The average lifetime value of a Starbucks customer is $14,099 (according to KissMetrics). How does Starbucks achieve such a high customer lifetime value?
And, more importantly, what can you learn from them to increase your membership site’s retention rates and monthly revenue?
We go behind-the-scenes of Starbucks’ secret in this week’s Core Training. Watch below:
How can you retain the members who have joined your community? Learn more in this upcoming Core Training created for the Insider community.
In Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series, 11 Keys to Retaining Members, we’ve covered nine different strategies you can use to boost the monthly retention rates within your membership.
In Part 4, we’re going to cover the last two: a) Member Features and b) Membership Components and wrap up with how to implement all of the strategies within your membership site.
So far in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, 11 Keys to Retaining Members, we’ve covered six different retention strategies you can use to grow your membership month after month.
In part 3, we’ll cover three more: a) Marketing, b) Personal Touches and c) Communication.
As we go through these, you’ll notice how everything we’ve covered so far overlaps and you should start to see a clear picture emerging of what member retention is all about.
So, let’s get started…
In Part 1 of this series, 11 Keys to Retaining Members, I revealed the first 3 keys to boosting your member retention: 1) new members, 2) site design, and 3) content.
In part 2, we’re going to cover the next three: 1) automated follow-up, 2) interaction elements, and 3) rewards so you can boost your monthly retention rates, create a deeper impact with your members and help your monthly revenue GROW month after month.
So, let’s get started:
What separates successful membership sites from ones that fail?
If there was one thing you could focus on to ensure the success of your membership site, what would it be? What might you be missing right now that is killing your membership site?
The answer: RETENTION.
It seems obvious at first but when you look at how a lot of membership site owners run their memberships you find many often focus more on getting new members than retaining the ones they have.
The problem is… if you focus primarily on member acquisition, you’ll always be stuck there because you’ll be losing so many existing members each month you’ll be forced to get new members to just to keep up.
However, if you want to really achieve the promise of a membership site… that is, recurring revenue that GROWS over time… retention should be your focus.
In Part 1 of this series, I’m going to share three (of eleven) retention strategies to help you retain more members so you can grow your monthly income month after month.
It is a fact that members will leave your membership site.
Members leave communities for a variety of different reasons and there are ways to anticipate and address these common reasons (as noted in Part 1 of this series).
The key is to keep the number of membership cancellations as low as possible.
So what are some reasons that members may be leaving?
Membership sites need members.
It is a pretty simple fact.
This means that many membership site owners spend a great deal of time and other resources working to entice potential members to sign up.
Unfortunately, that same enthusiasm is not always applied toward retaining existing members… until it is too late.
So what are some common reasons why members leave?
Any business that prides itself on having great customer service knows the job doesn’t stop once the sale is made.
It’s no different with membership sites. While a member may have joined your site successfully, they can still use your help in order to fully enjoy the benefits of their membership.
In a previous article within this series, we went over ways to help guide your members through the registration process. Now we want to focus on exactly what you can do to make things easier on your members right after they join your community.
This is how to make your members feel at home (and know where everything is).
Too many membership site owners invest large amounts of time and energy trying to get members to sign up, only to basically abandon them during (and after) the registration process.
To their credit, this isn’t usually a site owner’s intention.
They just don’t see their site as a member does. What may seem obvious to the site owner can be a confusing mess to the member.
So how can you prevent unhappy members from questioning why they signed up in the first place?