5 Membership Site Retention Strategies
Membership site retention is tough. It is the problem many membership sites face when they have a good number of members, but they don't seem to be sticking around for very long with their subscription. Not good!
The whole goal of a membership site is to keep providing value to your member so that they will continually subscribe and renew their payments to your member site. It is a delicate balance of solving problems, helping people and keeping their attention. All of these are required to keep your enrollment numbers up and satisfaction rate through the roof. People want to make sure they get what they pay for! You need to give them a continual reason to stay.
Here are 5 methods you can include in your membership site that will help your user retention levels remain high for your membership site:
1) Value for Value
Membership sites are based on two bottom line numbers. The first is the value you provide to your members. How much time do you save them? How much money do you save/make them? What skills do they know because of your member site?
The second bottom line number is the value you get in return for creating the content and leading the community. Time is money. Nothing is free. You should get paid as high of a membership fee as the market dictates. If you can make a lot of money, great! If you make enough to live off of, awesome! If you just make a small amount each month, it's still all good!
The goal is to find the happy medium of price vs value. Once you establish what that number is, you've made a promise. You'd promised that you WILL PROVIDE VALUE in return for the money you accept. You didn't just promise them a bunch of worthless content. You promised them VALUE. Rain or shine, night or day, you must provide value to your member with the repetitive consistency of clockwork. How much content is completely up to you and what you feel your members need to get maximum value. In exchange, that other number (your money) that you receive must be valuable enough for you to keep the creative fire alive and create more and more content. That's the value for value proposition. Remember that rule in each and every piece of content you make from now on. Every ad you create... Value for Value. Provide value to them and they will provide it back to you with the membership site retention of their subscription.
2) Share in their Milestones, Revel in their Results
As your members progress through the content of your membership site, be sure to highlight them and their accomplishments since joining your site. This is a great opportunity to do a "Member Spotlight" content piece where you share in the glory of the accomplishments of the member. No matter how incrementally small the milestone might seem, it's proof that your program is providing positive changes and favorable results for your members.
One item that I love seeing in membership sites is the "Student of the Week" model. You can try it in podcasts, blog posts, newsletters, social posts or all of the above. Every so often, pick a student that has had a lot of site activity. You'll be able to recognize it by looking at activity logs and engagement within your community.
Give that student a voice to express what the membership site means to them, what benefits they have received so far and what they expect as they continue moving forward in the program. Try and stick to that formula for their story or testimonial. It provides a lot in a few sentences. First, it reinforces what the site means to them. This is the point that should highlight a specific problem within your niche. The next point, benefits they have received so far, is critical.
3) Be Available
The biggest draw for a new member is the people that are associated with the membership site. Many times there is a guru, a successful person in the industry or just a person that does a majority of the content. You have to understand that if you represent what your membership site is about, you have to be available to represent your brand. Having a successful member site retention strategy includes not only being available in your own community, but those around you. Make your way into your own forum or private community groups at least twice a day, if not more. Answer every single question that requires a specific answer. Don't go overboard with "Nice Post" or "Great Question!" and not provide a specific answer or result to their questions or posts. Challenge your members regularly. Be available to keep them accountable. Make sure they know you are watching and cheer leading them on to success!
Another facet to being available is handling any customer support issues that may come up. Don't EVER ignore issues from paying members. Address the issue the moment you receive a notification. Be kind, be understanding and be helpful. A great customer support experience is key in maintaining great Membership Site Retention. Someone with a great experience is likely to keep subscribing, knowing how well you handled their issue. Should the issue arise again, they have trust in you to give them the same outstanding results.
4) Build Membership Bonds
As you become more available, you'll also have the opportunity to get even closer to your community. Build strong bonds with your membership community. The closer you get, the harder it will be for your members to "break up" the relationship. As long as there is continual value and continual community experience, your membership retention is much easier.
I've seen a lot of success with membership sites that have a weekly or bi-weekly group membership conference call. You can use a webinar platform, Google Hangouts, Facebook live or whatever platform works best for you. The purpose of a Group Call is to run down some of the latest developments and news within the industry or community, and then open the floor up for questions. It's a great way to see what kind of content your members demand. If you start getting repeat questions and you don't already have content created to solve the problem, MAKE THE CONTENT SOON! If you get a repeat question and you have the content to support it, make sure you mention the content on the call. Reinforce the point that your membership site is there to address problems and provide solutions.
5) Be Original
I rarely see a niche that has only one membership site within it's own topic or industry. No matter what kind of membership site you have, there will be competition. But rather than trying to replicate what your competing sites are doing, concentrate on perfecting YOUR VOICE on the subject. There may already be another similar membership site out there, but there is no other site out there that has YOUR expertise to guide the members. Use your own skills and point of view to create an original, engaging experience for your members. Find out what sets you apart and amplify the differences!
Having a podcast or using live video helps to reinforce your voice and express your originality. Providing your personal opinion or reviews in your own voice help to create your own personal brand. If people know you for being a hard-edged, intelligent critic; make sure you give them that same presence within your podcasts or videos.
In Summary:
Using these 5 techniques for Membership Site Retention will keep your members engaged, excited and remain enrolled. Use all of them or a combination of a few of these techniques to inject new life into your membership site. It will keep the enthusiasm going and keep your enrollment numbers paying the bills!