Membership Retention: 5 Proven Strategies to Keep Your Members

Are you struggling to maintain a high retention rate? Are you seeing a spike in monthly or annual churn? Retention marketing strategies are integral to the long-term growth of your business and membership program. However, if you're only focusing your time and energy on marketing initiatives that aim to obtain new customers, you risk losing recurring revenue and your engaged community.
 

Not sure how to improve your membership retention rate? We're here to help. In this guide, we'll walk you through five proven retention strategies you can use to improve customer satisfaction and boost loyalty. Here's everything you need to know: 
 

The Importance of Membership Retention
 

Membership retention strategies aim to engage your current community and show them the long-term value of the product or service you offer. These strategies and marketing tactics are much different than the ones you'd use to push sign-ups or first-time buyer discounts. Retention marketing strategies are used to improve engagement, lower churn, and highlight the value of your product.
 

These tactics are also cheaper and more profitable than acquisition. With a retention strategy, you can:

• Improve profitability and increase your MRR
• Increase the ROI of acquiring customers
• Increase customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Improve customer loyalty and increase user engagement

Retention marketing strategies are just as valuable as your new member acquisition strategies. However, what works for one loyalty program might not work for another. When exploring different retention strategies, it's always important to keep your business goals and audience top of mind. Tracking your retention metrics is essential; here's a guide on how to track business results effectively.
 

5 Proven Retention Strategies 
 

1. Offer Incentives and Reward Loyalty
 

Rewards and incentives can be used to reward customer loyalty and improve renewal rates. Tools like referral bonuses, cashback opportunities, and special discounts can boost customer lifetime value and customer loyalty. 
 

When exploring different incentives and rewards you can use, timing is key. For example, offering incentives during the activation churn period can help improve engagement and improve customer satisfaction. It's a small token of appreciation that can help your customers see the value in the product. 
 

Incentives and rewards during the end-of-term churn period can help you "save" people from falling off the file. However, many customers at this time have already made up their minds about their renewal. So, instead, consider focusing on new customers and individuals in mid-term churn to maximize results. Some incentives and rewards to consider integrating into the customer journey include:

• Special offer or reward on your birthday or sign-up date
• Early access to deals and discounts
• Free upgrades
• Free giveaways
• Loyalty programs with a tier point system
• Referral bonuses 
• Sign-in bonuses on a mobile app or website

2. Get Strategic With the Customer Onboarding Journey
 

Once a customer subscribes to your product, you must keep them engaged and show them the value of your subscription. With a customer journey, you can ensure your product is top of mind throughout the activation churn period. 
 

With an onboarding journey, you can help your customers familiarize themselves with your product and platform. It's also a great way to highlight the membership perks, benefits, and overall value. To get strategic with your approach, you'll want to:

• Visualize the Journey: Map out how the new membership onboarding experience should look after they subscribe. What do you want them to do first? What will improve their experience? How will they get the most out of their subscription?
• Highlight Engagement Tools: Immediately after signing up, encourage membership to sign up for newsletters, download your mobile app, or get personalized alerts. This will set the premise for their subscription for the years to come.
• Analyze Membership Data: Use your current membership data to optimize your approach to the customer journey. When do your customers cancel the most? What are their demographics? What feedback have you received?
• Don't Forget About the Final Stage: You'll need to keep your customers engaged until the membership renewal date. Think through how you can highlight your value proposition to ensure your customers will renew.

3. Improve Membership Engagement With a Mobile App
 

Research suggests that more than 90% of mobile users use apps, while only 10% use their phones to browse the internet. A mobile app can increase engagement and improve the usability of your membership. 
 

If your customers have to sign in online or use a computer to use their membership, it can impact the membership experience and retention rates. With a mobile app, you can:

• Use push notifications to engage with customers and remind them of your product.
• Increase brand awareness 
• Allow your customers to personalize their experience to align with their likes and interests
• Use the app to create a community to improve engagement 
• Create loyalty programs or offer in-app rewards and incentives.

When creating an app, consider your unique business model. Consider which features and tools your customers can benefit from so you can build an app that aligns with your member's needs.
 

4. Gamify The Experience
 

Are you having trouble getting people to engage with your product regularly? Need an innovative way to boost mobile app sign-ins? Consider gamification. 
 

Gamification is an engagement tactic commonly used in membership loyalty programs. This interactive tool can increase user engagement and add a "fun" spin on your product. This tactic can be used to elevate your customer loyalty program and build out a regular feedback loop. You can also use gamification to:

• Develop surveys and pools to gather feedback
• Send regular check-ins
• Offer rewards or incentives
• Encourage engagement with badges and titles
• Create an engagement point system so customers can unlock rewards and incentives

5. Create a Feedback Loop 
 

Your current customers offer invaluable feedback that you can use to improve the customer experience. If you don't ask for feedback, you might miss out on important opportunities and challenges.
 

With a feedback loop, you can build stronger relationships with your customers and use their feedback to improve your product. Depending on your business model, you may want to schedule regular check-ins with new and old customers. You can also integrate surveys and polls into your onboarding journey. If you're having trouble gathering feedback, you can also offer incentives to get people to take surveys. 
 

Make sure your team reviews this data regularly so you can find ways to optimize the customer experience.
 

Improve Retention With Gurucan

One of the most invaluable engagement tools is a mobile app. A mobile app offers a personalized experience for each member, which can improve retention and engagement over time. 

With Gurucan, you can get the support and tools you need to create your mobile apps. This will allow you to personalize the experience to align with your customer's needs.  

Additionally, a strong, cohesive team is essential when building and maintaining these experiences. If you're working with a remote team to develop and manage your app, effective team building becomes crucial to ensure smooth collaboration and productivity. To learn more about how to create a more unified remote team, check out this article on effective team building for remote teams.