Behind The Leads: YWLC Data Projects

(A pilot initiative by the Membership subcommittee)

Behind every successful project is a dedicated and talented team. Who are the drivers of the different projects within YWLC, and what motivated them to lead a team to bring a project to fruition?

With the entire nation making that great pivot to digitalisation in 2020, YWLC is also taking a stride in that direction. The Data Project initiative by the Membership subcommittee aims to leverage on the wealth of membership data to analyse and understand what content and initiatives are relevant and value-adding for our members.

We speak to Rachel and Yuxin, the leads behind this initiative, on their views of driving this initiative forward.

Tell us more about the Data Project initiative and how it can benefit members.

Rachel: With the accelerated growth and expansion of YWLC in the recent two years, it made sense to adopt a grounded, analytical approach to evaluate existing modes of membership engagements, to ultimately continue creating joyous experiences for YWLC ladies.

It is still in the early stages of data cleaning, but the overall objective is to understand the retention rate, activity and participation levels of members to ultimately create better membership experiences. Right now, we are using qualitative sources to create new initiatives for members but having a quantitative perspective can potentially help in crafting different initiatives.

Think of this as a two-step process:

1. Understand which members stay or don’t, and the reasons behind their decisions.

2. Use the insights to inform future initiatives for a stronger engagement with YWLC

Yuxin: We want to better understand the profile of our members and be equipped to roll out content, events and initiatives that our members would be engaged and invested in. For example, if we have a lot of members in a particular industry, we could open a specific members circle for that industry. If members were more interested in finance-related content, we could roll out more of those and partner organisations that could help drive up content and engagement in that area.

Additionally, we also want to better gauge our membership retention rate and find out why members are staying or leaving – was it because of the type of content or events? How are we engaging the ones that chose to stay versus those that choose to leave?

We’d want to be able to see if there was any pattern in members’ profiles and their decisions and make adjustments from there. The whole project is still in its early stages as we look at past engagements to better cater to the collective interest of the community.

What motivated you to take on a lead role, knowing full well of the additional commitment required beyond your day job?

Rachel: I love the experience of bridging people and creating a joyous community experience but in order to do so, I’d need to understand the drivers and motivators behind our members in order to create a better and more relevant engagement.

Yuxin: I was interested to understand what members are inclined to through the analysis of historical events data to better retain and engage our members. I also wanted to improve the efficiency and backend processes in the Membership subcommittee.

What is one piece of advice you would give to members who are considering taking up a lead role in YWLC?

Rachel: I’ll encourage those interested to simply go for it and try!

Yuxin: Reach out to the YWLC directors and just give it a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised from the people you meet and/or the outcome of your projects.

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Behind The Leads series is part of the Membership Campaign where we dig deep into the leaders who have stepped up and found the sparks that fuel their passion within the organisation.

Want to contribute to the Membership subcommittee? Submit your enquiries to membership@ywlc.org.sg.

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Organising Committee: Membership

Artwork: Tabitha Chee

Interviewer: Jen Ong

Interviewees: Rachel Kuo, Seow Yuxin

Editors: Joaquim Tan, Kristin Loo, Joey Ong