We can spend months creating content, writing workbooks, pulling our hair out, and spending a small fortune on promoting a new membership site and then when we finally launch it… nobody joins. And we consider it a failure.

We all dread this as membership owners; when it happens, the panic sets in and we start scrambling to rearrange the website, add testimonials, and change prices.

This is all completely irrelevant stuff and won't turn things around.

So what should you do if your new membership flopped?

Get to the core of why your membership launch failed.

All the effort goes in before you’ve made a single penny and you’re risking everything on it being a successful launch.

If your membership launch doesn’t go as planned, it throws you off and naturally, you panic.

Don’t panic. Don’t make rash decisions. Take a step back and ask yourself some hard questions.

Is your product actually any good?

We all like to think our product is the best thing since sliced bread, but is it really any good?

Of course, your knowledge and expertise is excellent, but have you actually sat down and looked at what is out there?

Is there a need for what you’re creating? And if there is, are you addressing that need with your offering?

All this comes back to value.

Is your pricing right?

Are you trying to charge thousands of dollars for a 1-2 hour course? Some people get away with this because they’ve built up massive amounts of authority.

This won’t work for everyone. Those who are successful selling a high ticket item have the credibility and authority to back it up.

If the CEO of Amazon put out a 1-hour course and charged $5K for it, he’s going to have a better chance at success than a relatively new blogger.

Just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to replicate the same model of success.

Where did the idea for your membership come from?

You may think your membership has huge value, but if it doesn’t, most buyers will make that conclusion for themselves.

You may need to go back further and look at the initial idea for your product.

Where did that idea come from?

Is it something you wanted to teach rather than something your audience wanted to learn?

Did you validate your idea?

Did you get feedback from anyone besides your best friends?

If you came up with the idea for your membership because of a clear need and a clear market, then the issue is likely in your marketing, positioning, and your ability to reach that audience.

If the idea came from off the top of your head and you didn’t do the research to create something people wanted to buy, there might not be a market for your product.

Are you well-known in your industry?

Maybe you created a phenomenal product with crazy value, but you aren’t a known entity.

You hoped that if you built it, they would come.

Nope.

The reality is, you have to go out there and tell them about it and why they should pay attention.

Do you have a popular blog?

Do you have an active social media following?

Are you perceived as a go-to person in your area of expertise?

Have you engaged your audience and built up to the launch of your product?

If you don’t have credibility, it will be an uphill battle.

You have to start from scratch and build the momentum that will lead to sales.

Is your membership right for your audience?

If you have authority, you might not be leveraging it properly.

Your product might not be right for your audience.

If you have an audience built around budgeting and you come out with a thousand dollar product, they aren’t going to buy.

It’s the same with small business marketing.

If you’re helping people get customers to their business for as little as possible and come out with an expensive product, they won’t buy into it.

That’s not your audience.

Final Action: Speak to Your Audience

Made it through all these questions and you still aren’t sure why your membership launch failed? It’s time to go to your audience.

Ask them why they didn’t buy.

Find out what didn’t appeal to them.

There’s no harm in asking through your email list or social media.

You don’t need to say that the membership failed, just send out a survey.

They might come back and tell you it was the price or the material.

Instead of wracking your brains for what went wrong, just go ask them.

You can always do a version two. Be honest about it and share how you did it wrong the first time.

There's a chance you might actually gain customers by doing that.

You don’t have to abandon a project.

It takes introspection to look back and find where things went wrong, so you can come out even stronger next time. We believe in you.