Listening to our members

Our organisation is built on its members, and it's vital that we are able to properly understand their motivations for joining, staying with us and, when they do so, why they choose to leave us.

Through growing and developing this understanding, we can work towards improving the membership experience for everyone, ensure that our members are getting value for money, and that they feel part of a community and society which has their back and works for them.

We launched the member pulse survey to gain more of these insights, sending out a short online survey to a random selection of members (selected proportionally by grade) each month since April, in addition to new members and those who have chosen to leave.

The survey asks questions on people's overall views on the society, their reasons for being a member, and seeks suggestions on how we can improve the overall experience of our members.

As well as these core questions asked every month, we use the survey to gain members' views on more specific projects or areas of the society's work.

Now the survey has been running for a few months, we're able to look back at some of the insights that we've gained and share some of the work that we're doing to act on your suggestions:

• Members have consistently told us that they want clearer information on the specific benefits of both BPS and member network memberships, which is shaping how we promote benefits such as Science Council registration. You can find out more on this in this month's Member Update.
• We've asked members about our publications, which is being used to inform which books the BPS offers and the future development and direction of our academic journals – it has also reinforced the importance of EBSCO's Discovery Database and Psychology and Behavioural Science Collection, both free benefits for our members. We're working on simplifying the process to allow members to access it more easily.
• After some members suggested that some information on the BPS website could be easier to find, we're conducting additional user experience research to improve navigation.
• Suggestions from members are being used to inform the content included in our monthly Member Update email, to make sure it has as much content that members find informative, useful and engaging as possible. Building on the insights from the survey, we're including more information on our work in public affairs and to grow the society's external profile.

These initial developments have only been possible thanks to the fantastic response that we've had from members – thank you to everyone who has had the opportunity and taken the time to respond so far! If you do see the survey in your inbox, please take a few minutes to give us your views and help us continue building a society which delivers for you.