Transforming how a global scientific association engages early career members

Investing in Partnership with Members, and Creating a Strategy for Growth

AGU is the largest community of Earth and space scientists in the U.S., and supports a global community of more than half a million advocates and professionals interested in advancing scientific discovery and its benefit for humanity and the environment.

AGU was at an important inflection point as they sought to better support & engage their member base of academic scientists, while also pursuing a more active strategic role in solution-oriented science, in support of a future where "people and the planet flourish." In addition, the recent pandemic had negatively disrupted one of their core means of convening & engaging members and other audiences alike.

AGU was seeking to:

• Increase member engagement, especially among young professionals
• Increase the value of membership, apart from their successful annual conference
• Expand into new audiences, including within industry, government agencies, and mission-aligned orgs
• Support growth in membership globally; and in diversity, equity and inclusion

Highland partnered with AGU leadership to research the jobs to be done of members throughout their career in Earth & space science, identify opportunities to reimagine its value propositions for membership and other audiences, and pursue a strategy to convene scientists and industry to work together on solutions-oriented science around the world.

A Journey Orientation to the Careers of Earth & Space Scientists

AGU started with a key question: What is the career journey of Earth & space scientists in the context of their experience with AGU membership?

We began by conducting research with members via intercepts at AGU's Annual Meeting, and capturing the experiences of early-, mid- & late-career AGU members as they navigated their scientific careers.

We then mapped their journeys, producing visuals that helped identify key moments, challenges, and opportunities for the members we spoke with.

Lastly, we identified key themes & insights to help guide strategic thinking, including that members see AGU as an important venue for establishing credibility, but not as a partner in developing their scientific careers.

Co-Creation of New & Extended Offerings from AGU

Next we led generative workshops with AGU staff, as well as members, to co-create new member service & experience concepts aligned to the new strategy. We further tested these concepts with members to see what resonated, and would fit into their already busy lives.

Working with AGU leadership to define new membership value propositions & offerings, we held design sprint workshops to imagine the delivery of these as testable hypotheses, then supported the piloting of programs and digital experiences to convene, connect and engage young scientists in their early careers.

Piloting Products & Experiences with Members

We planned a series of low-cost experiments -- including new digital tools, service touchpoints, and program offerings -- to be delivered as a subset of the Annual Meeting, with a pilot audience. This end-to-end experience demonstrated "what if" scenarios, while testing the value and operational considerations for additions or extension of AGUs core offerings.

Meanwhile we again ran intercepts with pilot participants, and presented them with potential membership models and offering components, seeking to understand what they would prioritized.

The pilot moved the needle positively on most of the tested hypotheses. Most significantly participants demonstrated a 35% higher propensity to renew their membership, relative to the control (non-pilot) audience.

Designing Services & Capabilities for Organizational Success

With these leading indicators of success for AGU's ability to create new member value, we continued to work with a cross-functional team to map a future services model for a first year (and ongoing) member journey. This included the necessary member touchpoints & offerings, organizational capabilities, technologies, and integrations.

We identified numerous existing capabilities that could be leveraged, or reimagined, to create a holistic member experience and offer structure that would better serve, and retain, members.

Assessing the Market Potential for Growth

Building upon the learnings of its pilot -- and with a focus on fortifying AGU's  core academic audience while also exploring growth across career stages, and adjacent & global audiences -- we deployed a series of qualitative & quantitative studies across market segments to test value proposition mixes, satisfaction with existing solutions, and pricing considerations.

What has emerged is a strategy with clear potential for member growth domestically and globally via a value-centric, experience-led engagement model, which creates impact by helping academic and industry scientists succeed in their careers. The service-obtainable market share reflects an average 30% growth opportunity over 5 years.

The Career Partner Framework

AGU was pivotal in the development of Highland’s Career Partner framework. And now, three years later, participants in the cohort are still 33% more likely to renew than non-participants even though the cohort experience ended two years ago. The Career Partner framework is made up of these four key components:

• Start with a Moment That Matters: Anchor the designed experience in a dependable  career interaction, like a certification or first conference or attendance.
• ‍Design to Meet Holistic Career Needs: Design for more than function. Address the functional, social, and emotional needs that shape a young professional’s growth and sense of belonging.
• ‍Create Value Across the Journey: Connect existing and new offerings into a cohesive experience. Extend value beyond the initial moment by combining, sequencing, or modifying touchpoints.‍
• Lead to a Join or Renew Decision: Design the experience to naturally lead into a key conversion point prompting renewal, first-time join, or deeper engagement when the value feels clearest to the member.

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