How can you increase the “sticky factor” of your membership, making it a place that people don't want to leave?
One simple way is to signpost future value…
But what does that actually mean?
As we always say, memberships are a value exchange…
If you want people to pay you on an ongoing basis, then you need to deliver value on an ongoing basis.
That value can come from building a thriving community where people connect and helping members to get their desired results…
It can also come from the content that you release into your membership…
Not just what's going live this week, but next month and the one after that…
and the one after that…
and the one after that…
This is one of the areas where many membership site owners typically fail.
They focus too much on the now…
They don't focus enough on building awareness of the value their membership will bring in the future.
If this is something you do, then you're missing a huge opportunity…
Because, if members are considering leaving and find out there's engaging content is on the horizon, it will make their decision more difficult…
Signposting future value will play into the ‘pain of disconnect’ and create FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) for future content.
So how can you increase the stickiness of your membership by signposting future value?
Here are seven simple ways…
1. Create an upcoming content list
The first, and the simplest way of signposting future value, is to create an upcoming content list that details what's coming up.
If you're a sensible membership owner who plans out your content ahead of time, then this will be easy to do.
It's just a matter of making those plans known to your members.
Your members marking the release date on their calendars for your upcoming content…
You can display this in a few ways (in fact, using multiple ways is best)…
The first thing you should do is make sure you have it somewhere on your website dashboard for members when they log in…
The sidebar is a good place.
If you have a current content library, then add a little section for ‘in-progress' or ‘upcoming content'…
Or perhaps you could create a ‘Coming Soon' text banner to go across the image thumbnail on the item in your library to really highlight what's in the pipeline…
Of course, this will largely depend on the kind of tech you’re using.
If this is something you're struggling with there are always workarounds…
For example, if you're using a course platform, you can add the ‘Coming Soon' text on top of the image and add it to your library without lessons, then if anyone clicks onto it you can add a summary of what to expect with the release date.
If you're using our Memberoni theme, which we offer to Academy members, then the course system allows you to set a piece of content as ‘inactive'…
This means it will be show in your library but members can't clickthrough…
And you can easily add a banner saying things like ‘Coming Soon' or ‘To be released in October' or whatever you want it to say.
Sharing this upcoming content list is one way to give those members who are on the fence about leaving something to think about.
2. Promote future content on social media and inside your member community
It probably goes without saying that promoting your content on social media and inside your member community is a must.
But what about your upcoming content?
Don’t just wait for your members to log in to see your content library or calendar…
Share it with them on social media.
You could do this by creating monthly ‘Dates for your Diary.’ graphics…
An example of the graphic we share on social to promote upcoming content each month
This may get the attention of those who don’t log in much or are on the fence about leaving but can be persuaded to stay if they see your social posts about future content…
Not only that, but non-members who follow you on social media will get to see these posts too…
It's great marketing for your membership and may peak their interest enough to make them join!
3. Send out weekly digest emails
Are you sending out weekly roundup emails to your members?
It's a very simple thing to do, but many people choose not to…
We do this and it's huge for member engagement and experience…
We include any news from the Academy, member wins and popular discussions in our forum and, of course, upcoming content.
Weekly emails are what sets memberships apart from other mediums such as courses or videos…
They remind people that your membership is a living, breathing thing with an active community that produces regular value.
Using these emails to signpost future content is a simple way to let your members know what’s coming up.
If you’re already sending emails, it’s pretty much no effort to add in a line about your upcoming content.
4. Give members sneak peeks of what you’re working on
One way to show rather than tell members what’s coming next is to give them an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse into what you’re working on.
This doesn’t have to be anything dramatic or complicated…
All you need to do is let members know about your current projects through social media or even email.
Your members taking a sneak peek…
This can be a simple screenshot of your work-in-progress or a behind-the-scenes photograph.
5. Ping members about live events
If you run live events, such as live Q&As or webinars, you could create a calendar with reminders for any live sessions coming up.
This is something we do in our Membership Academy.
We have a calendar on our dashboard that lists dates and times for the next live events.
We also have a clever little button that adds an event reminder to your own calendar if you click it.
That way, members get pinged 15 minutes or an hour before an event starts, so they don’t miss it.
A great way to set this all up is with a tool called AddEvent, which we go into detail about in the Membership Academy.
6. Design a feature roadmap
This one applies more to software developers or those memberships that have a tool or app attached.
If you have new features or updates coming to your app, as we did with our Memberoni Theme, you can create a feature roadmap…
This lets members know what to expect in the future, so they always know what’s coming up.
If they have been thinking of leaving because of a missing feature, they can look at the roadmap to see when it’ll be added.
7. Create Open Loop Content
What do we mean by Open Loop Content?
It’s a simple marketing/copywriting trick that works by hooking the audience and then drip-feeding the content over a longer period of time.
In a membership scenario, you could release lessons/videos in increments rather than all at once.
For example, you could share Part One of ‘How to Give Up Smoking,’ and then follow on with Part 2 and 3 each month after…
Ending each video, podcast, or blog with a cliff-hanger like this encourages the member to seek out the next step.
Another thing you can do is lock lessons for new members…
This is where the next lesson will only unlock if you complete the previous one.
It’s a common gamification tactic…
And keeps things fresh and exciting while also signposting future value very clearly.
One thing we will say about this method is, don’t just use it solely to keep members around…
If that’s the only reason for it, it could backfire.
Turn it into a game, make it fun and exciting for the member, not just inconvenient.
It’s a delicate balance to get right.
Signposting future value doesn’t have to be elaborate…
As you've read above, it can be done simply, with little to no additional work for you…
It's about raising that level of awareness across your member base that great things are coming their way…
And potentially persuade some of those who may be considering leaving that they need to stay in order to access it.
Of course it's not going to stop people leaving your site, that's just part of the member lifecycle…
But it will increase the stickiness of your membership.
It will also remind people that your site, as they see it today, is not the finished product…
It's a living, evolving thing that will get better and better over time…
And if that's not something to stick around for then I don't know what is.
