In our early days of working with memberships, we stumbled across an article that claimed that the average member only stays subscribed for a mere 3 months.

You’ve probably heard this yourself. It’s a claim that’s been repeated and republished so much, that it became readily and widely accepted.

But it’s nonsense.

There’s not a single shred of data or evidence for that ‘3 month’ claim. No source data, report or study cited, anywhere.

The fact that this claim persisted for so long is part of a larger problem. There is no reliable data available about the online membership industry.

Truth is, this market is relatively tiny. It’s a niche, of a niche, of a niche.

What data we do have comes from either the broader subscription industry, or from membership associations.

Neither of which reflect the online membership world.

We figured it was time to change that.

It’s time for some real data and benchmarks for the online membership industry.

So we’ve spent the past 4 months tapping into our audience of tens of thousands of membership business owners to identify how they’re performing, what challenges they’re facing and which benchmarks and trends are prevalent.

And we've compiled those results into the very first Online Membership Industry Report

In today's episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I talk about some of the biggest takeaways from this report and discuss which membership benchmarks surprised me, the trends to pay attention to and other interesting tidbits and insights taken from the survey results.

In this episode…

• How this report obliterates two of the most common myths in the online membership space
• The definitive answer to the “Open vs Closed” membership debate
• What's the most worrying trend amongst membership site owners?
• Surprising insights around pricing, retention, team size and more…

Related Links

• Despite What You've Heard, Average Member Retention is NOT Only 3 Months
• How Many People Can I Realistically Expect To Join My Membership?
• KPIs Every Membership Site Owner Should Be Measuring
• 4 Tactics for Accelerating the Growth of Your Membership Audience
• 5 Reasons Why I Dislike the Closed Door Membership Launch Strategy

Discover the latest membership benchmarks and trends

The Online Membership Industry Report surveyed more than 2,100 online membership website owners between June 2019 and September 2019 with the goal of better understanding how their businesses are performing, the challenges they’re facing and the specific things they’re doing to market and grow their membership as well as engage and retain members.

Within this report, you’ll discover:

• Insights about the people who are running memberships. Which niches they’re in, how big their team is, how long their membership has been running and how much of a focus it is within their business. As well as their motivation for starting a membership and what impact it’s had.
• A breakdown of sales and retention performance. How much money people are making and what that looks like in terms of member numbers, churn rate, pricing model and more.
• Which business models and strategies are most effective. Looking at open and closed enrolment models, the content deliverables that memberships are offering and the role community plays in engagement.
• The most common marketing tactics being used and how well they’re working. Also looking at email list size and the impact this has on membership success.
• What software and solutions are most common in the online membership space, how satisfied people are with their tech and what challenges are most prevalent in the build/launch stage.
• How membership owners feel about the growth of their business, what their main challenges are, and what they’re prioritising over the next 12 months.

Along the way we’ll be highlighting and summarising the most pertinent takeaways as well as extrapolating deeper data to provide further insights into trends and benchmarks within the online membership industry.

Click to read the Online Membership Industry Report (no opt-in required)

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