Memberships are an incredible business model, but they’re very niche, especially in comparison to other types of online products. Because of that, there’s not a wealth of data about the market.

Any data normally relates to memberships in a broader capacity, such as streaming services or associations.

There’s never been a solid bank of benchmarks and trend information about online memberships.

So, to solve that problem and help create a wider understanding of the online membership world, we’ve created an Online Membership Industry Report packed with survey data from over 2000 online membership owners of varying levels of experience and industry who have an up-and-running membership.

Our previous report in 2022 revealed many fascinating insights, so let’s delve into the top 4 takeaways from the 2024 Online Membership Industry Report, highlighting some key statistics you may find interesting.

1. Starting a Membership Continues to Have a Significant Impact on the Lives of People Who Run Them

One of the best things about online memberships is the potential for freedom, flexibility, fulfillment, and financial reward.

In our report, almost three-quarters of people (over 73% of respondents) said that launching a membership has increased their business revenue.

And almost two-thirds said they now have greater enjoyment and fulfillment in their work since starting their membership business.

When it comes to freedom and flexibility, almost half of the survey respondents pinpointed location independence as one of the main things they enjoy about having an online membership.

This data is fairly consistent with the findings from our 2022 report. However, during that time, many new memberships were launched due to the pandemic and people pivoting from a job or closed business. Therefore, you’d naturally expect those membership businesses to report increased revenue.

Now, a couple of years after that period, the same positive impact can still be seen, with people still enjoying being membership owners.

In fact, just shy of 90% of respondents state they’re enjoying being a membership site owner – that’s significant job satisfaction!

2. The Membership Industry Has Reached a Level of Maturity

When comparing our 2024 report with previous editions from 2022 and 2019, one main takeaway is that the membership industry appears to have reached a level of maturity.

Between 2019 and 2022, there was a lot of volatility in terms of revenue, member numbers, team sizes, and so on – the numbers were very symptomatic of an industry that hadn't quite found its feet.

However, the 2024 report revealed benchmarks similar to 2022, suggesting that the membership industry has matured, something that aligns with what’s happening in the broader membership space.

In the last few years, the world of memberships has demystified and they’ve become more understood and accepted as an online business model.

More people are coming into this space better educated, and the membership tech market is more stable.

For example, companies like MemberPress are taking over other membership plugins showing that even this side of the industry is maturing too.

All this is extremely promising for the future of memberships, especially given how strong sales and growth are in the membership world.

In terms of sales data within our 2024 Online Membership Industry Report, just under half of all established memberships are making over 6 figures a year, rising to just over 60% of memberships that are over 3 years old.

And 66.2% of memberships said that their income had increased in the past 12 months so growth is solid across the industry.

3. Fewer Membership Owners Are Switching Enrolment Model

Something else that seems to have settled is the urge to switch up enrolment model, with only 17.2% of membership owners changing strategy in the past 12 months.

Of the people who did switch in the past 12 months, over 60% changed from closed to open enrolment, with the open-door model outperforming the closed-door model on almost all KPIs.

And only 18.3% of memberships are planning to change enrolment model in the next 12 months. Of these, a high proportion are considering moving from closed door to open door.

This data shows that the enrolment model used by the most successful memberships is becoming more commonplace as people move away from the feast-and-famine kind of approach that a closed-door model can bring.

4. A High Number of Membership Owners Don’t Know Their Key Metrics

Frustratingly, our report shows that there are still a large number of membership owners who don’t know key metrics, such as churn, average subscription length, and member lifetime value.

45% of membership owners don’t know their churn rate, 47% don't know the average subscription length of their members, and 60% don’t know their member lifetime value – the total amount on average that a member will spend with them during their membership.

Metric awareness has improved marginally since the 2022 report but this lack of progress mirrors the lack of improvements seen in reporting within membership software.

Many membership tools on the market don’t have any way of telling you what your churn rate is – the number one stat you must know!

Speaking of churn, almost 89% of memberships surveyed have a churn rate below 10%, while 44.2% of memberships have churn less than 5%.

And more than two-thirds of memberships that have been running for over a year reported that their churn has either stayed the same or improved in the past 12 months.

This indicates that some of the turbulence from the pandemic period and the subsequent cost of living crisis has subsided.

To Conclude

There are many interesting benchmarks and stats in the 2024 Online Membership Industry Report so don’t forget to download your free copy here and share it with people who are curious to know more about the membership industry.

Our aim is to improve awareness, education, and understanding around the membership world.

The better informed we are about the industry, the better decisions we make, and the more our memberships grow – a win-win for everyone!

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