Member retention is critical to the long-term success of your membership website.

It costs 7-10 times more on average to win a new member than it does to hold on to an existing one; if you’re losing more members than you’re bringing in, your business won’t last long!

In this article, we’re giving you 21 quick tips for improvements you can make to your membership strategy in order to improve your member retention.

1) Make improvements to your member onboarding process

Getting members off to the right start increases the chances they’ll get results and stick around for longer.

2) Add “quick win” content to your membership site

Help people to get a positive result – however small – and you’ll build goodwill with those members.

3) Provide members with a “roadmap” that helps them navigate and consume your content

Some people need to have their hands held a little more in order to avoid overwhelm, so a roadmap can help keep them on track.

4) Provide a member “diagnostic” to help people find where to start on your site

Not knowing where to start can cause frustration that will lead people to leaving. Guide them, they’ll appreciate it!

5) Conduct a survey of existing members to find out what they want, how they’re interacting with your site and so on

It’s easy to make assumptions about what our members want.

Regularly survey them to ensure you’re meeting their needs.

6) Provide the ability for members to pause their membership

Sometimes, short-term circumstances mean someone needs to take a break from your site.

Giving them the option to pause can often be better for your retention than their only option being to cancel.

7) Provide the ability for members to switch their current payment plan

Similarly, if you have multiple membership tiers or payment structures, then allowing people to upgrade or downgrade on their own terms gives them more options if they’re considering cancelling.

8) Provide a “downsell” to a slimmed-down version of your membership offering

If someone is thinking of leaving because they can’t afford your membership, then having a “downsell” option, where they can move to a cheaper version of your membership that doesn’t have as many features/as much content but is more cost effective, could save that active member.

9) Create a content calendar, and share it with your members so they know what’s coming up

Letting people see what’s on the horizon helps to demonstrate the ongoing value that you’re providing, as well as create “fear of missing out” by showing what they’ll miss if they leave…

10) Provide software, templates or tools to your members that they would miss if they left

Similarly, if your membership includes tools, services or software that a member would need continuous access to, the prospect of losing that access will be a powerful motivator to keep members sticking around.

It costs 7-10 times more on average to win a new member than it does to hold on to an existing one; and if you’re losing more members than you bring in then your business won’t last long!

11) Add a “Share your successes” section or thread within your community

Members love acknowledgement and being made to feel special and recognised, so having somewhere to celebrate those “wins” can go a long way.

12) Add a “Progress Log” or “Member Accountability” section or thread within your community

Providing a means of keeping members accountable can improve the chances of them getting positive results, which in turn can prolong their membership.

The act of documenting that progress helps people to see the worth of being part of your membership, which aids retention.

13) Provide an “upsell” to a “next level” product

Sometimes, your members will want more than you’re offering, in terms of access, support and facilitation.

Offering a premium version of your membership as an “upsell” is a great way of catering to those members and avoiding them leaving because they’re not getting what they really want.

14) Add drip-fed or series-based content to your site

Releasing content over time – often called “drip-feeding” – is a simple way of keeping people subscribed and improving member retention, as they’ll want to consume the full series.

15) Ask members for testimonials

Not only are testimonials great for marketing, but asking for them encourages people to reflect on the positives of your membership – and others seeing such testimonies will be encouraged by the prospect of similar outcomes for themselves.

16) Simplify your membership pricing

If you’ve over-complicated your membership pricing structure, there’s a greater chance people will leave because they weren’t expecting certain charges or didn’t fully understand what they were signing up for.

17) Teach members about time-management, specifically in regards to the use of your site

If you can teach them how to find the time and how to prioritise using your membership, there’s a greater chance they’ll use it and get results rather than simply slipping away.

18) Break your content down into bite-size, easily manageable parts

Overwhelm can often lead to members “checking out” and never really getting started with your content, so try making it easier to consume if you want to improve member retention.

19) Vary the scheduled times for your live training or any other live elements of your membership offering

Your membership is a potentially global business – account for people in a variety of timezones when scheduling live events such as Q&A’s and live member webinars.

This will improve attendance, which increases the value people are receiving, which in turn improves the likelihood they’ll stick around.

20) Implement automated follow-ups for failed payments or expiring credit cards

Some membership plugins such as MemberPress have this option built into them.

Take advantage of it.

21) Create an “exit survey” for members who do cancel

Find out the reasons why people leave in order to identify any opportunities to fix problems and make improvements.

Want to learn more about how to drastically improve member retention?

Click here to check out our free online masterclass in which we cover the following:

• Why people are leaving your membership site and what you can do to prevent it
• The 5 key stages of the Member Lifecycle – what they are and how they affect you
• 9 proven strategies for drastically increasing member retention, making sure members stay subscribed (and paying) for longer
• How to handle cancellations in a way that actually turns them into a positive for your membership site

This masterclass is available ON DEMAND for free and is essential training for anyone running a membership website – click here to watch this free training.

Thank You For Listening

We really appreciate you chosing to listen to us and for supporting the podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

We would also be eternally grateful if you would consider taking a minute or two to leave an honest review and rating for the show in iTunes. They're extremely helpful when it comes to reaching our audience and we read each and every one personally!

Finally, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes to make sure that you never miss an episode