Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

What if your membership has a natural end date? While no membership will last forever, some hit a natural point where members drop off. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean the content was bad or you did anything wrong. That’s a whole other story. Sometimes members get everything they need and simply don’t need to remain a member. 

For example, if you have a membership site for helping people pass a driving test, that has a natural end date. After they pass, they probably won’t need your content anymore. 

So, what can you do? Do you just accept it, or do you fight to keep these members?

In this episode, I discuss some of the tactics you can use to retain members, but also some alternatives and different ways of looking at it.

If you’ve been scratching your head trying to come up with a solution, give this episode a listen, and hopefully, it’ll give you some fresh ideas to try out.

Essential Learning Points:

• Why you need to question whether the membership model is right for you
• How you can extend the scope of your content to maximize interest
• Why retaining members isn’t always the right move
• How a natural end date could actually be a good thing
• The most important metric to know in a membership business.

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Academy
• Why Member Lifetime Value is More Important Than Churn Rate
• Despite What You’ve Heard, Average Member Retention is NOT Only 3 Months 

Key Quotes:

“Membership works best when it’s addressing a recurring need.”

“One-off needs like “I need to learn this specific process or pass this test” tend to work better as a course where there’s a very clear start and endpoint.”

“When it comes down to numbers, everything is about one metric: Customer Lifetime Value.”

We all want to win over as many new members as possible. But did you know that keeping those members is often more important?

Member acquisition is still essential. But unless you’re keeping those members, you’ll find yourself always relying on short-term, one-off members to make ends meet.

Making people stick around is often harder than getting them interested in the first place. However, this is exactly what will help you grow your membership business. 

In this episode, I discuss the six top member retention mistakes I see businesses make. I also talk about why retention is often more important and valuable than member acquisition. 

Essential Learning Points:

• Why member retention is so important
• Why cancellations are not always a bad thing
• How important feedback is for keeping members
• The best ways to approach canceling members

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Academy
• Intercom
• The Membership Economy book by Robbie Kellman Baxter

Key Quotes:

• “If the only thing standing in the way between someone being a member and someone leaving is that you have hidden the cancelation button, you’ve got bigger problems.”
• “When you’ve got members on your site engaging and using your membership, getting results, making progress, and forming connections, that is fuel for continued growth in your membership.”
• “Make the DECISION to cancel difficult, not the process.”

The guiding principle of membership sites is that they are a value exchange. People subscribe to your site and you provide them with enough reasons to keep their subscription going.

And so far, you are probably doing a fantastic job at solving their biggest problems and creating amazing content. But why stop there? 

You can sweeten the deal for your members by amplifying the perceived value your membership site has to offer.

In this episode, I review four simple ideas to incorporate more incredible value for your members.

And I promise that these won't require more effort and time on your part! Have a listen and, hopefully, you will be inspired to take action on one or all of these strategies.

Essential Learning Points:

• How solving small problems creates big value.
• Ways to feature your members on your platform.
• Why your site is the perfect platform for building connections.
• How to make your members feel like they are flying First Class.

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Academy
• zenForo
• IP.Board

Key Quotes:

“You have to give people a reason to stay subscribed. The value you provide comes in the form of creating content and serving your community.”

“Quick wins are absolute gold. If you can solve lots of these smaller problems, then the value this will deliver to your members is huge.”

“Always make sure that your members are on the top of your list when it comes to preferential treatment.”

“Being a connector and filling that role for your members can be of huge value.”

Choosing where to house your new membership site is a major decision. And you are not alone in feeling confused and uncertain about the options.

In this episode of the Membership Guys Podcast, we will provide some clarity around this topic and hopefully, you will get the facts you need to choose what works best for you.

In case you were wondering, we are not talking about which web hosting company to use, or whether you should use shared hosting or a dedicated server.

We are talking about whether you should:

a)     have your membership site hosted as part of your main website,

b)     have the site live on its own with a separate, dedicated domain, or

c)     have the site live on a subdomain.

We will discuss these three options and the pros and cons of each.

Essential Learning Points:

• The three key implications that could impact your decision
• Why a single site is more appealing to the tech-averse folks
• How branding can factor into your decision
• What your long-term plan is for your membership site and why that’s important

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Mastermind Facebook Group
• The Membership Academy
• WooCommerce
• BuddyPress
• bbPress
• Kajabi
• Thinkific
• Google Analytics

Key Quotes:

“If you’re going to ask your users to register for a free community on your main site, but then ask them to register on a completely different website to join your membership then this causes a disconnect and is not great from a user experience perspective.”

“Having everything under one roof gives you a single point of failure. If something goes wrong with that single website, then everything is offline.”

“If you have separate sites for your main and your membership, then the decision making for the membership site is done in isolation. This can greatly uncomplicate things.”

So, you've launched your membership site and are ready to reach those goals and fulfill those dreams you imagined for yourself and for your membership.

A word of caution: you may face a few challenges once your site is up and running. 

We want you to be prepared for the potential issues you may face when you become a new membership site owner.

In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I go through six of the most common challenges new owners face after a brand-new launch and share my advice on how to deal with them head on.

Essential Learning Points:

• How to keep your start-up costs in check and avoid ‘shiny object syndrome’
• Tips for mitigating finicky tech issues – whether you’re tech-savvy or not
• What the momentum conundrum is and the 90 / 9 / 1 rule
• How to manage your time better so your membership site doesn't fall off your priority list
• The highs and lows post-launch and what to do when your motivation runs dry  

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Academy
• The Membership Mastermind Facebook Group
• Tackling the 6 Biggest Challenges Every New Membership Owner Faces
• The Membership Guys on Twitter

Key Quotes:

“When it comes to start-up costs, be realistic about what you actually need.”

“Be patient, save your money, and wait before you jump into Facebook ads.”

“Successful membership owners worry about the members they have far more than the members they don't have.”

“There is no one size fits all or silver bullet strategy for bringing in new members.”

Did you know that private podcasting could enhance your membership business?

By now, most of us are familiar with podcasts. Many of us are avid listeners already. Private podcasting hasn’t quite taken off as much as regular podcasting, mostly because of a lack of systems in place to create them. But, if you could get your private podcast set up the right way, it could be a great way to offer your members exclusive content and extra value.

At The Membership Guys, we use Captivate.FM to host our podcast. Captivate is a great podcasting host which offers private podcasting. Using a selection of great automation tools, Captivate has really nailed their private podcasting system.

In this episode, I’m joined by Mark Asquith, the CEO and founder of Captivate.FM to discuss how private podcasts work and how they can enhance your membership business. I also reveal some great strategies to help you create a private podcast for your membership.

Essential Learning Points:

●      What private podcasting is and why you should consider creating one for your membership site

●      How to use Captivate.FM to create and host your private podcast

●      How to use private podcasts to enhance the quality of your membership site

Important Links & Mentions:

●      The Membership Guys

●      The Membership Academy

●      Captivate.FM

●      6 Ways to Use a Podcast to Promote Your Membership

Did you know that every membership has a revenue ceiling?

The revenue ceiling refers to the absolute peak of how much your membership is capable of generating. Knowing what your revenue ceiling is will help motivate you to achieve your full earning potential. And, if you’ve already hit the revenue ceiling for your membership business, you can begin to explore ways to raise the ceiling.

If this is the first time you’ve heard anything about a revenue ceiling, you’re not alone. However, it is worth taking the time to consider whether or not you’ve hit the revenue ceiling for your membership business.

In this episode, I help you calculate your revenue ceiling and discuss how you can raise the ceiling if you’re not ready to stall just yet.

Essential Learning Points:

• How to calculate your revenue ceiling
• What to do if your monthly revenue is higher than your revenue ceiling calculation
• Why hitting your revenue ceiling isn’t a bad thing
• How to raise your revenue ceiling

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Guys
• The Membership Academy
• The blog post for this episode
• Episode 292: Are You Leaving Money On The Table in Your Membership Business?
• Episode 61: How to Add Multiple Revenue Streams to an Existing Membership

Key Quotes:

“The reality is every membership and every subscription has a ceiling.”

“If you do the math, and the ceiling that you're coming out with is less than where you are right now… most likely, it means that your sales or your churn rates have dropped recently.”

If you run a membership site (or any business for that matter), you've probably heard things like, "You're leaving money on the table," from other so-called business professionals.

They might encourage you to launch a new product, start hosting events, or doing one-to-one coaching sessions, etc., with the sole purpose of generating more revenue. While this may be true for some people, it doesn’t mean it’s the right move for everyone.

In this episode of the podcast, I reflect on why it’s okay to “leave money on the table” if it's not a table you want to be at, how to be more confident in your decisions, and why you need to trust that you know what’s best for your membership site.

Essential Learning Points:

• Why it’s okay to leave money on the table when it’s a table you don’t want to sit at
• Understanding why people like to share “business advice” and why you shouldn’t feel under pressure to listen!
• The true meaning of success and why you should choose opportunities carefully

Important Links & Mentions:

• Episode 61: How to Add Multiple Revenue Streams to an Existing Membership    

Key Quotes:

“Memberships can work very well as part of a larger ecosystem of products and services.”

“A lot of entrepreneurs will feel driven by their nature to feel like they have to jump on every possible opportunity available to them. However, that doesn't mean that you have to go in that direction.”

“What works for one person isn't always guaranteed to work for someone else. There are no guarantees, no one-size-fits-all business model and no absolutes in this game.”

Are you struggling to encourage disengaged members?

Member engagement can be a tricky thing. We want people to consume the content, engage with the community, and really use the membership that they’re paying for, but we don’t want to nag people with constant emails either. Once someone becomes disengaged, it can be difficult to nudge them back into action.

In this episode I look at the ways you can maintain a careful balance between encouraging engagement without getting on people’s nerves, from soft unsubscribes to using email tags to using remarketing ads to gently encourage your members back to courses and back into the community.

Essential Learning Points:

• Why it’s important to maintain a balance between nudging and nagging
• Using tools in your CRM and messaging apps to create a buffer to reduce the nagging
• How to use soft unsubscribes to reduce email overwhelm
• How you can mix up the formats you use to send reminders
• Making sure you don’t overdo it with your messages and emails
• Why it's important to remember that people engage in different ways

Important Links & Mentions:

• Membership Academy Courses
• ConvertKit
• ActiveCampaign
• Intercom
• Drift
• The 90-9-1 Rule of Community Engagement

Key Quotes:

“If the reason they haven’t logged in is because they have something serious going on or a major change in circumstance, you don’t want to be that annoying person nagging them every week. Giving them the ability to soft unsubscribe from certain types of reminders and emails ensures that you don’t alienate or annoy those members.”

“Mix up the format and how you get yourself in front of people to try and reengage them to log in, rejoin the community, or finish that course.”

“You need to be smart and think about that bigger picture for the member and don’t overdo it, don’t try to force it and know when to stop. Make sure that you’re not going overboard.”

Do you have an effective membership exit survey in place?

It’s a depressing fact that no matter how hard you try, you cannot stop people from leaving your membership site. Cancellations are just par for the course in the membership game. But don’t despair, because there is one tool that can make all the difference and that all membership site owners should have in their arsenal – the exit survey.

In this episode, I explain why it is so important to have exit surveys in place, what 3 simple questions will give you the information you need to change that person’s mind as well as creating a last final plea page, and gathering valuable data that could improve your content and marketing strategy in the future.

Essential Learning Points:

• Why exit surveys are so important for your membership site
• What questions to ask on an exit survey
• What to do with that information once you have collected it
• How to use the survey answers to create conditional messaging and a final plea page
• Why it is so important to keep your exit surveys simple

Important Links & Mentions:

• The Membership Academy
• The Membership Academy – Enhancing Your Membership Site with Gravity Forms course

Key Quotes:

“A membership exit survey is a critical tool in the arsenal of every single membership site owner.”

“An exit survey is a great way to look at what changes you can make to improve the retention of the members you still have.”

“If you can show people conditional messaging related to the reasons they’re leaving, then that enables you to make a relevant and very specific final plea to that member.”