The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) is a leader in empowering and inspiring America’s brightest college students. This case study explores the collaboration between NSLS and Access Development, showcasing how this partnership boosted member benefits and engagement, and fueled organizational growth.
Organization Overview: NSLS is the premier invitation-only leadership honor society in the nation, boasting a membership of over 2 million individuals across 850+ college campuses. Through its innovative leadership training program, NSLS fosters a vibrant community of aspiring global leaders. Members are provided with training to improve their professional skills and to develop important soft skills such as conflict resolution and effective interpersonal communication. Committed to serving a diverse range of both traditional and adult learners, NSLS empowers high-achieving students from various fields with a combination of recognition and opportunities for personal growth.
Challenge: While NSLS has ongoing success in serving its members, it is constantly seeking new and innovative ways to improve its value proposition to better engage existing members and attract new ones.
Solution: In the spring of 2020, NSLS launched the Access travel platform, capitalizing on an opportunity to implement a travel-related benefit that would help engage members following the COVID-19 pandemic. Access delivered a customized, white-labeled travel platform equipped with all the enhanced navigational tools and services that travelers expect. What set the Access platform apart was its ability to offer significantly lower prices, coupled with Access’s signature world-class customer service. The platform provided savings to NSLS members at over 850,000 hotels and car rental locations worldwide, including discounts at popular theme parks like Disney and Universal, as well as a growing number of regional and local attractions.
Aligned with NSLS’s strategic objectives of enhancing member value and driving revenue, the Access platform was introduced just as pent-up demand for travel began to rapidly increase. It provided a seamless booking experience for members and incentivized them to frequently revisit the NSLS site.
Implementation and Promotion: The technical implementation process was simple and seamless, and the ongoing maintenance requires minimal staff oversight. This “set-it-and-forget-it” solution is supported by Access’s ongoing email campaigns, which are designed to deliver personalized travel recommendations tailored to each member’s specific needs and preferences.
The NSLS marketing team leverages the Access Client Marketing Portal to simplify their promotional efforts, further adding value to the organization and delivering meaningful communications to members.
“We want to make sure that every time we touch our members with some form of communication, it’s going to be of interest. This definitely ticks the boxes of things that are important to our members… it means each touch is not a waste of an email. It’s not a waste of a social post.”
Member Engagement Results: NSLS has not only met its initial objectives of adding value and generating revenue but has also seen a positive impact on member retention and engagement. Members have collectively saved over $100,000 compared to what they would have paid using public online travel providers. In the first full year of data in 2021, when travel bookings surged in the post-COVID era, NSLS member hotel bookings have since increased 44%. Disney World ticket purchases have jumped 56%, and NSLS’ year-over-year revenue from total member purchases increased by 34%.
Conclusion: This strategic partnership between Access and NSLS serves to expand the organization’s member value by reinforcing its commitment to delivering a holistic and impactful membership experience. For organizations looking to boost member engagement and revenue by adding a value-added travel benefit like Access, Lasker said: “If this type of benefit is something you’re looking for, you can go check out other products. But I feel pretty confident that when you’re ready to make that decision, you’ll come back and work with Access.”
