Five tips for bringing in new members on every level |
Trying to grow your membership group? Here are five membership site sales tips to help you bring in new members (and make them return to join more).
That's why you should consider a membership site.
However, to create a community, and to share the value, you need members. And while great marketing can drive traffic to your website for members but once prospective members have reached your site's landing page, how can you get them to sign up?
This week, we're sharing five proven and tested strategies to turn more visitors into members across each membership level that ranges from no-cost plans to monthly subscribers who keep coming back year after year.
In addition, we'll present real-world member website examples to observe these strategies at work.
Let's get started.
1. Give potential members a taste by offering a membership for free
If you're trying to make money through selling online memberships by offering a no-cost subscription may sound counterintuitive. In the end, if you're not charging dues for membership, how will you make money?
Offering a no-cost option can help you attract more potential members, especially those in the "consideration" portion of your sales funnel. They're not 100% convinced, but they'd like to learn more about what they can get from you.
Two ways are available to offer free memberships:
Give a trial period of a few days following which users can upgrade to a premium tier or lose access to the subscription.
Let's start by introducing the forever-free membership. If there's no limit for accessing your content as a member How do you persuade users who are free to upgrade to a paid membership?
Free memberships can act as an example of a lead magnet. When someone signs up to your free tier it is possible to share useful content, send follow-up emails, and even upsell them on your higher tiers. Let them know the reasons why your membership website distinct from other sites.
An excellent example of an excellent free membership tier is 1929 Studios' Free Rider membership .
1929 Studios sells online dance classes that are offered as one-off courses as well as an entire membership. The company's Free Rider membership includes "occasional freebie links and vids" for dancers who are "not yet ready for courses but want to stay on the ball".
The Free Rider tier lets potential members experience 1929 Studios courses and the content. If someone joins on the Free Rider level and is impressed by the freebies, they can upgrade to 40$ A.U.D./month Jazz at Home membership to gain full access to the dancing classes.
If you choose not to establish a free-tier, consider offering a free trial of your paid subscriptions.
Free trials have two major benefits:
You give customers a no-obligation method to become familiar with your company and its products.
The goal is to bring in new customers and help them grow through your funnel of sales.
As an example, Jolanthe de Koning's Yoga for busy People membership provides a 14-day trial for free trial to allow students to experience Jolanthe's yoga classes and determine which one is best for their needs.
If you provide a complimentary trial, don't ask for participants' credit card numbers prior to the trial. Free trials that don't require payment information transform twice as many customers into paying subscribers.
Esther Kurtz's Write On! creative community offers an initial 14-day trial. Esther's audience of aspiring writers is able to explore her services and know-how prior to making a decision about whether or not they want to subscribe.
Esther Also, she stresses the fact that there is no requirement for a credit card for the free trial, making it a no-risk alternative for anyone who is interested in joining.
makes it easy for creators such as Esther to provide free trial trials.
While we wait, let's explore some ways you can draw in and retain subscribers at your paid levels.
2. Make sure members are back to visit for more
After a person joins your website How do you make sure they return for more?
Do not give your subscribers access to all of your content in one go. If you're offering all your content in one place the members won't have any reason to remain for more than a month (or perhaps even beyond the trial for free).
If you utilize your membership site for blogging, members pay for access to the regular, exclusive updates and blog posts.
Make What Mattersis an online community of creators looking to create relevant content and interact with each other, so having the capability to read and debate Jay's articles is one of the major benefits.
Anything that provides value to your members and aids them in reaching their objectives is fair game.
Becky Mollenkamp's Gutsy Boss Club membership is an outstanding illustration of a membership which provides value over time through benefits and events.
In her FAQ section on her website's sales page , Becky highlights the recurring benefits of joining her membership
Twice monthly , group coaching calls
Prompts to journal monthly
Quarterly book club
Trainings on a quarterly basis from experts outside the classroom
Private Slack community
These recurring benefits make clear why Becky's members renew their memberships year after year and the year after year: value, perks and the community don't just apply to members' early days.
In the same way, Natalie Sisson's $10K Club employs a recurring 90-day program that assists the members of her group -- female entrepreneursachieve their objectives as well as increase their earnings every month.
When one revenue stream has grown Members move onto the nextone, which makes members' loyalty lasting beyond the first 90-day period.
Natalie's membership includes continuous advantages, like:
Groups meet monthly for "moaching" (mentorship plus coaching) calls
Weekly Facebook Live meeting of accountability within a members-only Facebook Group
Monthly masterminds
Bi-Monthly guests share their experiences and strategies
Rewards and prizes are awarded quarterly to the those who are the 3 best participants
To ensure that your customers return month after month, offering constant content updates and rewards is essential. However, monthly subscriptions aren't the only way to structure your subscriptions. You could also provide the option of an annual subscription.
Just make sure you ensure that the initial cost is worthwhile.
3. Give a discount on annual subscriptions
The monthly pricing reduces the access barriers by providing an affordable price. Plus, for members who aren't 100 certain that their subscription is right for them, a monthly program is less of an commitment than an annual one.
Annual pricing heightens hurdles to entry through requiring a higher upfront price but is cheaper for creators. Payment processors such as Stripe pay a charge per transaction that they process, which means the less transactions you've got, the fewer charges you have to must pay.
The annual billing option is ideal for memberships that take time to establish their worth, such as paths-to-result like Natalie's 10K Club below as well as subscriptions that routinely change with fresh content.
To make the commitment to an annual subscription worthwhile and to make it more affordable, you can offer a discount that members are able to pay one lump sum instead of. monthly. As an example, Jay Acunzo's Annual membership is $800 more affordable than the monthly payment, though it includes all of the same perks.
Similar to that, Tara Leaver offers both the annual and monthly options for the The Happy Artist Studio membership . Customers can, at checkout, select to pay either each month or every year, and Tara emphasizes the 8% cost savings for the latter.
Flexible payment plans can make it simpler for consumers to pay for big purchases -- and it makes consumers more likely to buy from you, too. 84% of shoppers are happy with the option to pay for big items over time.
Last but not least it is possible to offer lifetime memberships.
The term "lifetime" refers to the fact that members pay once instead of making monthly payment. For example, InPower Coaching offers a Lifetime InPower Membership which gives users the ability to access their entire group, their courses and content.
Lifetime members have continuous access to the InPower community as well as updates to the available classes. InPower also has a payment plan to make lifelong membership more affordable.
No matter how long the billing period is people won't sign up until they are convinced that the membership is worth it. It's the reason we're implementing our next member site's sales strategy is about.
4. Concentrate on the results
Instead of listing out every characteristic, instead focus on the benefits you will get from the membership. The benefits members will expect if they join.
How will joining your membership aid them in solving their issues? Why do they need it to reach their goals?
That's your distinctive value proposition (UVP) : a simple statement of what you can do to help your client solve their problem more effectively than any other company.
For example, Minessa Konecky's Social Strategy Squad Membership is all about aiding entrepreneurs and marketers to live the #HustleFree way of life. Her sales page is a great example of focusing on those benefits and the results.
Instead of covering every little aspect of her membership Minessa's sales copy is concise filled with information, valuable, and tells readers what benefits they can expect when they join her program.
Online entrepreneurs can share the ways that membership with Minessa will aid them "power up their company" and "get more results quicker". Minessa also highlights the workbooks, templates, and other digital downloads designed to assist members in achieving their goals.
"To lead 1,000 women to earn $10,000 a month and contribute at least 1% the money they earn to a cause that's dear to their heart as well as create a ripple effect in women's and girls lives."
The $10K Club will be dedicated to helping women achieve their goal of $10k/month. Based on the name alone, those who are interested in joining Natalie's membership can help them meet their revenue goals.
Informing potential clients about your outcomes can be a powerful marketing tool, but the people you are talking to might not believe what you say. You can make your claims more persuasive by backing them with social proof.
5. Establish credibility through testimonials of members
A mere a third of people believe in the brands that they purchase from. Yet, 72% of people say that positive testimonials and reviews make them trust a business more.
Review and testimonials of members lend you (and your members) credibility. If you display the achievements of your members as well as feedback, you show potential members "This could be you."
In the example above, Jay Acunzo's Make What matters membership costs $1,000/year. Jay offers testimonials of his customers on the sales page to promote his membership.
Jay could have included simple reviews on how amazing his membership is. Instead, he highlights specific testimonials on what members of his membership find the most valuable, showing potential clients that the membership is well priced.
Similarly, Becky Mollenkamp includes powerful user reviews of Becky Mollenkamp's Gutsy Boss Club membership.
These testimonials make it clear Becky's involvement goes far beyond the surface of coach for entrepreneurs. For potential members looking for a supportive, intersectional and transformational experience they'll realize that they're in the appropriate place.
The editor is a breeze for artists like Jay as well as Becky to add testimonials on their member site.
The only thing you'll need to do is open the editor then browse to your page for the product Click the plus icon to add the new section.
Next, choose "Testimonials" in the drop-down menu left.
Then, it's straightforward to design, add and rearrange reviews on your product pages.
Increase the number of memberships sold by these 5 suggestions
There is no way to run a successful website for membership without having members. How do you draw in new members and ensure they return for more?
To recap, here are five sales techniques for membership sites that will help you achieve this:
Give a free membership level or free trial that gives potential customers the opportunity to preview the membership.
Increase retention of members by providing ongoing perks, like an exclusive group for members, periodic news updates on the site, and also quarterly events.
Make annual plans more accessible by offering a discount in comparison to monthly plans.
Focus on the results your members can expect when they join your membership.
Support those numbers with social proof like member testimonials.
In the final day, the ideal method to increase the size of your of the community is to meet the members. The more you learn about them, the more you will be able to provide them with valuable services, aid them to succeed as well as create a genuine feeling of belonging.
After that, you'll have happy members who help promote your business and help your membership keep growing. It's an awesome cycle -- and you're well ahead of the curve.