Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

In this episode of Behind The Membership, artist, Josie Lewis, chats to Callie to reveal how she attracted over 800 members during her very first launch of the Art Revenue Coaching membership. 

Josie shares how pivoting her existing audience helped her to double her email list and validate her membership idea…

Plus, she discusses the one thing she will do differently when her membership doors reopen. 

Essential Learning Points:

How Josie overcame her fear of creating an online membership.

The MAJOR benefit of online memberships that led to her adding this income stream to her business.

The TRAP that many business owners fall into when they have an existing audience.

The ONE thing that resulted in her DOUBLING her email list.

How learning what the audience wants has been pivotal towards her success.

What Josie plans to do differently for her next launch.

The HUGE membership benefit that she didn’t anticipate.

The model she plans on implementing within her membership to aid her members growth.

Important Links: 

The Josie Show (Instagram)

Josie Lewis Art (Instagram)

Josielewis.com

Membership waitlist – josielewisarc

Join the Membership Academy: https://www.membershipacademy.com/

For more membership growth tips, subscribe to the Membership Geeks podcast, and listen on the go!

What happens when the buzz of your initial membership launch dies down?

In many ways, launching your membership is some of the easiest marketing you’ll ever do!

But keeping people interested is a challenge….

In this episode, Mike reveals 7 effective ways your membership can continue to make sales after launching.

Discover what you can do to create FOMO (the fear of missing out), the one thing that exposes gaps in your marketing strategy, and why you should remarket to ‘almost’ buyers.

Join the Membership Academy: https://www.membershipacademy.com/

For more membership growth tips, subscribe to the Membership Geeks podcast and listen on the go!

Do you know what the average churn rate is for a typical online membership?

How about revenue benchmarks?

Average conversion rates?

What about the most popular tech solutions? Or the most effective marketing channels?

Truth is, there's very little reliable data available about the online membership industry.

That's because this market is relatively tiny.

It's a niche, of a niche, of a niche.

What data we do have tends to come from either the broader subscription industry, or from membership associations.

Neither of which reflect the online membership world.

A few years ago we made it our on a mission to change that by conducting a survey of thousands of membership owners designed to shine a light on the real data and benchmarks for the online membership industry.

And now it's time for an update...

We’ve spent the past fews months tapping into our audience of tens of thousands of membership business owners to identify how they’re performing, what challenges they’re facing and which benchmarks and trends are prevalent.

And we've compiled those results into the Online Membership Industry Report 2022

In today's episode of the Membership Geeks Podcast, I'm sharing some of my top observations, takeaways, trends and other interesting tidbits and insights taken from this year's report.

How do you create the best member experience?

That’s a big question to tackle, but we’re taking a swing at it in this episode of The Membership Geeks podcast.

You’ll hear why the first four weeks are the most vital in the membership journey as far as setting the tone for the member experience is concerned. There’s also a five-phase approach and a comprehensive list of things to do within and after the first four weeks of a member’s journey.

Armed with this information, you’ll get your members settled and engaged right off the bat.  

Essential Learning Points:

• The importance of linking your deliverables to tangible results
• Why you should draw out a roadmap for your member’s journey
• The bare minimum approach to enriching membership experience vs. the comprehensive approach
• How pattern interrupts brighten up the membership experience

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Geeks
• Membership Academy

Key Quotes:

“Gamification is a big thing that goes a long way to keep your members motivated because while it may seem like such a little thing, everybody likes to be recognized and rewarded for their progress.”

“When it comes to providing a great member experience, don't overdo it. This isn't about doing it all because that's just going to overwhelm your members. Instead, pick the elements that will best help your members maximize your membership site to the fullest.”

“A good member experience will not only create loyal and engaged members, but it will also turn those members into advocates. And happy members are your absolute best marketing asset."

Thank You For Listening

We really appreciate you choosing 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 Apple Podcasts. 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 Apple Podcasts to make sure that you never miss an episode.

Not everyone starts their business planning to launch a membership.

This week’s Behind the Membership episode features Christelle Janse Van Rensburg, Co-Founder of the Creative Crafting Club, who talks about her franchise-turned-membership business. 

Christelle was running a successful arts and crafts club franchise until the pandemic shut everything down. She and her sister searched for a solution and found that a membership was a perfect fit. 

Since then, their member numbers have exploded, and they’ve seen great success! We wanted to hear how she and her sister pulled it off, what tips she has for others, and why she loves the membership business lifestyle. 

Essential Learning Points:

• How the Creative Crafting Club works
• Why the pandemic sparked the idea of starting a membership 
• Why the Creative Crafting Club uses a closed model membership
• Why running challenges has been a key marketing tactic
• How Facebook groups keep everyone engaged and supportive of each other
• The biggest challenges Christelle faced
• Why Christelle loves the freedom that a membership business brings

Important Links & Mentions:

• Creative Crafting Club
• Membership Geeks
• Membership Academy

Key Quotes:

“Consistency is the key differentiating factor between success and failure for many people. If you just stick to it, and you hold that longer-term view, then you'll get there.”

“Start before you're ready, you're only going to regret the things that you do not do.”

“We've got a closed Facebook group, and it works really well for us because our members are already on Facebook. They use it to market their own clubs as well and just because of the visual side of it, it works really well for us.”

Thank You For Listening

We really appreciate you choosing 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 Apple Podcasts. 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 Apple Podcasts to make sure that you never miss an episode.

Finding new ways to get members piling into your membership is a difficult path to navigate.

But finding a niche market and establishing yourself as an expert in that field is certainly a way to boost your chances. That way, you can build authority and trust and get members joining in their droves.

In this episode of The Membership Geeks podcast, hosts Mike Morrison and Callie Willows dive into the steps you can take to establish yourself as an expert on your membership topic. They go on to explain how these pointers could help your membership site flourish more quickly than you think.

Essential Learning Points:

• Why building authority will help your membership service flourish
• How to cater to a niche market
• How content creation can help you build your reputation
• Why writing a book is not dated – it would still hugely help your reputation

Important Links & Mentions:

• Membership Academy
• Membership Geeks
• Why Membership Site Owners Need to Niche Down (And STAY Niched)
• Succeeding with a small niche with guest Lisa Leander
• Achieving success in a small niche with guest Shannon Rogers
• Lulu.com

Key Quotes:

“Building authority as an expert in your topic is a majorly important factor in marketing your membership.”

“The truth is anyone can whip up a sales page, say that they're an expert on something without anything to back it up. So you need to be able to provide proof that you're the real deal.”

“Niching down, becoming known for something specific is always going to get you further than being a jack of all trades.”

Thank You For Listening

We really appreciate you choosing 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 Apple Podcasts. 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 Apple Podcasts to make sure that you never miss an episode.

Running a membership website can be one of the most rewarding experiences...

You become recognized as an authority within your niche, build a loyal community, and a successful business in the process... 

But what people don't tend to talk about are the potential pitfalls that you need to avoid...

And there are a few of them!

As anyone running an online business - or any business in fact - will tell you...

There are risks that will pop up at lots of different stages of your entrepreneurial journey...

Knowing what these risks are...

And, more importantly how to avoid them, can be really useful.

With that in mind, this episode explores five of the biggest risks facing membership owners right now.

When you start up a membership site, you naturally want to give your members a perfect experience. Or at least as close to perfect as possible.

The key to that is finding the right tools, software, and plugins to help you deliver a fantastic membership experience. But it’s tough to find the right tools and even harder to know whose opinions to trust.

In this episode of The Membership Geeks podcast, your hosts, Mike Morrison and Callie Willows share some expert tips on finding the closest thing to ‘the perfect plugin’ and how to find reviews you can trust.

Essential Learning Points:

• Why not all reviews can be trusted (they may be paid affiliates)
• What works for one membership service may not work for yours
• How people’s past experiences can affect their opinions and suggestions for plugins
• Why great functionality is the most important thing to look for

Important Links & Mentions:

• Membership Academy
• Membership Geeks

Key Quotes:

“Whatever the best option is, the thing that gets all the five-star reviews, just know that you don't have to go with that just because everyone says it's the best. It might not be the right one for you.”

“You need to be aware that you will not find an off-the-shelf membership plugin or software that will 100% satisfy your requirements.”

“The only way to find the best solution to your particular problem, if you're asking in a public forum, is to be specific about what features you need and what integrations do you need.”

Juggling a 9-5 with a membership in a saturated marketplace sounds pretty impossible, right?

But Scott Millar of IT Rockstars has somehow pulled it off and is seeing great growth in his membership. In this episode of The Membership

Geeks, he shares some top tips and insights for others looking to start a membership.

He also delves into his membership's unique origin story, as well as how his geographical cap doesn't limit his growth.

Essential Learning Points:

• How Scott found his ‘wow’ factor in a saturated market
• Why there’s a geographical cap on enrolment for IT Rockstars
• The ins and outs of juggling a 9-5 with a membership business
• IT Rockstar’s unique onboarding process
• Why it’s important for your idea to align with what your audience wants

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Geeks
• IT Rockstars

Key Quotes:

“One big tip for anyone starting a membership is to make sure they are tracking how people are joining their membership — and ask the right questions.”

“The thing I love about the membership model is the scalability of it. There’s only so far you can go with a 9-5, whereas with a membership site, the possibilities are endless.”

“Something I found useful when I first started out was being aware of what I was good at and what I was terrible at. Anything I struggled with, I just outsourced to someone else.”

Is your cancellation process as effective as it could be?

As a membership site, it’s vital to get the balance right! You need to make the decision for your members to leave difficult…not the process.

It’s very easy to feel hurt or worried when members depart in their droves but don’t take it personally. Members will end their subscription for so many different reasons… and they may well come back very soon.

In this episode of the Membership Geeks podcast, hosts Mike Morrison and Callie Willows discuss some of the most common things membership site owners get wrong when faced with customer cancellations.

Essential Learning Points:

• Why you should remember to ‘think like a member’ – how would you want the process to go if you wanted to cancel a membership?
• Why it’s important to make the decision to cancel difficult – not the process
• Why you should avoid turning members who might rejoin away
• Finding the right software to make the process seamless

 Important Links & Mentions:

• Membership Academy
• Membership Geeks

Key Quotes:

“During the cancellation process, give it a final shot to try and convince them to stick around. But it shouldn't get in the way, it shouldn't be an obstacle.”

“If that member experience was 100% positive up to that point, you can ruin it all by having a terrible approach to cancellations.”

“If someone has paid for a month, you have to give them that month. If someone's paid for a year, you have to give them that year. This is why we say that you're getting into dodgy legal territory if you don't actually honor that.”