Retaining Membership in a Pandemic Environment

Even with the some places beginning to open up, many membership organizations are having issues with member retention and are having difficulty attracting new members.  We have seen a number of organizations which are having these issues and are looking to understand why and how to reverse this trend. 

It’s difficult to retain members in a pandemic environment.

Whether their members are companies or individuals, many membership organizations are having difficulty retaining members.  There are a number of factors contributing to this situations.  First, many companies, particularly small businesses are struggling just to get by, pay staff and their bills.  This means any expenses which are not deemed essential are being cut to conserve cash.  At the same time, some individual members are no longer employed so they either don’t have the money or are not willing to spend what they have on membership dues.  For individuals who are still employed, some have become reluctant to spend on memberships as they are trying to save as much as they can as evidenced by the Federal Reserve reporting the highest personal savings percentages seen in quite some time.  Further, as many in person meetings have been cancelled, some members don’t see the value in organizations without the ability to meet in person.  This means membership based organizations need to demonstrate in a very tangible way, how they add value and provide benefits that contribute to their members and success or face membership attrition. 

Start by understanding why members are not renewing.

Usually it is not only about money.  However, in these uncertain times, money can sometimes be the main issue.  Can you offer deferred payment plans or options to spread out payments such as quarterly or monthly dues billings?  These options can give members the ability to make smaller payments at a time so they don’t have to come up with their entire dues payment all at once.  Have you considered offering different levels of membership?  Offering different levels of membership with access to different levels of information, services or support can give members options to stay with the organization at a lower investment.  This also gives you the opportunity to upsell them to a higher level of membership when things improve rather than just losing them completely. 

Next determine what value your members see in your organization.

Something that you promised and delivered caused your members to join and stay with your organization.  Whether it’s networking opportunities, education, marketing assistance or some other factor, you need to understand what your members see as the value your organization provides.  Be sure you go deeper than just hearing “oh, they are nice people.”  You need to know what specifically the nice people do or say to make this organization worthwhile.  Once you know what these value factors include, you need to be sure your marketing, retention and recruitment efforts reinforce your value proposition.   What you are trying to do is create “stickiness” so you retain members rather than having to constantly look for new ones.

Maintain a database of details about your members.

The more you know about your membership, the more specific you can be in your marketing and retention efforts.  When you combine what creates value for your membership, with a benefit which is relevant to the specific member based on their profile, you have a powerful tool to keep them and get them to take advantage of more of the things your organization offers.  For example, to you offer social media solutions to help your membership with their marketing?  Do you know if members are using social media channels to engage their customers?  You may be able to leverage these two pieces of information to provide more value to your membership by helping them obtain more business or create greater satisfaction among their customers. 

Remember that it’s easier to keep your current members than to look for new ones. While it’s important to expand your member base in order to offer a broader range of support services to your members, never forget that the current membership should be your main focus.  Understanding where the value lies in being a member of your organization and delivering more of that to your members is the best way to ensure you maintain a healthy and thriving organization that will be successful for both you and your membership.