Engaging and Retaining New Members Using Drip Marketing

Amazon has 22 benefits - they introduce you to a few at a time through weekly or monthly emails.  I'm a member and I've personally experienced these onboarding emails. That's how I learned about e-books, prime music, etc.

I recently attended a session led by Larry Guthrie and Leslie Whittet, both from the Association for Corporate Growth where they talked about how to market the benefits of your organization a little bit at a time with your members.

If you're an Amazon customer you're familiar with their monthly email that talks about a specific benefit or two.  What they are doing is putting their benefits in bite size messages.

They spent a good amount of time discussing the difference of onboarding versus an orientation?

Onboarding improves retention rates - period!  An orientation is just the beginning of a true onboarding process.  The onboarding process could be the first 90 day period of your new members interaction with you.

This is where drip marketing comes into play. You communicate with them on a regular basis over this 90 day period by introducing the different benefits of your organization.  You might want to communicate on a biweekly basis.

The value proposition is a major part of your onboarding process.  Advocacy, education, networking are benefits that you are providing your members, are you doing a good job of communicating those benefits?  Your communications should always be member focused not chamber focused.

Maybe your onboarding (90-days) communications might be:

  • Welcome kit
  • Communication on an advocacy effort you're working on with a link with more information
  • Communication on how to participate in your next networking event
  • Communication on a couple of benefits that they might not be aware of

 Your goal is to have your members "learn it and use it!"

Drip marketing is showcasing your member benefits in your communications in a strategically planned out process.

I also think it's important that in these communications you are not asking for more money.  Remember, they just paid you a sum of money to join.

Think of drip marketing as a guided tour of your chamber.  You're breaking up your value proposition into small digestible bites of information. Make your communications clean and concise.

Biweekly emails focusing on a different set of benefits is a plan worth considering.

Once you've finished your 90-day onboarding with new members you might want to check in with them at the 6-month interval. Remember, at the 9-month interval you'll be sending your first auto-invoice.  That three-month window before an invoice is sent will be a great time to fix any problems from the information you might get at that 6 month check-up.

Good luck!

10 Ways to LOSE Members!

I recently attended a great session at ASAE's MMCC (a bit snarky) led by Andrea Pellegrino and Theresa Kramer-Burgess with their list of the top 10 reasons to lose a member.

Losing members because what you're doing not because what you're NOT doing!

Here's their list of 10 ways to lose members:

#1 Make it hard to find information - arrange your website the way they can find information in an easy intuitive way.

#2 Make it hard to give you money - do you have a one-click solution, think Amazon and their one click buy - your members expect that now!

#3 Make them wait - give them instant feedback or acknowledgement of joining, not on a weekly/monthly schedule.  Use auto respond emails to make that instant connection.

#4 Tell them what's good for them - it's important to continue to ask your members what they want, think annual needs assessment survey. Ask, listen, track, respond.  Do a focus group as qualitative research from time to time.

#5 Ask for more money, right away - let them get settled and take advantage of the membership before bombarding them with new ways to spend money with your chamber.  Think engagement first and help them solve a problem.  Communicate what you're doing for the community.

#6 Make discounts a main benefit - talk about the value of membership in your chamber (advocacy, economic development, community development) not a discount on a future purchase.  Make your interactions with people transformational, not just transactional.

#7 Don't personalize - there is no reason with today's technology that you can't personalize every communication with your members.  Always use their first name, don't ever use "Dear Member."

#8 Don't talk to them - if a member calls your chamber will they get a real person or will they get the phone voice mail tree that takes forever to leave a message.  We're in the relationship business and your members should be able to easily get in touch with you and get their question or problem fixed.

#9 Ignore the user experience - are you tracking how your members are accessing your information on your website.  Are you using Google analytics to track your members interaction with you and make it easier for them to get what they want. Don't waste their time trying to navigate your website, just fix it, no excuses.

#10 Ask for everything all at once - ease your new members or current members into the work of the chamber.  Have them make "one decision at a time."

Bonus #11: Fuhgettaboutem - don't do this!

Their final thought, engage with your members throughout the year in a piece meal kind of way and continue to listen to them and respond in an appropriate way.