Your members and prospective members receive thousands of messages a week. Your member reads emails with one finger on the delete key, trying to scroll through the deluge as quickly as possible. How do you stand out, get read, and inspire your member to action? Not by talking about yourself. To everyone in my office, I must sound like a ringtone, constantly going off with the same noise. “Write copy about your customer and what he or she wants; stop writing about you and what you deliver. Write only about how what you deliver helps your member solve a problem in his or her life.” Longtime monthly client Brandon Lewis of Painter’s Academy sent me a copy of an email he wrote to his members. Brandon is a brilliant marketer who helps painters revolutionize their business by generating referrals, maximizing the value of each painting job, and getting repeat business … Continued
Creating a Member Persona That Makes It Easier to Attract and Retain Members
I ran into a roadblock with a client this month. How I broke through may help you attract and retain more members. His assignment: Research his target customer for our next conversation. And he did it; he brought three pages of information on the size of the market, age, gender, and reachability. But something was still missing. The information was all analytical, superficial even. It was all based on the image the prospect was trying to portray to the world, instead of what the prospect was really thinking. In one exchange, he told me that all of his members, whose ages range from 40 to 70 years old, wanted the same thing. I told him that, yes, they may say the same words, but the reality is quite different to a 40-year-old than the 70-year-old. Think for a second. Even something as simple as getting out of bed is very … Continued
How to Attract and Retain Customers in Your Non-Membership Business by Creating a Membership
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However, a membership program instantly positions you as an expert in your field, making your communication welcomed by your prospective customers. It makes you a celebrity in the eye of your consumer. And, when it comes time to sell your business, you generate the sales price from your core business and you can sell your membership as well. My longtime client, David Lucca, was co-owner of an investment management firm. His firm worked exclusively with airline pilots, and he was looking for a way to attract airline pilots to become clients of his firm, versus all of the financial investment choices out there. David launched a new stand-alone company, the Airline Pilot Financial Association, to become the marketing arm of his financial management firm and provide great custom created financial resources for airline pilots across the country. I recently interviewed David for my Membership and Subscription Growth podcast. He has … Continued
The Benefits That Drive Member Retention and Fast-Recurring Revenue Growth
I just heard the most ridiculous statement from a subscription economy* owner who should know better: “The value of what I deliver to my members drives retention.” The value of what you deliver is less than 20 percent of the reason your member renews or not. There’s a value- and quality-driven brand within the motorcycle industry, Honda. The quality of their product is exceptional. The value for the investment is excellent. Yet, they represent a fraction of the sales that Harley-Davidson generates in the categories where Harley-Davidson chooses to compete. In those categories, Harley-Davidson has more than 50 percent of the market share for their products. Yes, customers buy Harleys more than any other motorcycle, even though Harley-Davidson is the premium priced product. Can you name another industry where the premium provider owns more than half of the market share? In retail, this would be comparable with a company such … Continued
Three Key Breakthroughs that are Game-Changers for Membership and Subscription Growth
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Too many people create a subscription business because they heard it’s a lucrative business model. While it’s true that the membership model can help you scale your company faster, generate long-term stability and enable you to grow a vibrant tribe of thrilled members, generating revenue can’t be your only priority. Instead, when you focus on generating a positive impact on your members lives, they’ll reward you with membership and subscription growth. In a recent interview for the Membership and Subscription Growth podcast, I spoke with Tim Broom, the co-founder and CEO of ITPro.TV. Tim transitioned to a subscription business model four years ago and is set to hit $8 million in revenue this year. What he has done, you can do. Your product may be much different than his, but the keys to his success can be applied to any subscription model. ITPro.TV is, as Tim describes, “a Netflix for … Continued
Lisa Sugar’s Five Golden Rules That’ll Generate Subscription Growth for You, Just Like PopSugar Must Have!
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Passion, customer impact, focus, feedback and service are crucial for maximum subscription and membership growth. For an example, take a look at PopSugar and their subscription box, PopSugar Must Have. While I recommend you subscribe to learn more about building your own subscription program, here’s five “Golden Rules” you can use immediately from a recent interview with Lisa Sugar, PopSugar’s founder and CEO. Continued
Delivering Digital Product That Engages and Retains
When a customer spends $500.00, $1,000.00, or even $5,000.00 and the only “product” they receive is an email with access to a web page, they will likely become disappointed — unless that web page is designed with customer success in mind. A monthly client since May of 2014, Michael Rozbruch has launched several successful products. Up until now, though, they each involved a large shipped deliverable. He just successfully launched a new product for tax preparers called an Audit Protection Plan. It uses the same principal as fast food restaurants, asking, “Would you like fries with that?” It’s a quick and easy way for tax preparers to increase their after-transaction size by selling audit protection to each of their tax preparation clients. The product includes a number of tools the tax preparer must download and use. Rather than deliver these via email, I worked with Michael and a graphic designer … Continued
Customer Success Secrets to Transform Your Subscribers from a Series of “One Night Stands” into Members for Life
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Customer success determines retention rates in the membership economy. If your member does nothing with what you sell her, she’s going to cancel your subscription.
The old model of leaving it up to your customer to figure out how to get value from what you sell may have worked in the old one-and-done product sale world.
Your membership and subscription growth is determined by how well you ensure customer success. It involves helping your members find a lifetime value in subscribing to your product or service. I refer to it as turning your subscribers into a vibrant tribe of followers. And, it starts with how you attract your them.Continued
Subscription Business Secrets of a Successful CEO/Founder/Harvard MBA to Launch a Membership in a Hyper Competitive Industry
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While pet owners enjoy spending money on their pets, the pet supply business is already crowded, cluttered and challenging to break through. But, with a keen eye to opportunity, Deena Bronz discovered an underserved group of customers that were a perfect fit for the subscription economy.
Deena Bronz is the co-founder of KitNipBox, a curated monthly box of cat products, including toys, treats, accessories and even Halloween costumes. Deena shares her advice for finding the right product or service to offer, building a community for the members, and focusing on retention. Continued
The Monthly Benefits That Retain Members for Years Increasing Your Retention and Recurring Revenue
It’s not easy bringing you all this great member retention insight. Just last month, I spent a week in Northern California meeting with two clients. I was at the beach a full week for the Florida tourism marketing industry. And, at the end of October, I traveled to Mumbai to work with an Agora Global affiliate on subscriber engagement and retention. Northern California was beautiful. After spending three days in Sacramento working with the team at the California Chamber of Commerce, I moved on to Napa to work with Gene Kelly and his team at the Gun Club of America. The photo for this blog post is the team of the Gun Club of America. Gene Kelly started GCA in 2007 to create a community for people who love guns, know how they work, and enjoy collecting them. We worked together as a team to create a brand-new value proposition, … Continued