I just finished a conversation with a membership marketer. His monthly churn rate is 10 percent. This is the percentage of members who are canceling their memberships each month. When I reviewed the numbers with him, I helped him discover that 60 percent of his members are dropping out within four months. Yes, you read that correctly, 60 percent! And, he didn’t even realize it based on the reports he received.
What’s important about this is that now he knows. Until he allowed Denise McKinlay on my team to produce membership reports for him, he thought his retention was fine. Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean it’s fine.
When I first spoke with this membership marketer, he told me he didn’t have a retention problem. He wanted a system to attract and recruit more members. I offered to produce reports so we could see how his current membership program was working. When I pulled the reports, I discovered the alarming news. If he invested thousands of dollars into marketing to new members, his business would show little benefit as these members likely would cancel within a few months of joining.
I’ve heard the same lie told many different ways:
“When my members join, I keep them forever.”
“I have great member retention.”
“I keep my members.”
“I retain my members; I just need more new members.”
“My monthly churn rate is almost zero.”
I always smile and congratulate them. Let them know I’m happy for their success. But I know better. While it’s not really a lie if they believe it’s true, it is still a huge problem.
Unless they actually know and can quote their monthly churn rate, I can tell you from seeing hundreds of pages of reports that their churn is much higher than they think.
There is a choice. Decreasing member churn and increasing member growth are surprisingly easier than you’d expect. All it takes is a better understanding of what members really want and not overwhelming them with content.
Prepare to double or triple your membership in 2016 by enrolling in a series of two-hour live online workshops I’m hosting. I’ve designed these workshops specifically for marketers with existing membership programs.
You and members of your team are invited to participate in each workshop. Each session will feature 90 minutes of member growth insights through interactive training, plus a question-and-answer period to ensure you and members of your team have the opportunity to customize each LiveCast Workshop to meet your needs.
For all the details and to reserve your space, visit this site. Check it out today as I’m inviting only 20 membership programs to participate. This will ensure I have time to review your membership program, answer questions and give you the input you need to transform your membership program into a growth machine.
As church marketing expert Larry Osborne often says of churches, “There’s no reason to open the front door until you close the back door.” If it’s time for you and your team to close the back door and grow your membership program, register here.
About Robert Skrob
