Member retention is a must-have strategy for subscription-based businesses. Attracting new members is just the first step; the real challenge lies in keeping those members happy and ensuring they continue to see value in your service. Here are six member retention strategies to help you achieve that.
Consistent Delivery of Value
To keep members engaged, continuously deliver valuable content, resources, or benefits that justify their subscription. This could include exclusive content, access to experts or industry insights, discounts on products or services, or members-only events and webinars.
But what exactly constitutes “valuable” content? It’s a subjective term, but here are some guidelines to ensure your content meets the mark:
Bring new or additional value compared to what else is out there.
Do you have a unique take on weight loss or nutrition? Have you created a recipe book for members to refer to? Do your research to determine what the competition is offering, and come up with your own spin on value.
Position yourself as an expert in your field to retain members.
Create short YouTube videos, interview others in your field, and request to be interviewed. The more your members see you on various platforms, the more solidified their decision to stay with you will be.
Ask your audience to tell you what's valuable to them.
You have unfettered access to your members, so why not use it? Use polls, surveys, or discussions in a Facebook group to find out what content is valuable to your members.
Engagement and Interaction
Encouraging engagement and interaction among your members creates a sense of community and belonging. Provide opportunities for members to connect, share experiences, and collaborate on projects or discussions. This could involve hosting online forums, social media groups, or live Q&A sessions.
An effective way to engage members is through contests and friendly competitions. For example, Pushmoments.com encourages members to “push” themselves to try new things, with friendly competitions to see who can achieve the most.
Community of Members Directory
Nurture a sense of community by providing a directory of members. Platforms like SubHub make it easy to set up member-only access to a directory. Members can use aliases if they prefer, and they can contact each other anonymously via web forms. Encouraging interaction on your website fosters a stronger community. As members are more comfortable with each other they will interact more frequently.
Regular Communication and Updates
Maintain regular communication with members through newsletters, email updates, or notifications about new content, events, or member benefits. Be transparent and responsive to member inquiries, feedback, and suggestions. Consider holding open Zoom calls where members can ask questions and benefit from the contributions of others.
You can choose a specific topic or leave it open-ended, and this is a great opportunity to do some market research. What keeps your members engaged? What would they like to see more of and less of? Those who are perhaps struggling to get the benefit of membership may very find inspiration among those members who are getting value.
Nurture Ambassadors
Ask current members to help with marketing and sales. Those who find value in your membership are your best ambassadors. Offer incentives such as discounts, extended coaching hours, or remuneration for referrals. If you have a large membership, consider an affiliate program to automate this process. Platforms like SubHub offer integrations with affiliate companies to make this easier.
Take Advantage of Cancellations
You have probably picked up on a recurring theme in the above strategies for membership retention - keeping in touch. The more contact your members have with you that adds value to their membership in their eyes, the more loyal your audience will be, and the longer you will be able to retain their attention.
Having said that, make no mistake, there are going to be cancellations (gasp!). There is no way around it. At some point, a member for some reason is going to cancel their subscription. But don’t get discouraged. There can be a number of reasons for cancellations (or what initially “look” like cancellations). If you receive notification of a cancellation, don’t panic. First, check to see if the cause is simply a failed payment. If so, the member may not even be aware that they’ve been cancelled. This gives you a golden chance to reach out to that member and have a conversation.
But what if they really did want to cancel? That’s even better…now you have the opportunity to find out what went wrong…and fix it so that other members don’t follow suit. Ask your ex-member if you can keep in touch by newsletter or some other means. You can reach out to that person periodically to offer incentives to return, or just to see how they are doing. You might be able to win back the member at a later time.
The Bottom Line
Member retention is all about consistency—consistently delivering value, engaging with your members, maintaining regular communication, and learning from cancellations. By implementing these strategies, you can keep your members happy and loyal, ensuring the long-term success of your subscription-based business.
