December 4, 2020
Member loyalty is key to membership retention. Acquiring new members is one thing, but keeping them is an entirely different challenge. Your efforts to woo people shouldn’t stop once they join your organization. Otherwise, you risk losing them.
Member engagement is crucial to boosting their loyalty. According to the 2020 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, 43 per cent of organizations believe that lack of engagement is the number one reason members don’t renew membership.
Through meaningful engagement and the right management strategies, your members can build a deeper connection with your organization, boosting your retention rate. Romax shares four management tips to keep your members engaged and loyal.
1. Simplify your renewal process
Forgetting to renew is one reason behind low membership renewal rates. You can remedy this by simplifying your renewal process through digitization.
Membership management services often include software implementation. The online platform allows new and existing members to join or renew within a few minutes. They can also update their profiles, access financial reports and membership summaries and make payments through the website.
Some membership management software also has auto-renewal features allowing direct debit and recurring card payments. These options appeal to long-time members who don’t want to go through the renewal process multiple times.
2. Create a membership engagement plan
You need to have different strategies for your members, depending on their current level of engagement with your organization. Your membership engagement plan, therefore, should have three segments: fully engaged, mildly engaged and somewhat or not engaged.
Fully engaged members are considered low-risk since they have higher chances of renewing. Focus most of your engagement tactics on the other two segments.
Engagement strategies range from educational webinars, networking events, mentorship programs, downloadable content and simple email newsletters. Make sure you choose an engagement method that communicates clearly the unique selling proposition of your organization.
3. Find out why past members left
You can’t always stop members from leaving. The best thing you can do in this situation is to find out why they want to leave. Barring personal circumstances, their reason for leaving can identify weaknesses in your membership management approach or engagement programs.
Knowing why members leave provides insights that will help you improve member retention, especially if you notice any trends in their feedback. Plus, you can use this information to entice old members to come back. If you manage to resolve whatever factor they found unsatisfying, you may communicate the improvements you’ve made to make their membership more worthwhile.
4. Make your website a useful resource
Finally, your members-only website is where you can provide the most value for your users. Create a variety of exclusive, high-quality content, from industry reports and webinars to testimonials and member stories. Write about relevant, rising trends so your members can keep a pulse on the happenings in your industry.
Make sure your website is optimized so that it loads quickly on any device. Slow load times negatively affect user experience and can get in the way of member engagement.
If you have a separate customer relationship management (CRM) system, integrate it into your website. This strategy helps you promote tailored content to each of your members while improving your data collection.
Enhancing member retention and engagement may seem like a challenge, but it’s attainable with the appropriate strategies and tools. If you need expert membership management support, Romax is here to assist you. We offer membership management services, helping you take care of your members by providing them with timely communication materials. With our services, you can improve your brand recognition, renewal rate and member loyalty.
Connect with us today to learn more about our membership management services.
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