Fedessa case study: Transforming member engagement through data-driven personalisation

Organisation overview

The Federation of European Self Storage Associations (FEDESSA) represents over 2,500 self-storage facilities across Europe, serving as the umbrella organisation for 17 national associations. Under the leadership of CEO Rennie Schafer, FEDESSA has transformed from a fragmented, data-siloed organisation into a model of hyper-personalisation and member-centric service delivery.

The challenge: Data fragmentation and member disconnect

Before their digital transformation, FEDESSA was wrestling with some pretty significant operational headaches. Picture this: each of their 17 member associations was doing their own thing with separate CRM systems, websites, and email platforms. The result? A complex web of disconnected systems that resulted in:

The solution: Strategic data consolidation and smart collection

For FEDESSA, getting their data ready was absolutely crucial for unlocking the power of personalisation and AI. As CEO Rennie Schafer discovered whilst cleaning up and consolidating their data, figuring out which information is actually useful is essential when you're thinking about what to make available for targeted member engagement.

Rethinking data strategy

FEDESSA's transformation began with a fundamental reassessment of their data collection philosophy. Schafer advocates for purpose-driven data gathering:

"Do you want more members? Or are you trying to increase event attendance? There's no point sending a 20 point questionnaire that overwhelms new members and makes it more difficult to join. Are you going to use that data, do you need it?"

Streamlined data collection

The team completely reorganised their approach around four key service pillars, dramatically reducing their join form from a lengthy questionnaire to focus on:

• Members' industry experience
• Topics of interest
• Technology needs

Rather than overwhelming new members with extensive surveys, FEDESSA implemented a smart ongoing engagement strategy. They started running fortnightly polls asking just one question about self-storage topics. Simple, but effective - gradually building comprehensive member profiles without the hassle.

ReadyMembership platform implementation

The results: Measurable impact across all metrics

FEDESSA's data-driven personalisation approach delivered some pretty impressive results across the board:

Key learning: The value of restraint in data collection

Here's where it gets interesting - one of FEDESSA's most valuable discoveries was realising when they'd actually gone a bit too far with data segmentation. They discovered that members were regularly engaging with generic content they hadn't specifically expressed interest in, highlighting the importance of balancing personalisation with broader member needs.

Email and website behaviour analytics became invaluable data sources, enabling FEDESSA to:

• Send renewal benefit reminders four months ahead of time
• Engage late event bookers with timely but gentle nudges
• Gather feedback during training sessions rather than after completion 

Conclusion

FEDESSA's transformation demonstrates that successful personalisation isn't about collecting vast amounts of data, but about strategically gathering the right information at the right time and using technology to deliver targeted, relevant experiences. By bringing together their fragmented systems, streamlining how they gathered information, and focusing on what members actually did (not just what they said), they've created something other membership organisations can definitely learn from.

The results speak for themselves: higher retention, increased engagement, reduced administrative burden, and most importantly, members who receive exactly what they need, when they need it. As Schafer sums it up, real influence comes from understanding what actually motivates people to change - and FEDESSA has nailed this through clever use of data and technology.