In 2025, the Membership Geeks brand will turn ten!
When we first launched, the online membership industry was still pretty new. There wasn’t much information available to budding membership owners on how to launch or grow, and most people were figuring things out as they went.
Fast forward to today, and things have changed. The industry has developed, technology has advanced, and member expectations have increased.
So, what exactly is different now compared to a decade ago? And where is the industry heading next?
Let’s take a look at 6 key ways the online membership space has evolved.
1. The Membership Industry Has Matured
In the last 10 years, the online membership industry has matured and normalized.
These days, most people know what memberships are and if it’s the right business for them, whereas previously, they had to be educated on what a membership was.
More people are in or have been in memberships so they’re familiar with what’s involved. Plus, there’s a lot more free content on the basics of starting a membership.
When people come into Membership Academy, they’re already more informed than they used to be, thanks to better general understanding about memberships and a growing number of web development companies within the field.
Therefore, the increased understanding and normalization of memberships signals a more mature industry.
2. Online Membership Software Has Developed
Another area that has developed is the membership software market.
A decade ago, some of the options available were flimsy. For example, membership plugins would start up and shut down 6 months later, leading people needing to shift their tech regularly.
It was far more difficult to find a reliable, robust membership plugin.
Thankfully, that has improved, but there’s still incompetent software on the market – usually, these are presented as lifetime use options on deal websites.
The leaders in the membership software space, however, have gone from strength to strength, emerging as solid and reliable choices.
Online membership plugins like MemberPress have incorporated features like added integrations, and they continue to develop to offer high-quality solutions to membership owners.
It can still be confusing to choose the right plugin but you no longer need to keep tracking different options to ensure the features work.
Today, membership owners also have the choice to use hosted platforms that specifically cater to memberships, such as Simplero.
Alternatively, there are niche membership platforms like Uscreen, which offer features for video-based memberships, and community-based platforms like Circle.
Membership software is very powerful, with more functionality and attention paid to online memberships by developers – great for membership owners in 2025 and beyond!
3. People Are Less Impressed by Gimmicky Marketing Strategies
Membership owners are starting to ditch gimmicky marketing strategies as people become less taken in by internet marketing gurus selling “the secret formula to making millions with your membership.”
For example, people are moving away from having a closed-door membership where it doesn’t make sense for them or their audience.
From a strategic point of view, there are situations where having a closed-door membership is the best model, such as a cohort-driven experience or if the topic is seasonal.
What Membership Geeks have always gone against is closing the doors of your membership as a sales strategy – it ultimately hurts your membership in the long run!
In 2016, the closed-door model became popular as a marketing tactic, mainly because its promise of boosting sales was enticing.
The problem with this method is that while people may achieve an initial influx of members, sustaining growth proves challenging.
For many, the most effective method is to keep membership doors open; a realization that more people are now embracing.
It’s the same with pre-launches.
Due to internet gurus advocating outdated tactics, there’s a common misconception that a handful of members is enough to sustain a membership business…
But that is never the case!
In fact, people have come into Membership Academy feeling deflated in only achieving a small win in attracting a couple of members despite working hard to create content.
Running an online membership business requires good business practices. It’s not a novelty or something you get into lightly.
There’s a right way to do pre-orders and beta launches to get those initial members, and people are now understanding this aspect of building a membership.
4. Subscription Fatigue
Something else that’s become a factor in the last decade is subscription fatigue.
While the normalization of paying for things on subscription is beneficial to membership owners as most memberships rely on this model, there’s a tipping point withhow tired people are by the increasing number of monthly subscriptions they have to manage.
In 2025, you have to work harder to justify your place on someone's expenses list each month – something that membership owners need to be aware of.
You’re not just being compared to other memberships, but to dozens of other subscriptions that the average person is potentially paying for. That requires you to effectively communicate the value your members receive.
You need to deliver exceptional value so that canceling never seems like an option, especially in times when people are more likely to cut expenses.
5. Dealing with a Pandemic
The pandemic was an interesting time for the membership industry, as more people pivoted away from other online businesses to running online memberships.
Service-based business owners and those with brick-and-mortar stores turned to memberships out of necessity, seeking new revenue streams.
Meanwhile, employees affected by temporary business closures found themselves with more time, leading to a surge in online membership participation.
On the flip side, increased competition for some membership owners made it harder to stand out so some memberships did close.
However, among all business models, online memberships proved to be one of the most resilient for generating income.
6. The Rise of AI for the Online Membership Industry
Almost every piece of software we use now incorporates AI in some way.
For membership owners, AI is becoming a valuable tool in refining content and generating ideas.
Unfortunately, relying on AI to write blog articles and social captions has led to more online noise to compete with.
And people who are looking to solve a problem can now turn to AI tools like ChatGPT instead of joining a membership, adding another layer of competition.
For example, if you have a membership offering spreadsheets, your leads can now ask ChatGPT to create a spreadsheet for you. That means you need to do an amazing job of showing why the quality of what you do is better, and why having an actual person teach you is preferable to having AI do it for you.
AI is also altering the way search engines perform by prioritizing using AI to answer queries rather than sending users to web pages.
For membership owners relying on content marketing to drive leads and sales, that’s something that will need to be addressed going forwards into the next decade.
To Conclude
These 6 key things that have changed in the membership industry will no doubt be the last.
As online memberships continue to evolve, we’ll be diving deeper into what you should be doing going forward and what you can do to get ahead of the game at Retain Live 2025.
If you want your membership to grow and thrive in the next decade, make sure you check THE membership growth conference.
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