Initiatives: Connecting Member Engagement to Business Outcomes

Context + Problem

Member feedback and internal research showed that, while TSIA's proprietary research was highly valued, members couldn't connect their engagement to real business outcomes. The platform felt more like a library than a strategic tool, making renewal a hard sell.Members had difficulty demonstrating ROI, engagement was lower than it could be, and there was no clear link between platform activity and the strategic outcomes they were working toward.How might we help members connect their TSIA engagement to measurable progress on business initiatives?

Business Goals

• Increase member renewal rates
• Improve platform adoption and engagement
• Capture actionable member information
• Enable initiative-based personalization and notifications

User Goals

• Understand what an initiative is
• Define and manage strategic objectives
• Track progress toward success criteria
• Get relevant recommendations

Designing the Experience

I partnered early on a UX Canvas and object-oriented UX map to align goals and strategy, then led discovery, design, prototyping, and validation.The experience let members define strategic goals, receive recommendations tied to those goals, and track engagement over time. I chose a two-column layout for discoverability and flexibility, but the harder questions were about meaning:

• How do you help users define initiatives without it feeling like a form?
• How do you show progress in a way that means something to someone running a business?

Throughout, I ran design reviews with Product and Design stakeholders to surface friction early and keep priorities aligned.

Validation & Research

Before launch, I ran a moderated session with four members focusing on initiative comprehension and personalization.

Key insights:

• The concept clicked immediately. No explanation needed.
• Personalized recommendations reduced the effort of finding content, which members valued most.
• Members wanted benchmarking data incorporated, not just activity tracking. They wanted to know how their progress compared to peers.

Throughout, I ran design reviews with Product and Design stakeholders to surface friction early and keep priorities aligned.

Validation & Research

The research validated the concept before launch, surfaced onboarding gaps that drove pre-launch refinements, and strengthened stakeholder confidence in the feature's ability to drive adoption and membership value. It also set the stage for initiative-driven personalization and engagement measurement.

Reflection

The hardest part wasn't the UI. It was answering a more fundamental question: why should members use this, and what's in it for them? Getting clarity on that before designing anything was the most important work on this project.

The concept landed faster than I expected in research, which was exciting. It shifted the conversation from "does this make sense?" to "what else could it do?" Members wanted benchmarking data built in. "Am I moving faster or slower than my peers?" "What should I focus on next?" That's exactly where you want to be at the end of a validation study.