Many membership owners struggle to engage members after the initial new member buzz wears off. After the honeymoon phase members may become disillusioned with the membership eventually leading to them to quit. This causes membership owners like yourself to have a high membership churn rate. This article will show you the 5 things you need to keep members engaged after the honeymoon phase is over!
In this article The Email Optimizer™️ shared how if you do these 5 things you will keep your members engaged in your membership and they will never want to leave. Especially if you do this one thing…
I want to congratulate you on launching your membership! It’s a job well done. Now you have these members who joined you on this new adventure…
…until they start dropping off like flies after the first 1,2, or 3 months.
To make matters worse… by the time you’re a year in your launches are only topping off the members who left. It’s starting to feel a bit stagnant and you might be wondering… “is this membership thing really worth it if I’m constantly trying to get new members in?”
The answer is a resounding, emphatic “yes!”
If you’re able to compel people to join your membership then the challenge isn’t getting people in…
It’s getting people to stay!
The KEY to successful thriving membership business is RETENTION. People join things everyday but they only stay where they are watered! (Yes, that’s a reframe on the common instagram quote but it’s true!)
So, instead of trying to figure out how to get new members on repeat, it’s time to focus on helping your members feel watered in your membership.
So, what are some things you can do to help your members feel watered (aka nurtured) in your membership?
I’ve done a lot of research on this (through being in memberships, taking membership courses, and more) and I’ve discovered some important things.
I found there are 5 things membership owners can do to engage members and most are missing at least 3.
They are:
- Welcome them
- Keep them in the know
- Remind them of what’s coming up
- Celebrate them
- Encourage them
Some of these might seem obvious but you’d be surprise how many membership owners kinda treat their membership like a money-grabbin’ dumping pit. And when those members leave they are weary of memberships from that point on. They aren’t going to join another membership (or subscription program) again without being super sure!
So, doing these things will help you stand out. Your members will get results and feel connected to the community and happily refer you to everyone lol.
Let’s start with welcoming them.
This is all about keeping that new energy from when they first said yes to your membership. You welcome them, tell them out how use the members area, where to start, how progress is measured in the membership and more. Much like when you started college and they had freshman orientation week.
(related article: The Astonishing Secret To Your Memberships Success)
Doing this in your membership will help members begin to feel rooted in your membership. Now once they’ve gone through orientation what do you do next? Focus on keeping them in the know.
Keep your members in the know
I’ve been in memberships where I hardly ever know what’s going on and stuff kinda just pops up in the facebook group. It’s no shade toward the membership owner. They are doing the best they can. They are also, however, missing important systems in their business. These missing systems are costing them long term members. People often quit patronizing businesses (of any kind) when they feel neglected. Keeping them in the know starts to mitigate that.
But how do you do that?
By sending something that keeps them up-to-date with the goings on in the group and in the membership so they don’t miss out on anything. (FOMO is a real fear for many people) This also helps them not feel neglected and connected to the community. This can be a digital or physical newsletter. It can be weekly, every 2 weeks, or monthly. The key is for it to be consistent. Doing this is bound to keep some people engaged in the community but it might not be enough to keep them. This is why it’s important to also remind them of what’s coming up because, again, people have a real fear of missing out!
Reminding your members of what’s coming up is also important because people like to make sure they are taking part in what they are paying for. If, for too many times, they think they can’t make something there’s a mental mark in the “I’m not really using this” box. Too many marks and eventually they will cancel.
The best way to remind them is to send quick solo notifications. These notifications tell them what’s coming, where to be, and when for the live content. It gives the access link, time, and date. Doing this in advance also helps them book this time in their calendar so they can be present, live.
People want to feel like they are getting their money’s worth and aren’t missing out on anything. (This also subtly creates fomo and keeps them from cancelling if this is something they’re interested in!) They also want to feel like they are being celebrated for their progress! So be sure to celebrate them!
Celebrating your members’ progress has multiple benefits!
Your members are getting closer to their dreams and can attribute that to success in your membership. This means you have a new story to share with your audience and prospective members.
Stories sell! – Stu McLaren, Founder of Tribe Membership Course
It also lets your member know that this is a worthwhile place and that you really do care about them and their progress. This makes them feel supported and connected making them less and less likely to leave the membership. Now the flip side of this is also true. It’s also important to motivate and encourage members who’ve seemed to fall behind. This is so they don’t fall through the cracks and ghost you!
Many times in groups you’ll notice that there is praise for the members who are making the membership look good. But you never see anything encouraging the members that seem to be falling behind. When people believe they’ve fallen too far behind they will stop trying and attempt to” cut their losses”. This isn’t good for your membership! Remember retention is key and in order to retain members they must feel connected to the community while getting results. So this is where you might put on your tough coach hat or encouraging hat. Sending encouraging messages and offering addiitonal support (this might be an easy upsell opportunity) that helps them make progress.
I bet you care about your members making progress and that this is important to you, not just to sell later, but to feel the impact you’re having on the world, right? So don’t let these people fall through cracks or fade to black. Be active and engaged!
So lets recap:
There are 5 really good ways to keep members engaged in the membership so they want to stay the long haul.
Those ways are:
- Welcome them
- Keep them in the loop
- Remind them of what’s coming
- Celebrate their progress
- Encourage & Motivate them when falling behind
Now you might be wondering… this is awesome but seems like a lot. i mean I got into mmeberships to reduce my workload and this seems like more work…
And you’d be right but there is a way to do this as a 1 person shop. By using email. Email is still the closest you can get to your members outside of either direct text or call or just showing up in their house (don’t do that unless invited!). Email is still checked multiple times a day in multiple places (bed and bathroom being primay these days lol) so why not use this to your advantage? Why not keep your members engaged this way?
When you’re not launchig is the best time to set these systems up.
Coming soon Email System Blueprints for:
- onboarding and welcome email sequence
- weekly members’ newsletter
- live content reminders
- automated celebratory emails
- automated encouragement emails
Let me know in the comments which of these will you be implementing in your membership first?
