New member signups have dwindled….
Engagement is at a low point…
And your membership has become what can only be described as a ghost town.
This is every membership owner's worst nightmare!
But a challenge many face from time to time.
When it comes to growing your membership, momentum plays a huge role in helping you achieve success…
And when it slows down and starts to stagnate, while it may be a worry, there are some things you can do to get it back on track.
If this is something you're struggling with right now…
We're here to help!
Here's how to inject new life into a stale membership…
Clarify the problem
Step one is to clarify what the problem actually is….
Is it that you’re just not getting any new members?
Are you attracting new members but losing too many of your existing members and feel like you’re going backward?
Maybe you have great growth in your membership…
But there’s zero engagement in your community.
And that's where the stagnation has kicked in.
Diagnose the problem…
To figure out what the problem is, you need to delve into the figures…
Look at how many members you’ve got, how many new ones join each month, and how many you’re losing…
And pay close attention to what those numbers tell you.
Find the easy fixes
Sometimes, there are just one or two little things that aren't quite in tune with the rest of your business that can have a negative impact on your membership…
And this is the low hanging fruit that you need to fix first before you do anything else.
Start small then focus on any bigger areas that need improvement…
This can make a huge difference.
Are you adding value to your membership?
Now you've identified the easy fixes, it's time to look at the bigger picture and ask yourself a tough question.
Be honest…
Are you really delivering enough value with your membership?
If you want people to pay you on an ongoing basis then you need to deliver value on an ongoing basis…
Memberships are not just a one-and-done thing…
You don’t just create the content once and walk away.
You need to continuously add to to your site.
Whether that’s with new content or by adding value in another way.
One area you can look at is your own engagement in the community…
Are you actually showing up for your members?
A big reason people join memberships is to gain access to you.
You're not only the community leader…
Your members see you as the go-to expert in your industry…
Your members…
So you need to be present in your community…
Giving members your time, advice, and guidance…
After all, that’s what they signed up for!
If you can't be bothered to be involved in your own community, why should your members?
If you’re not showing up, now is the time to start.
Can you identify a turning point?
Was there a specific moment in your membership where things started to slow?
Perhaps there’s a certain point where people drop off…
Or you’ve noticed a recent change that has affected the members’ experience.
This could include:
- A change in the type or frequency of new content
- You added, changed, or removed a feature
- A recent promotion is dying down or has expired
- There was a price increase
If you can nail down the point at which things started to stagnate…
That’ll go a long way in helping you figure what should be your priority in terms of getting things back on track.
Survey your members
Looking at your members’ behavior and opinions is crucial to diagnosing the issue and getting back on track.
So, if the turning point or reason isn’t clear-cut…
It’s time to directly ask your members.
Ideally, you should be doing this every so often anyway…
But especially if things are taking a downward turn and you’re not sure why.
Ask them what they want more of…
Or less of…
Write some open-ended questions and give them a chance to say what they really think.
You might also want to survey non-members who are on your mailing list and are yet to join…
Ask them what the reason is for that, find out any objections…
And ask them what it would take to get them to join.
You can also survey lapsed and cancelled members to find out why they're leaving or have left…
And what it would take to win them back…
An exit survey is a great tool in your arsenal to speak those members slipping away and find out why they're cancelling their subscription.
This data will really help you decide where you should be focusing to reignite the momentum in your membership.
Try a relaunch
Relaunching your membership could help you get that spark back in your community.
It can just be a soft relaunch…
It doesn’t have to be anything new…
But it’s a chance to make a bit of noise about your membership for new people coming across your website.
You could do this with a whole bunch of new podcasts, interviews, guest blogs, or some event-based marketing like a 24-hour live stream…
You could even run a promotion, discount or lifetime offer.
Some people do this when they have to make a lot of changes in their membership.
So, if you’ve pinpointed what’s wrong with your membership and have taken real steps to fix it…
A relaunch could be a great way to round it all off.
You might even want to close your membership to new members while you work on fixing issues.
We actually had an Academy member who did this…
He identified some things he wanted to work on to improve his member experience…
So he closed his membership sand focused 100% on that.
And when he reopened his doors…
It was with a brand new shiny improved offering that he could make a big song and dance about to attract new members.
Please avoid doing a relaunch without fixing the problems…
Because you’ll just end up in the exact same position when the hype dies down.
Do something to grab your members’ attention
This could be something like a huge new content dump…
Maybe your members are used to you releasing content once a month or quarter…
If this is the case, you could grab their attention by launching a big bunch of content in one go…
For example, a brand-new mini course or a new live event.
Maybe don't be as loud as this guy…
It can be anything that essentially breaks the routine of when they can expect value from you…
It’s a little bit more exciting and newer…
And gets people a bit more engaged and logging into your site.
Offer a free gift
Finally, another way to reconnect with your members is to offer a free gift or some kind of bonus…
This could be a physical free gift you send out…
Or a bonus piece of content for legacy members…
Perhaps you offer a freebie to celebrate your membership’s anniversary.
Give them something they’re not accustomed to that will help them re-engage or feel good about themselves.
It doesn’t have to be huge…
Just a little something to acknowledge your members.
Memberships can start to go stale for a number of reasons…
And if this is happening in your community at the moment…
Don't worry, all is not lost!
You can inject new life into your site to reignite that spark…
And get things back on track…
Encouraging engagement without nagging your members.
It all starts with diagnosing the problem, taking a good hard look at what’s going wrong…
And making genuine efforts to rectify it.
Doing this will help your members fall in love with your membership all over again.
If you’re not sure what the problem is, don’t be afraid to simply ask and get feedback!
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