I know how crazy building a membership site is.
It takes hours, weeks, and sometimes months of research, preparation, and perhaps, lots of bottles of wine.
But high-five to you for pulling it off! You did a very good job crafting your content, fine-tuning your expertise, and wrapping them all until you’ve gotten that perfect, killer package that your audience went crazy for.
The first eight months of your membership site has been greatーyou’ve gained quite a lot of members, and it was a glorious year for you. You went on vacation, happy and blissful with your site that has now turned into a money-making machine.
Until a few months later, you’ve noticed the torrent of your membership site began to trickle out. You aren’t gaining new members, and some have canceled their membership.
There must be an explanation behind this sluggish, perhaps, flunking growth, right?
I’ve been in this industry for 10 years. And throughout the years, I’ve seen many people become too complacent with their membership sites, thinking all the content they have is enough to retain current members and excite the audience to sign up.
But here’s one of the many things I learned: successful and effective membership sites are always growing, expanding, and evolving.
People love learning new things, and if a membership site fails to provide their needs, they leave and look for other solutions.
So what can you do to accelerate your sluggish membership site growth?
Entice your audience
You might be wondering how you can continue to grow the number of members you have by now. And here’s my advice: Entice. Your. Audience.
People won’t just sign up to your membership site when you don’t give them any reasons to.
I always advise my clients to take full advantage of social media platforms to announce their programs and attract new audiences.
If you’ve been collecting a mailing list, use it to send newsletters and to update your subscribers about your membership site, programs, or special discounts.
This sounds easy, but a lot of people actually struggle in utilizing emails to send updates and setting up trigger emails.
Putting your membership site in your social media pages goes a long way, too. Offer sign up incentives and bonuses, make preview videos that pull the curiosity out of people.
Affiliate marketing is another way to grow your members effectively. Affiliate marketing is just that: you reward your members a commission when they invite people to join your program. You gain new members, and your current members are earning from you. It’s a win-win.
Retain current members and reward them
How do you keep a plant alive and healthy?
I’m not a plant expert myself but I do well know that a plant lives when you nurture it.
That includes watering and giving them plenty of sunlightーnot just one time but as long as they liveーto keep them healthy and blooming.
The same goes for your current members.
While you attract new members, don’t forget to nurture your existing members. It’s them who stuck with you from the beginning; it’s them who believed in you and gave you the momentum.
Their loyalty needs to be rewarded.
So how about a free, exclusive course that others would only get in premium? Or how about a generous discount?
When your current members are happy (and flourishing), they’re highly likely to spread the word about you and your business.
It’s easy to forget about your current members when you’re busy as a beaver attracting new members. And when that happens, it can dry up your membership number.
I say keep your members pleased, and they will stay loyal to you. Positive feedback from your members is an excellent social proof!
Conduct webinars
You’ll hear from a lot of digital marketers that holding a webinar will make your membership site grow. And I’m with them. It’s powerful and effective!
Webinars are seminars conducted over the Internet with a large group of people. And in that sense, webinars mean one thing: exposure. When you conduct a webinar, you can grow your mailing list, expand your publicity, and drive your website traffic.
Furthermore, webinars allow you to provide your audience with riveting content, so they will be compelled to sign up.
Conducting webinars also gives you an authority in your field, too. You can answer questions on the spot and show your audience how you’ve perfected your expertise.
Once the webinar has been broadcasted, you can add it to your site as premium content.
Make compelling, irresistible offers.
Let’s say you’ve provided all the tools and resources your members could ever need.
Time to relax now, eh?
Sure, why not. But that’s only if you don’t have any competition, and we all know that’s not the case.
When there’s a competition, it’s a crucial step to check what you’re offering to your audience and be sure that your price point is in the right bracket.
It doesn’t hurt to check the price range of other membership sites that are doing well. From there, make appropriate adjustments to your price point.
But when it comes to pricing, here’s my advice:
Changing your pricing is tricky. Undercut your competitors’ price points, and people might perceive your products or services as less valuable than they really are. So you either keep your prices equal to your competition or go higher.
Adding complementary offerings will up your game big time. It’s not only essential for your growth, but it also shows the audience that they’d benefit from you more than they would if they subscribe to your competitors.
Touch base with loyal members
I can’t stress enough how paramount it is to communicate with your members regularly. Here’s why: people forget.
An enthusiastic member may have been so eager about your services when he first started. Eventually, that same member has not watched any of your courses in four months, although he is still paying.
My point is:
Just because a member has been paying you for a long time doesn’t make them loyal. Sometimes they just forget that they’re still paying, or perhaps they keep forgetting to hit the cancel button.
In the end, these members might resent you or even spread negative feedback about your membership site. Remember, a bad word of mouth spreads fast like a wildfire, and it can cause serious damage to your brand.
So keep your lines of communication open to your members. Email automation helps you stay in touch with your members through newsletters, “we missed you” emails, or updates. Segment your emails so you can send personalized messages to members who have been inactive for a long time.
Final Thoughts
A sluggish membership site doesn’t mean you’re failing. However, it’s a sign that you may have been very complacent, or perhaps, you’ve forgotten to nurture your members.
You can grow your membership site if you attract prospects through email updates, social media attention, and webinars. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to nurture your current membersーwhen well taken care of, they can help make your site blossom.
Finally, don’t forget to take advantage of your email list. Email automation plays a massive role in magnetizing prospects and nurturing members.
About the Author – Ross Jenkins
Ross Jenkins is the founder of DigitalME and is a Memberium Certified Consultant. He is ranked #1 on UpWork for his proficiency in digital marketing. DigitalME offers targeted digital solutions and is perfect for anyone who wants to increase leads, sales, and productivity through automation.
If you need help segmenting your email list and setting up your automated emails, DigitalME offers automation services so you continue to grow and nurture your members.
