This is a contributor’s blogpost …

 

No matter what type of business you run, whether it is a gym, a clothing store, a beauty salon, or any other type of enterprise, if you provide some sort of membership scheme, one of your main aims will be to get as many members as possible. However, acquiring members is only one part of the process, you then need to hold onto them, and a lot of business owners will tell you that this can be the hardest part. With that being said, read on to discover some useful tips that will help you to improve your membership retention rates.

 

Improve membership loyalty

 

There is only one place to begin, and this is by looking for ways to strengthen the loyalty between you and your members. The only way that you can do this is by fully understanding what your members want. This takes a lot of research. You need to draw up a profile regarding what your typical member looks like. What is the average age range of your members? Are they mainly male or female? What are their interests? What line of work do they do? Answering all of these questions will give you a good picture regarding your typical member.

 

You should then look at the competition too. This allows you to find out what is being provided in the industry at the moment and, consequently, what is missing. You are then armed with all of the information you need to strengthen the loyal bond between you and your members because you can start delivering what they want. It is all about value. You can use a Membership Value Statement to communicate this throughout the year. This reinforces the message so that your members know that they are getting true value from your service.

 

Plan for renewals

 

You need to ensure that renewals are planned for – do not leave them until the last minute. If a member needs to renew soon, give them plenty of notice. You should implement a communication plan for this. If you leave it too late, members may simply forget to renew or they may not have the money to do so at that time if it is a paid service.

 

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Make sure your data is accurate

 

If you are going to improve your member retention rates, you need to make sure your data is accurate. Make the most of the technology that is available today so you can ensure your data is organized in a logical and helpful manner. You should also easily be able to put this data into reports to assist you and your employees with your marketing efforts.

 

Look for problems

 

While this may sound like a negative approach, it is always beneficial to be a business that deals with problems quickly. The only way you are going to be able to identify any issues at your company is if you communicate with your customers regularly so you can find out what they do and what they do not like about your service. If a member decides not to renew, find out why. This will help you to deal with any issues in your service so you can make the necessary improvements going forward.

 

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Send a membership pack

 

Make your members feel special by sending them a membership pack when they join your service. You can make the most of plastic card printing to give them their very own membership card. You can also include a few goodies to make them feel special. For example, let’s say you run a gym. When someone signs up to your gym, why not send them a package with their membership card, some healthy goodies, for example, protein bars, and a discount for your sports store? Communicate with businesses related to yours. You may find that they are willing to offer vouchers or samples of their products to put in your membership packs because it is a form of free advertisement. To up the value even further and boost your retention rates, why not make these packages a yearly occurrence?

 

Consider a loyalty scheme

 

Another way to keep your membership retention rates high is with a loyalty scheme. This not only benefits your members, but it benefits you, as it encourages your members to spend more with your business or generate leads for you. For example, you can give them a special offer for every member they refer to you, or you can give them a gift when they make ‘x’ amount of purchases.

 

Make sure employees understand that retention is everyone’s job

 

In addition to the points that have already been mentioned, it is vital to make everyone at your business aware that retention is something they all need to be concerned about. After all, you can follow all of the suggestions that have been mentioned in this post, but if your staff members do not provide exceptional customer service, it is not going to help your cause when it comes to retaining members, is it?

 

As you can see, there are a number of different approaches that you can take in order to improve your membership retention rates. If you follow the advice that has been presented in this blog post, you should notice that your figures start to improve and that you hold onto more members. Not only does this help in terms of the revenue they generate themselves, but you should benefit from more referrals in the process too.