The aim was to better understand the current needs of our members and discover what the expectations of membership of Basketball England are.
Before providing information about significant changes to membership based on that input, we are sharing the insight from the surveys. We hope this helps make clear why we are making changes.
Marc Dring, Basketball England Membership Innovation Manager, said: “We are pleased so many members took the time to input into this research, which has helped form the decision-making behind some significant changes to the membership we will deliver in the future.
“Further details will be available in the coming weeks, and we hope the sharing of insight will help members understand our thinking and encourages more to participate in future surveys and interactions around important developments.”
To ensure any conclusions we draw reflect our wide membership base, every member was invited to take part via multiple emails. The survey was shared to the wider basketball community on our social media channels. Current and past members completed the survey across England from all 10 BE administrative regions.
The respondents came from the following areas:
The majority of respondents were current paying licenced members (64.18%), with many free members also completing the survey (23.45%).
A small number were members in the past (7.09%), with a small number having never been members (5.27%). The total number of respondents was 550.
Having acknowledged the need to enhance Basketball England’s service provisions, including response times by email and phone, our survey focused on the benefits of membership.
Depending on current or previous membership level, we asked respondents to select the three benefits that matter to them and to rate the benefits package overall.
Free members were asked which benefits they valued and to rate the benefits overall on a scale of 1-10. The average rating of benefits was 5.17/10, with the current benefits ranked below (most valued first).
Paying members valued benefits differently, and have some additional benefits included as part of membership. The average rating of benefits was 5.32/10, with the current benefits ranked in the order below (most valued first).
Of those who have been a member in the past but are no longer, the order of importance of benefits was again different:
Other benefits received no or little interest from past members.
It should also be noted that under 50% of respondents were fully aware of all the benefits their membership included. On average, members had only used between one or two of their membership benefits in the past 12 months.
To provide a better understanding of what members would like as part of membership, respondents were asked which of the potential new benefits would be of interest.
Respondents were also asked if they would be willing to pay more should these benefits be included in membership, with 51% saying yes.
There is understandable sensitivity around the price of membership. We appreciate the challenging economic climate and any increases in price will affect our members and affiliated clubs. At the same time, Basketball England’s operating costs have increased and the demands placed on us to support the increased number of competitions, player licences and, in particular, provision of safeguarding services, have increased significantly.
Our need to increase our prices was discussed transparently in our recent regional roadshows. We have only increased prices where other funding options have not been attainable to meet our increased costs.
Our survey asked members questions around what they would consider a low price, fair value and expensive for membership of Basketball England, with the current benefits. The exact questions that formed this research are detailed below:
Historically, and as will continue, our membership has featured many different price points due to different licences for our various competitions, an average for each of these questions can only act as a guide.
The averages for each of these questions were:
We have endeavored to keep prices, on average, between the second and third values listed - and as close to the lower figure as possible.
Following our questions around new benefits, 51% of respondents said they would pay more if new benefits they wanted were introduced.
In the coming weeks, we will be sharing various updates to our membership, which will be available to purchase from the week commencing 15 July 2024.
This will not significantly affect licencing, for which our NBL rules and regulations for next season have already been published.
We are pleased to share that many of the additional benefits our survey highlighted will be included in our new membership for the 2024/25 season.
