While many membership sites concentrate on gaining new members, have you considered the importance of member retention? Keeping the members you have is a challenge, and that’s why you should be asking “How do I encourage my membership renewal?”
In this article, we take a look at how to encourage your membership renewal and how best to retain your members, hopefully for years to come.
How Do I Encourage My Membership Renewal?
Encouraging your membership renewal is a crucial part of sustaining the growth of your membership website.
So, we’ve come up with these 11 impactful strategies that you can use to encourage member retention and boost your membership renewal rates:
- Build Real Friendships: The better your relationship with your clients, the better your ability to retain them. If they like you, they’ll likely stay, and become brand advocates for you. This requires taking a personal interest in them rather than just meeting your membership obligations.
- Offer Discounts For Renewal: If your second year costs less than your first year, you’re more likely to stick with the program. Similarly, if you make it known that you are raising prices for new signups, then those who got in at a lower rate will be more keen to stick with their subscription.
- Good Communication: Regular, personalized communication is vital to keeping your existing members engaged. You can automate different channels such as email, newsletters, and social media with integrated software packages to save you time.
- Highlight Benefits: Whether you offer access to exclusive content, discounts, networking opportunities, or online courses, you need to remind your members of the benefits they enjoy by being a part of your members-only community.
- Automated Reminders & Renewal: Activate automated renewal reminders well in advance of your member’s membership expiry date. Make the member’s renewal process simple by providing easy-to-follow instructions and secure payment options.
- Early Renewal Incentives: Offer ‘early-bird’ special deals to encourage members to renew early if they’re not on automatic billing. These can include discounted rates, limited access to exclusive content, or even free entry into a draw for an exclusive giveaway.
- Membership Surveys: Feedback through surveys gives valuable information about what your members like and don’t like about your site. You can use this information to make improvements and address any common issues your members may bring up.
- Personalized Engagement: Address your members by name and customize any communication based on your members’ activity. This personal touch will make them feel more connected to your site, which increases their likelihood of renewal.
- Loyalty Programs: Consider introducing loyalty programs that reward members for their continued commitment. Different membership levels with extra benefits can reinforce the idea that the longer they remain a member, the more they gain.
- Remember To Say Thank You: Membership sites are all about building relationships. A simple way to keep building that relationship is to say “Thank you” when they do renew. It shows members that you value their support and increases the likelihood of them renewing in the future.
- Make Your Product Vital To Their Success: SaaS does this best. When your product or service becomes critical to your client being able to achieve their goal, they’re much more likely to stick around. A great example is enterprise software, platforms that provide CEOs a hub for critical data so they can manage the business. This software is integrated into their business and replacing it is a massive job.
By combining all of these points you will show that you value your members. This will help you to create a membership website that encourages members to renew and contribute to your long-term success.
How Do I Increase My Membership Renewal Rate?
You can increase your membership renewal rate by increasing your product or service stickiness, by building relationships with your clients, or offering incentives for sticking with you. Following the strategies as outlined above – it’s not rocket science!
Don’t forget to carry out surveys to understand your member likes and dislikes, and you can even host exclusive events to boost your member’s sense of community.
In addition, streamlining and automating the renewal process will not only simplify the renewal process, but it will free up your valuable time so you can focus on your unique content to increase your membership renewals.
Read next: How Do You Build Up Customer Loyalty And Retention?
