Strategies to improve Member Retention Rate

The one question membership-based organizations are concerned with is “How do we retain our members?” This question is crucial as retaining the members is essential for the survival of the organization.

To answer the question best, it is important to understand why a member would exit or refuse to retain and improvise the conditions and criticisms. There could be numerous reasons why a customer would not want to renew its membership, the following are some of the reason that needs to be improvised:

One of the most noticeable signs a member could show is inactivity or no progress during the term of their membership Increase in the number of complaints raised by the members, on the contrary members refuse to provide any insight for the benefit of the organization A higher membership fee may contribute to many valuable members exiting the organization Not getting recognised or rewarded for their contribution may be another noteworthy reason for the non-renewal of membership

All these reasons and more may encourage valuable and existing members to not renew their membership further affecting brand recognition. This could be avoided by setting up quality strategies to improve the member retention rate:

Engagement:

Engagement of your members indicates how they feel and think about the organization’s culture and work. To encourage members engagement and activity following things could be done:

Track the activities and progress of your members by categorising their engagement levels as high, average and low Members love to get recognised, to do so, issue rewards and digital credentials to the members for the accomplishment of a task or acknowledging progress and valuing the member’s loyalty Engagement could be tracked through analytical tools that could provide accurate numbers which could help improvise the engagement rate

Being okay with exit rate:

Even with all the efforts the organization might put into improvising the exit rate, some members may still not renew their term. This could happen because the member may not feel the need to continue, the membership fee is not affordable or simply because the member may feel it doesn’t add any value. There are many ways you could still convince a member who has exited or is planning to:

Track any inactivity of the member and interact with them by providing a set of questions that would answer their inactivity When a person exits the membership, mail the member for their feedback and reasons for doing so. This would help improvise the membership program Offer the members with exciting plans and perks for their renewal encouraging them to stay

It is also important to not lose focus and be disheartened with the increasing exit rate and instead focus on improvising the membership platform by surveying the existing members and valuing them through recognition and rewards.

Pricing Structure:

One of the major reasons why some of the members might fail to renew their membership is the pricing is expensive. It is advisable to survey existing membership costs and set the price accordingly. Offer discounts coupons for subscribing to long-term membership.

Another reason for the exit of members regarding the price could be the benefits not enough to excite them to enrol. Price the membership based on benefits that come along with it. This could also be done by categorising them into Silver, Gold and Platinum, each having its own set of benefits.

In conclusion:

It is equally important for the organisation to focus on existing members and gaining more. The members can be retained by applying certain strategies. It is also okay if there is a significant rise in the exit rate, there is always room for improvisation.