To ensure regular income, a business should start selling memberships. But when the site is created, the target audience is found, unique and useful content is added - the question always arises of how to attract buyers. This requires promotion.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to build a stable membership base in one day, even with a strong marketing campaign. It will take some time for the system to start bringing in sales. The main tool in the fight for buyers is the right strategy. Today we'll cover why you can't do without it, what the first steps should be taken before promotion, and look at 9 of the best strategies for membership sales.
Quick Reads
Why a Membership Strategy Is Important
No matter how interesting and attractive the membership is, they will not buy it until they find out about it. It should not be presented exclusively in the form of a commercial offer. This is a product that should be offered only to those who really need it.
That is why the ideal marketing strategy should be thought out and implemented. Let's move on to the initial stages of its implementation.
Even before starting to create a membership, you need to create goals, a sales proposal, and a product package. This is the first strategy you will come across when working with a membership. You also need to define a target audience that will be ideal participants, but you will be able to meet all of their needs.
Next, you need to work out the tools you need to make your membership work. Every nuance is important, from equipment to payment system. Your employees must also be willing to pursue common goals.
As soon as the whole system of membership is established, you can start promoting it. Let's take a look at 9 of the best strategies.
First Steps
Even before starting to create a membership, you need to create goals, a sales proposal, and a product package. This is the first strategy you will come across when working with a membership. You also need to define a target audience that will be ideal participants, but you will be able to meet all of their needs.
Next, you need to work out the tools you need to make your membership work. Every nuance is important, from equipment to payment system. Your employees must also be willing to pursue common goals. As soon as the whole system of membership is established, you can start promoting it. Let's take a look at 9 of the best strategies.
9 Best Membership Selling Strategies
Each type of membership has its own nuances in maintaining a sales strategy. For example, when you sell a membership with an online course, you will encounter some circumstances, and when you present it with a fitness system, you will encounter others. We offer 9 of the best general-purpose strategies to suit almost every type of membership.
1. Free Trial for Potential Members
A great way to engage your audience is to provide an opportunity to try becoming a member for a period of time. For example, for 30 days, your customers will enjoy a certain number of privileges and will experience all their benefits.
If you've created a system for daily use, remember - the primary habit is formed in just 21 days. That is why new members of the membership simply cannot do without it. When the 30-day trial is over, they'll buy it. The main task is to provide the most useful experience so that a person understands that at the end of the first acquaintance, he has already achieved a result.
Yes, you can cheat and promise more than you really are. But this will give a short-term result, further negative experience, loss of a member and a bad review that will appear to the rest of the interested users. During the free period, request the customer's billing information so that as soon as it expires, you will renew your paid membership. A few days before the completion, inform the participant about the extension of the period. This will strengthen the relationship of trust.
2. Share Your Membership With the World
Unfortunately, many companies choose the tactic of closed membership and announce it only on their social networks once a year. Paradoxically, they are the ones who are most surprised why no one wants to become a member. No one can become a part of the membership if they do not know about its existence. Therefore, it is important to tell as many people as possible about it, providing an easy path to resources.
From time to time, remind all existing customers of the membership and talk about its privileges.
The minimum worth starts from posting information on the site, talking about membership on different pages right in the content, and dropping a link to a resource on social networks. To avoid mistakes in your text, do not neglect the proofing and proofreading platforms, such as Ivory Research, as well as the services of a professional editor.
Read more: Top 12 Membership Website Design Tips For Associations
4. Referral Program
Promotion of membership through referral programs is a successful strategy because your partners are interested in you getting new members. Offer affiliates discounts, gifts, or financial rewards for referrals. They themselves will find interested users and make impressive advertising.
More often than not, referrals are trusted influencers. Therefore, each member of the chain will receive its own benefit: you will increase your membership and receive income from sales, the partner will earn money or acquire other benefits, and the new member will be confident in the reliability of the recommendation.
Don't forget to rate if the referral program is paired with a shopping cart or membership plugin. If so, you will be able to competently assess the flow of sales and leads.
4. Online Chat
Even with the correct preparation of a commercial proposal, a description of all the benefits of membership, and the details of its functioning, users will always have questions.
To solve the problem, use a live chat for all participants and users, which will provide answers to all their questions in real-time. The method will help increase conversion, since everyone who will be on the threshold of purchase but will encounter problems, will be able to solve them on the spot, without waiting for long answers.
This is an effective strategy, especially for those companies that notice that people spend a long time on the sales page, but never make a purchase.
In addition, you will increase the level of trust of potential buyers. All of them will understand that you have a support service that will prompt, help and give a detailed answer at any time.
5. Social Media Competition
Social media is the most popular way to communicate. Facebook alone has about 2,89 billion monthly active users. All members of the membership will be happy to share their experiences with friends, colleagues and family. To do this, they will choose one of the social networks or several at once. Some of the users who learn about you are bound to become members of your membership.
First of all, your brand needs to make business pages on social networks filled with all the necessary information. This will allow you to react faster to leads and increase the possibilities of your marketing campaign. Secondly, you need to maintain a regular posting schedule so you can build trust and authority in your audience’s eyes.
Plus, you can encourage everyone to talk about membership. For example, by offering to participate in a competition. It can be absolutely anything, but its main part should be the rewarding of all participants. Prizes must be related to your membership. Reward everyone who took part in the competition with mementos, and give the winner the main prize.
All participants will definitely share this event, which will be an excellent lead generation tool. To attract users to the membership through social networks, Facebook is most often used - in 93%, Twitter - in 82%, and LinkedIn - in 72%.
6. Abandoned Cart Campaign
Another strategy for increasing sales is an automated campaign to track potential customers who have not completed the purchase process. The system independently sends each of them an email with a discount or membership bonus. The offer is valid for a limited time period, which also stimulates the future participant to make a purchase.
In order to reduce the number of abandoned carts, use two simple rules: Remove the window for driving in a promo code for a discount from your cart. If people see it, they immediately go looking for the treasured symbols all over the Internet. It sometimes takes over 30 minutes, but if you didn't make it public, your customers will be left with nothing, leading to a negative experience.
-
Remove the window for driving in a promo code for a discount from your cart. If people see it, they immediately go looking for the treasured symbols all over the Internet. It sometimes takes over 30 minutes, but if you didn't make it public, your customers will be left with nothing, leading to a negative experience.
-
Don't hide the cost of your membership. Oftentimes, potential customers who only know the price in the shopping cart get frustrated and run out of it. There is also a large percentage of users who simply go to the cart to find out the price and also leave the page without making a purchase. Indicate the cost directly on the page, and the bounce rate will decrease significantly.
Don't hide the cost of your membership. Oftentimes, potential customers who only know the price in the shopping cart get frustrated and run out of it. There is also a large percentage of users who simply go to the cart to find out the price and also leave the page without making a purchase. Indicate the cost directly on the page, and the bounce rate will decrease significantly.
Be sure to put the strategy into practice, or you will miss out on a huge number of clients.
7. Advertising Campaign
If the membership program is relevant throughout the year - periodically run promotions. This will help increase sales. Even if at the moment you have a large number of members - put up a promotion at least once a quarter. All people love discounts and, perhaps, those who did not dare to purchase a membership earlier will gladly buy it now.
Send a discount notification to every user so you can remind yourself and attract old potential customers. Promotions are a great psychological trick that makes the customer feel like they are making the right decision when making a purchase.
8. Registration Bonus
Offer potential customers a sign-up bonus. It can be a discount, a gift, or a product. Most importantly, it must be meaningful and valuable to the user. You can also offer a free month of membership with all premium services, or use other ways to reward your members. This way, you will get closer to potential members and encourage them to buy a membership.
9. Online Seminar
Once you open membership to register, host an online webinar. Thus, you will provide more detailed information to potential customers and interest them. Plus, live chat is the best way to communicate with users. Explain the membership, its benefits, member privileges and provide training. Finally, add a call to action and provide a bonus in the form of a membership discount for a limited amount of time.
Conclusion
You have a membership ready - it’s time to develop a strategy for selling it. Try to start with one option, or choose several that work best for you. Don't be afraid to try, make mistakes, and choose a new path. The main thing is not to combine all 9 best strategies together, otherwise, you will not be able to correctly analyze the work of each of them. Collect insights every time you launch a new marketing method. Analyze every little detail, and then you will know exactly what your audience wants and how satisfied it is with your membership.
Author Bio
Amber Martin is an experienced freelance writer. She specializes in quality content related to marketing for the audience. When she is not writing, you can find her in the kitchen as she is an excellent cook.
