Introduction
If you work in membership, you’ll recognise that member expectations are rising, but time, budget, and internal capacity aren’t keeping pace. Today’s members don’t just compare their experience to other associations/membership bodies. They compare with the likes of Booking.com, Netflix, Amazon, and their favourite apps. Personalised recommendations, seamless digital journeys, and instant support are no longer “nice to have”, they are expected.
And yet, many organisations are still battling with fragmented communications, manual processes, outdated portals, and generic engagement campaigns. The impact is lower benefit usage, inconsistent interactions, lower member satisfaction and ultimately lower membership renewals.
The encouraging part? This is changing. AI-driven personalisation and modern digital portals are opening new possibilities, and organisations that embrace them will see significant improvements in both engagement and retention.
The Real Engagement Challenge
Members now expect digital experiences that just work, across every device they use. They want communications that reflect who they are, where they are in their journey, and what matters to them. They expect quick answers, consistent service, and self-service options that give them control.
When organisations are still relying on manual workflows or one-size-fits-all messaging, a gap starts to open. On one side are rising member expectations. On the other are stretched teams trying to keep up with limited tools. That gap is where disengagement creeps in.
The reality is that member expectations have changed and the digital experiences we provide need to change with them.
The AI Opportunity
AI is no longer something reserved for innovation labs or future roadmaps. It can now be the backbone of how modern membership experiences are delivered.
At a practical level, this shows up in four powerful ways. Predictive analytics help organisations understand member behaviour patterns, renewal likelihood, and early signs of churn.
Recommendation engines connect members with the most relevant content, benefits, and events. Intelligent automation streamlines workflows, routing and prioritisation behind the scenes. And conversational AI provides round-the-clock support, helping members get what they need instantly.
Crucially, this isn’t about replacing human relationships. It’s about removing the administrative drag that often gets in the way so internal teams have more time for the conversations and connections that really matter.
Why Personalisation Now Sits at the Heart of Engagement
Personalisation is what turns communication into connection. Instead of broadcasting the same message to everyone, it allows organisations to create experiences that feel tailored, timely, and relevant.
When personalisation is done well, members feel seen. Content becomes meaningful rather than noise. Journeys adapt naturally as behaviour changes. And the result is stronger satisfaction, greater perceived value, and deeper loyalty.
Modern member portals play a key role in bringing this to life. Today’s portals don’t just store and present basic CRM information, they deliver personalised dashboards, self-service actions, smart recommendations, integrated chat, and content that evolves with the member lifecycle. When designed well, the portal becomes the heartbeat of engagement.
From “Before” to “After”: What Transformation Really Looks Like
Before AI-driven engagement, many organisations find themselves weighed down by heavy manual workloads, generic communications, low benefit engagement, slow response times, and unpredictable renewal patterns.
After the shift, the experience looks very different. Engagement becomes proactive instead of reactive. Workflows run automatically in the background. Recommendations feel intelligent and timely. Service is faster and more consistent. And loyalty grows because members genuinely feel understood and supported.
Organisations that successfully adopt AI-driven engagement and personalisation are typically seeing:
- Significantly higher portal usage
- Stronger uptake of member benefits
- Meaningful reductions in churn
- And a noticeable drop in manual workload across teams
Those gains add up quickly not just in efficiency, but in member satisfaction and long-term value.
Where to Start? Building the Personalisation Engine
Sustainable member engagement is not created by a single technology or tool. It comes from bringing three foundational elements together in a structured way:
- Strong data and connected systems - one source of truth such as Subscribe 360
- AI-powered analysis and automation
- Genuinely personalised digital experiences
When these three layers operate in harmony, they form what we describe as a Personalisation Engine, a scalable, adaptive capability that evolves as both your organisation and your members’ expectations change.
Subscribe 360 uses the Microsoft Power Platform to provide a practical, low-risk and highly scalable way to build this engine.
1. Start with Strong Data & Connected Systems (The Foundation Layer)
Personalisation is only as good as the data behind it. Most membership organisations hold valuable data across multiple systems - CRM, learning platforms, finance systems, event tools, websites, and spreadsheets, but this data is often fragmented.
Using Dataverse as the central data foundation, organisations can:
- Consolidate member, engagement, CPD, event, support and renewal data into a single source of truth
- Standardise how members, organisations, activities and interactions are recorded
- Create trusted relationships between data sets (e.g. Members → Engagement → Training → Renewals)
- Subscribe 360 is underpinned by Dataverse to provide this single source of truth
With Power Automate, data can be continuously synchronised from:
- Website portals
- Learning Management Systems
- Finance and billing platforms
- Marketing platforms
- Support systems
This creates a live, connected data ecosystem, which is essential before AI or personalisation can deliver value.
2. Apply AI-Powered Analysis & Automation (The Intelligence Layer)
Once the data foundation is in place, AI can be applied in controlled, high-impact ways using AI Builder, Copilot and Power Automate.
This layer enables the organisation to:
- Detect engagement trends (increasing or decreasing activity)
- Predict risk (likelihood to renew, disengage or churn)
- Identify behaviour patterns (training gaps, content interest, inactivity)
- Analyse sentiment from feedback, surveys and support interactions
- Automate responses based on real behaviour, not assumptions
Typical use cases at this layer include:
- Automated renewal risk scoring
- Next-Best-Action suggestions for account managers
- Intelligent routing of support requests
- Personalised training and event recommendations
- Proactive engagement nudges based on inactivity or milestones
Power Automate acts as the orchestration engine, triggering actions automatically when key conditions are met, for example:
- A drop in portal engagement
- A missed CPD deadline
- A negative feedback score
- An upcoming renewal with low activity
3. Deliver Personalised Digital Experiences (The Experience Layer)
The final layer is what members and staff actually see and feel. Using Power Pages, Power Apps and Copilot Studio, organisations can deliver:
• Personalised member portals showing:
o Relevant content
o CPD progress
o Recommended courses and events
o Renewal and compliance status
o Support tickets and documents
• Role-based dashboards for staff and account managers showing:
o Engagement health
o Risk indicators
o Suggested next-best-actions
o Portfolio performance
• AI-powered virtual assistants embedded into portals:
o Answering member questions
o Recommending learning
o Supporting compliance and guidance
o Redirecting complex queries to staff
This is where personalisation becomes tangible and visible, driving:
- Higher portal usage
- Better self-service adoption
- Increased course and event participation
- Stronger relationships with account managers
- Greater perceived value of membership
4. Why This Approach Works
This model is:
- Scalable – it grows as your data grows
- Modular – you can start small and build progressively
- Low risk – no single ‘big bang’ implementation
- Grounded in practical automation and AI, not hype
It avoids the common pitfalls of trying to “bolt AI on at the end” without fixing the underlying data and processes first.
5. A Practical Starting Point for Most Organisations
For most membership organisations, a sensible starting roadmap looks like:
Phase 1 – Data Foundation
- Centralise member and engagement data into
- Dataverse (e.g. Subscribe 360)
- Integrate key systems using Power Automate
- Establish baseline reporting in Power BI
Phase 2 – Automation & Insight
- Introduce automated renewals, reminders and engagement nudges
- Deploy trend analysis and engagement scoring – tools such as Subscribe 360 have a member engagement engine as standard
- Surface insights through dashboards
Phase 3 – AI & Personalisation
- Implement AI-driven recommendations
- Deploy Next-Best-Actions for staff
- Launch personalised member portals and Copilot assistants
Each phase delivers standalone value, while steadily building towards a fully connected Personalisation Engine.
Conclusion
Building a Personalisation Engine is not about adopting a single AI tool it is about creating a joined-up ecosystem of data, automation, and personalised digital experiences.
When built on the Power Platform, this approach enables membership organisations to move from reactive engagement to proactive, personalised, and scalable relationships with their members.