One of the more common questions I get from my clients is "How can we keep contact info up to date on our members, especially when they change jobs?"

My (glib) answer is always the same: "Your members don't care about you or even think about you...until it matters to them." When our members change jobs, the last thing they are thinking is "Oh, I need to update my contact info at association X!"

So what can we do about this? One idea I'm seeing more frequently from associations, especially for student members, is asking for a second, personal email address and/or mobile phone number. Because these two data points tend to stay with people regardless of employment status, they're a more "permanent" way to keep in touch with our members.

Of course, we should also be in touch frequently with members throughout the year and should periodically ask members to confirm/update their contact information.

But keep in mind, most of our members never think about us until they need us. It's up to us to make sure we're keeping in touch with them.