Membership Website Lab Done For Your Membership Websites
Thinking of creating a membership programme? Want to know how to make your membership website a success? There are three key elements you need to consider before launch.
A successful membership is built on providing value to your customers, which generates income for your business. So how you create and distribute that value is the secret to making a membership that works in the long term.
If you can get the finer details right, the tried and tested formula will work in your favour and continue to benefit your business for as long as you want it.
The fundamentals of membership programmes are always the same – you exchange your product or service for a committed payment from your member for a set time. But it’s details that make the difference between a struggling membership and a successful one.
This blog will help get you started with the right knowledge to get you the best from your membership, right from the get-go.
Packaging Your Membership
Creating different access levels within your membership will be one of the best decisions you make. Offering a choice to your prospective members gives the impression of added value and you won’t have to put as much time into your basic package. This means that you can focus your content according to the cost without wasting your time or money.
These are 3 ways that you can package your membership in a way that either entices brand new members or converts members in the longer-term:
Value-Based Membership
This allows members to select services of their choosing. Think of it as ‘bolt-ons’. For example, one member may only want access to your online training, while another just wants to join the community forum. You can split these as individual packages and offer a complete access one.
One-Time Payment/Lifetime Access Memberships
When you secure one of these memberships, it gives you a quick cash injection that you can immediately reinvest into your business. Lifetime members also allow you to build the foundations of a long-term community. Members pay one fee for the entire membership content. For more info on one-time payment memberships, read our blog.
Tiered Memberships
Tiered memberships are the most common. You set the packages and restrict access to the content based on the level of membership. Consumer psychology reveals that when a product package is tiered with a basic, middle and higher cost package, clients are more drawn to the middle package than the cheapest if it’s been cleverly marketed as the most attractive of the options.
Your Content
How are you delivering your members their content?
Think about the ways that you can provide content and how you can work that into your package options. Using the most desirable types of content for your one-payment package or your middle rate package. Will you use audio, video, text? What about courses, downloads and live chats?
Courses are a great way to provide valuable membership content but how will you maintain members in the future? You can plot progression, plan future courses and drip-feed your content. Maybe you can add more content later on and upsell through teasers or create a sense that there is another level for a super successful inner circle.
As the business owner, you might be the biggest selling point, especially in the early days. So giving your members (virtual) face-to-face live training is a huge draw. People buy people. You are an authority in the field and scaling your time in a live group setting and servicing members is also a great value add.
People also love recognition. Creating certificates, online badges and achievement awards can encourage members to contribute more and stay with your membership. They could earn achievements for completing particular sections of courses or completing tasks and challenges at certain legs.
How Your Members Access Your Content
The last thing to think about is what you build your membership website on. There are loads of platforms and it’s a job you want to do once (uploading all your content is seriously time-consuming so choose wisely!)
You want a platform that is able to grow with you. In your launch stages, you might only have a few courses, but over time you’ll add to them. You might want to add live sessions. And a forum. And all the bells and whistles that make your membership THE membership to have. If your platform is limited, you’ll have to move and that’s a pain for everyone.
It needs to be SUPER user-friendly. People should be able to log in and access content in their sleep. If you want somebody to do something, make it simple and take away barriers.
Create pathways for members to access your content in a clear and structured way. Indexes and content lists help with this and you can link content within your membership so your members don’t have to go searching for what they’re looking for.
Get Supported. Memberships are complex, and going it alone will take some serious know-how to get it all up and running. Working with an agency that has expertise will mean you don’t delay your launch because of technical mishaps and you can get it right the first time.
Memberships Should Make Less Work, Not More.
Creating a membership can feel like a lot of hard work and it certainly can be, if you’re not sure what you’re doing. But with the right advice and support, it won’t take long before your membership is saving you time and making you money. Once you’re all set up, it should be creating less work for you, not more.
If you know you’re on to a good thing with your membership idea, getting these things hashed out will set you on the path to success. As experts in memberships, we’re happy to help. Get in touch today for a demo of our membership site.
