Oct 20, 2020
Pivot Your Practice and BulletProof Your Future — Quick Tips for Improving Member Retention If You Have A Membership Site
You all know by now that I really dont think having a membership site is a good idea in the early days of pivoting the practice online. However if you have already invested time energy and money into setting one up the important thing is to make sure it works as well as possible for you. And that means keeping members once you have them!
If you want to enjoy long-term success with your membership site, member retention is crucial. When it comes to holding onto existing customers, it costs seven to ten times less, on average, than to win a new member. If you are losing more members than you are bringing in that’s not a good sign! But it is not too late to remedy it. Here are several quick tips to help you along.
Improve the Member Onboarding Process
Getting your members off on the right start can significantly increase the chances that they will get results. When you make the onboarding process easy, your members are more likely to stick around for longer.
The ones that have worked best for me are making a video (short) to explain how to get going and get the results they want from the membership. I have also found having personal Zoom time with each person makes a huge difference to retention because it becomes about two humans in a relationship as soon as there is a meeting.
Include “Quick Win” Content to Your Site
If you want members to stick around longer, helping them get a positive result is essential. Even the smallest “quick win” content will help you build up goodwill with your members, giving them a reason to stick around longer.
In the trade this is called ‘gamification’ of your content. It works on the same principles as online games where people become so fascinated by the game they keep on playing. It sounds sexy and fun but don’t be fooled. It needs to be done in a certain order and the content still has to be of the highest quality so…. Yes, helping people succeed and get results quickly is what your membership site is all about but make sure you learn how to do it well.
Provide a “Roadmap” to Your Members
Some of your members will need to have their hands held a little more to avoid becoming overwhelmed. Providing them with a roadmap that helps them navigate your site and consume content will help to keep them on track.
Overwhelm is the biggest defeater for new members. It is really really easy to get overwhelmed on line. Just because you know the terrain and it seems simple to you now doesnt mean it feels like that to a new person. So a step by step roadmap can be very helpful as a guide for them. They can picked out where they are on the map, what they have already got nailed down — and then start filling in the blanks when they see how the whole thing works. It is a very helpful visual way of orienting and onboarding people.
Give Members the Ability to Pause Their Membership
Sometimes your members will face short-term circumstances that might require them to take a break from your membership site. Providing them with the option to pause their membership can be significantly better than only giving them the option to cancel their account.
This is invaluable and wins you loyalty just for being thoughtful and helpful. Don’t neglect it.
Let Members Switch Their Payment Plan
Just like giving your members the ability to pause their membership, providing them with multiple membership tiers and payment structures, and allowing them to downgrade or upgrade their plan can also significantly improve member retention. Allowing them to change their payment plan gives them more options if they were considering canceling. This isnt something to offer at the start when it is much easier for people to get going with just one or two options. But at some point in their time with you it can help a lot just to let them know that there are other options for paying or levels of investment if they need to change. This is especially true now in Covid times. Be thoughtful and helpful to your people by giving options as they stay with you. Three months into the membership is a typical length of time for folk to start to wonder if they are getting value for their money. Make sure that they are.
The only way you will end up running a successful membership site is if you can find a way to improve member retention. It is not just about constantly maketing for new people. I hope these quick tips help you make the most out of your website and keep your members happy. Remember we are always happy to help if you drop in on our office hours. Ask us anything.
___________________________________________________________
This is a series for coaches and therapists who are passionate about their work and their clients but struggling to find a way to make things work post-Covid as clients melt away and money becomes an issue for most people.
This is a time when most of us are scared. Nothing is known or predictable and many of us are dithering about what to do. In fact, this indecision is paralysing us and that is something that will derail the success of any practice. Therapists and coaches who are successful are people who have learned to do two things.
One is be flexible enough to pivot their business to what will work now — and the other is to break through enough of the fear barriers to get productive again.
Need More Happiness, Freedom and Success? Join The Sage Academy Free Webinars…
If you want quick and easy steps to setting yourself up for a safe and happy future doing the work you love, join me in the Sage Academy’s free webinars. I usually give at least 5 tips for moving forward and implementing in ways that will move you onwards and upwards in all of the webinars. Each is about a certain angle on the issue of Pivoting and we pay particular attention to moving the practice online. People say that the webinars on their own have had an immediate effect on their mood and confidence to make the changes necessary to flourish in Covid and post-Covid times. Get off the hamster wheel and take some time for yourself with our webinars, learn and act, learn and act — that’s the way to start flourishing.
Join the list and be the first to know when the Sage Academy Top Tips team is going live online. https://forms.aweber.com/form/76/1704509576.htm
“Just imagine if the next 5 years is like the last 5 years? How are you keeping yourself financially secure, happy and living your life of purpose by helping other people succeed?” Elizabeth and the team at Sage Academy specialise in helping you Get Your Coaching or Therapy Practice Back On Track. Sign up for the highly-acclaimed free challenges and webinars to find out how to Pivot that Practice to FutureProof Yourself.
“Yes please, I’d love to find out more …..”
https://forms.aweber.com/form/76/1704509576.htm
