the audience is not being engaged. Take the website from web 1.0 to web 2.0 (engagement through apps for example) or even web 3.0.”


AAI newsletter

“I would like more info about what is happening on the ground. I mean things like what do the alumni and the students get up to, what initiatives are there at the moment and how are they getting on? Currently I don’t feel like there is any follow-up on initiatives but I would like to keep updated.”

“I currently don't read the newsletters as I don't find them interesting. They need colour, do away with the word of the president and tell stories of alumni activities instead. I would like to see what is happening and how AAI is growing as well as the activities members are currently involved in. It should be short and informative - only 300 words per block and max 2 pages.”

“The newsletter is well written and a useful tool to stay informed. Once more activities are organised, there will also be more to talk about.”

“More information about local events - to feel the pulse of the global AIESEC alumni activities. More information with exact dates, steps and content about the implementation of different actions from the plan for the year.” 32

O u t o f t h e 1 7 interviewees 5 have never received an AAI newsletter.


Social media communication

“Social media communication often tails off and isn't driven forward by anyone. AAI needs someone who leads through the communication and reactivates, pushes forward communication which otherwise tails off.

“Global social media initiatives have been started but always die off after some time as it is based on volunteering and other things get prioritized.”

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Out of the 17 interviewees 7 say that they are not aware of a n y s o c i a l m e d i a communication by AAI.

AAI‘s products and services

Awareness of products “I am very much aware of the benefits as an avid AISECer, but there is not much to use. The networking opportunities are vast and really need to be emphasized.” “I remember the discussions about the range of products at AAIM , but I don't have a clear picture of what is being offered now. I don't use any of the products.”

Are you aware of the products and benefits AAI offers?

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65% of interviewees feel they are not aware of the products and benefits AAI offers.


Preferred products and services

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AAI‘s products and services Improvement points for most valued products

Networking

£  “An online database of members would be extremely valuable to all parties, even to corporations looking into recruiting AIESECers in their thirties and forties.”

£  Organise international 1 to 1 meetings between alumni

£  “Give substance to AlumNites by having an agenda and communicating this properly. Otherwise it's only a catch up with fellow AIESECers and I can organise that on my own.”

Conferences

£  Offer a gathering of AAI members comparable to the Davos summit

£  Organise more study tours, engagement with local companies

Career Advice and Mentoring

£ Offer a “Heading for the Future” conference

£ Facilitate workshops on how to better sell AIESEC experience to companies during application process

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Other products AAI should offer

“I would like to see more supportive initiatives like the ‘Heading for the Future’ conference which was done by AIESEC students but not anymore - this was one of the best conferences I have ever attended. It gave me motivation and showed me how to find my next peak. It helps to bridge this scary moment and awareness allows to manage this better. It's about switching from a world that looks perfect (the AIESEC bubble) to a world that is not. Effectively, it's change management through the experiences of former AIESECers. Vlerick University used to sponsor this event. Maybe they would still be interested.”

à 4 interviewees specifically mentioned that they would like AAI to organise the “Heading for the Future” conference.

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AlumNet

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Future Outlook / Expected Impact of AlumNet

£ Vast majority of interviewees strongly believes in the potential of AlumNet and that it will have a big impact on the future growth of the organisation.

£ Believe that AlumNet as a tool will help to improve communications on an international level and should be used to enhance the other products (e.g. forums for start-up companies)

£ Believe in resolving AAI’s financial instability through AlumNet

£ Concern about lack of a roll out plan / promotion plan for the tool - this could lead to loss of momentum quickly after the launch and the tool not being used

£ Concern that AlumNet may not be able to compete with already established social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn – AlumNet needs to offer something that is unique.

AlumNet

Expectations

£  Al low peop le to c rea te subgroups around specific centre of interest

£  Needs to be available on phone and tablet (app)

£  Needs to be open to all generations and stages of AIESEC members (students and alumni)

£  Needs to allow corporates to use it in some way so money can be generated

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“I hope the AlumNet is not like the extranet. Don't come out unless it's properly installed and working. Don't push it through too fast, otherwise you will frustrate users and lose them.”

“AlumNet wi l l real ly make a difference. Corporates should be able to access AlumNet but AAI needs to be careful to match the companies’ values to AAI’s values - be selective, do a screening.”

“A database of members would be extremely valuable to all parties, even to corporations looking into recruiting AIESECers in their thirties and forties.”

AlumNet

Interviewees’ Suggestions

£ Communicate roll out plan and put promotion plan in place leading up to the launch of the tool

£ Offer free first month access to the platform to generate traction

£ Offer incentives for bringing more people to AlumNet (e.g. special sign on their profile recognizing their contribution to the growth of AAI)

£ Include a search function and a function to personalize / categorize contacts for better overview and easier networking

£ Identify companies allowed to use AlumNet through strict screening process

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Fundraising efforts

Reasons for donating £  Sentimental; wanting to give

back to AIESEC and support the younger generations

£  Strong believe in the potential of the project

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“As an AAI enthusiast, it was a no-brainer.”

“We thought this contribution would help to deliver with proper quality and in time what is needed urgently to make AAI valuable and visible for all the alumni around the world.”

“To me the donation was sentimental. It was about giving back, enabling younger generations, and creating a database for hiring.”

Fundraising efforts

Reasons for declining donation £  Not enough clarity on the project

£  No clear targets and budget

£  No understanding of the value of the organisation

£  Feeling of having supported the organisation enough through dedicating time and manpower for various initiatives over the years

£  Not having received sufficient updates on the progress of the project and where the money has been used, one of the previous donors said he would not donate again to AAI

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Fundraising efforts

Suggestions for future fundraising efforts

£ Provide detailed business plan with achievable timeline and goals

£ Be clear on:

-  Who is accountable for the project?

-  To who am I giving the money?

-  Targets and KPIs

£ Ensure timely delivery on what had previously been agreed

£ Continue to offer several donation packages with different amounts. Large amounts might scare off potential young investors.

£ Engage more corporate members in the circle to receive large donations

£ Highlight good cause: “align the message to touch the heart and the pocket”

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Fundraising efforts Donations from Alumni

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“You have to find and communicate the value of AAI first, then you can ask for donations.”

“Don't ask alumni - they should give time and energy but not money.”

“Membership fee might need to be increased. Alumni are professionals after all. Although I am not too sure what impact that would have on people’s decision to join. Especially regarding the young generation. I know that some regional organisations already pay 10 euros more – Germany for example.”

“Fundraising with corporates is limited because of AIESEC student having priority on corporate contacts.”

Donations from Corporates

“Give corporates access to AlumNet for hiring and allow corporates to post on AlumNet (marketing, job opportunities, etc.). Also ask corporates to sponsor the IC by selling banners, marketing material, booths, speaker sessions, etc. Companies should also be happy to support a good cause. You just need to position AAI correctly.”

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N ext steps

Next Steps

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Based on the outlined findings MCI will propose a startegy covering the following points:

£ Increasing AAI‘s value proposition to ensure best possible fundraising outcomes

£ Optimising existing products to create revenue channels

£ New products ideal for revenue creation

£ Approach on increasing member base (membership as a product and therefore a revenue channel)

£ Approach on fundraising from corporates

£ Approach on fundraising from alumni

£ How to raise funds through crowdfunding

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Annemarie Weise

Business Development Manager Association Management & Consulting

MCI Brussels Direct number: +32 (0)2743 44 15

[email protected]

Web: www.mci-group.com

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