Show:
5 Ideas to Revive Your Membership Renewal Strategy
Here we discuss 5 ideas to help revive your membership renewal strategy and get people excited about your membership again!
When membership renewal season is coming around, it’s natural that you’re going to get nervous about retaining your members and going to need new ideas on how to do that.
Once a member’s initial subscription period is coming to a close, they’re naturally going to pause and reflect on your service before deciding whether to continue parting with their hard-earned cash for your service.
As such, you need competent strategies in place designed to keep your members put when the time to renew comes around.
1. Use an automated membership renewal process
If you check out the MembershipWorks website or the website of any other reputable membership software company, you’ll find that most modern membership software can automate the member renewal process so that a human never has to interfere with the process at all.
If someone’s already a member of your organization, they’ve already passed your vetting process, so there’s no need to subject them to any more vetting from a human. Your software should automate this process and make it as seamless as possible to keep both the member and the organization happy.
2. Try one-off discounts and promotions
If your analytics tell you that one of your members has decreased engagement with your organization and their time to renew is coming around, it’s natural that they will consider quitting. However, try offering them a discounted price that makes it easy for them to renew their membership!
Everybody loves to get a bargain, and it’s better to have a member paying a reduced fee than no member at all. Promotional discounts could be enough to win over some members who aren’t keen on the idea of renewing with you.
3. Reduce the work required from the member to renew
Some organizations bombard their members with long forms, questionnaires, and repetitive processes when it comes time to renew. This is a HUGE no-no. When you’re trying to get money from people on the internet, you should make it as easy as possible.
Every layer of resistance is an opportunity for them to get frustrated and reconsider!
Autofill as much data as possible based on the member’s initial signup data, requesting that the member simply change any data that has changed since their last signup. If you make it so that your members can renew their plan with just a few simple clicks, you’re much more likely to retain them.
4. Keep your content varied and engaging
Retention strategies are complex, but ultimately you need to have a strong website in order to impress members and encourage them to come back for more. If you have high-quality engaging content, then people are naturally more inclined to renew regardless of strategies.
If you have different interest groups and niches within your membership, try your best to keep them all happy with regular content. If you neglect some of the niches within your audience, you’re likely to lose those sectors when renewal time rolls around.
Various tools for clubs and associations offer many features to help you interact with your members, such as newsletters, forums, and personalized content recommendations. This will not only make the renewal process easier but also keep your members engaged and interested in your organization.
5. Survey former members to say why they left
It may not be easy, but try to survey your former members who left and didn’t return. Ask them why they chose to leave and if there is anything you could’ve done differently to keep them.
Some will be due to factors like budgets and lifestyle choices that are out of your control, but some ex-members will have left due to easy-to-fix issues that could improve your future retention rates.
Whatever kind of membership organization you’re running, retaining members around renewal time is a crucial process if the organization is to survive and thrive and we hope you’ll find these ideas useful. Good luck!
Return to Previous Page
