If you read my previous post about the key metrics for a membership program, you know how important a strong renewal rate is. It costs much less to renew a member than to reinstate them or acquire someone new. Renewing members are also a critical source of financial stability for your organization and provide additional revenue with onsite purchases and donations. But how do you turn a one-time fling into a long-term relationship?
I’d like to tell you the story of one of our client partnerships to illustrate some low-cost, low-lift changes that can have a big impact.
We began our partnership with this Zoo in 2021. An initial assessment of the program showed lower renewal rates for multi-year members, but a high response rate from lapsed members in acquisition. This usually indicates that members are waiting to purchase until an acquisition campaign, rather than renewing at the time of expiration.
As we suspected, our program assessment found that the Zoo’s past acquisition campaigns had a variety of promotional offers that were not offered in the renewal series or were only offered in the final notices of the renewal series, post-expiration. While this strategy will bolster an organization’s acquisition results, it won’t do any favors long-term. Consumers are savvy, and they’ll learn quickly that if they wait to renew, you’ll offer them something more.
At S&W, we don’t just want sales. We believe in valuable membership growth—members who will stay on your file long-term and support you through additional donations, moving up the donor pipeline. We let that goal guide our strategy for this Zoo.
First, we wanted to encourage early renewals, and we started with the promotional offer strategy. In all messaging, we positioned the offers as a thank-you to the members for their loyal support of the Zoo. This helps steward the members and reinforces the idea that membership is a way to support the organization’s mission.
Then, we adjusted the offer schedule. We moved the best offer to the first renewal notice in the series. If you chose to renew at the two highest membership levels, you would receive $15 off, and for the lower levels you would receive $10 off. The next notice included $10 off on the higher levels only. And after your membership expires? No offers on any levels.
This schedule helped encourage members to renew early, but we also wanted them to move up the donor pipeline. So, we combined these tiered discounts with customized ask strings that pushed upgrades. Messaging highlighted how purchasing a higher level of membership does more to support the Zoo’s mission, helping to move membership into the philanthropic mindset and away from a transactional proposition.
Finally, we wanted to improve overall ROI. Email outreach throughout the series was increased, and the first notice of the renewal series was adjusted to be email-only. This helps the Zoo renew members early beforemaking the investment to send them a mailed renewal notice.
These changes were low-cost and low-lift, but they made a big difference. Over the next few years, the Zoo saw:
- 52% increase in renewal response
- 14% increase in early renewals
- 13% growth in renewal rates
- $16 higher average gift
The benefits don’t stop there. An increase in members renewing early translates to a big cost savings—the more people who renew early, the fewer renewal notices you have to send. The longer a member stays on file, the more likely they are to continue renewing and supporting your organization through additional donations. And increased renewal rates means you can spend your acquisition budget finding new prospects for membership and growing your member base.
We’ve implemented these strategies with numerous membership programs, and we see the same great results every time. If you have any questions or if you implement any of these tactics in your program, we’d love to hear from you!
P.S. Now that you’ve got them renewing and invested in your mission, stay tuned for a blog post on how you can send targeted midlevel upgrade invitations in your renewal series.
