Building a membership site can be a profitable new revenue stream for any business. It can also be a pretty low-labor endeavor, which makes it a very attractive choice for many entrepreneurs.
However, there are lots of moving pieces that go into building a membership site, so it’s important to go into it with a solid plan of attack. In today’s Unpack it, let’s talk three essential pieces that will help make your membership site truly profitable.
#1 Content, Content, Content
Membership sites generally center around new content that’s delivered on a regular basis. Content can be delivered in a variety of mediums, some of which include:
- Written lessons (like PDFs)
- Video lessons
- Audio lessons
- Worksheets
- Live workshops
- Live calls
And of course, many include a combination of several of these mediums.
It may seem counterintuitive but less is often more when it comes to content. While it’s tempting to throw tons and tons of content at your members, this usually leads to overwhelm and creates a ton of work for you.
The best membership sites find a balance between delivering valuable, actionable content without going overboard and stressing members (or themselves) out.
One client I work with provides a bonus vault for members so they can access a library of 25 relevant topics at any time. Then, each month, a new bonus topic is presented on a live call and members have time to ask questions.
Another group I’m part of has weekly rotating topics with a core set of content attached. Each time the group goes back to the topic, there’s a fresh new resource available in addition to the core content.
Since content creation is such a huge time investment on your part, it’s important to be creative and efficient when deciding what to deliver. It’s also important to remember that you’ll be creating and delivering it consistently over time so you could use it to build on itself as a way to provide even more value to your audience.
Whatever you decide, you want to be sure you can deliver a quality product each and every time so your members continue to get value out of your membership program.
#2 Consistent conversion
Once you have your membership site up and running, you have to develop a reliable way to convert prospects to members. Again, there’s a variety of ways to do this, so you want to consider what makes most sense for your audience, your business, and your content.
A rolling membership generally allows for continuous enrollment whereas some choose to have an open/close method where enrollment is only open at specific time periods. There are pros and cons to both methods and they do tend to create a different type of environment in the group.
A common technique to convert new members from a paid course with limited time access is to develop a specific membership conversion campaign. I have one client that utilizes a two week email sequence that includes a “what’s next” training to encourage people to continue on in the monthly membership program. This allows them continued access to the course materials as well as additional content each month that they maintain membership.
This means while there are periods with large influxes of members converting due to launches or promos, there’s also times where members trickle in because their course is ending. The nature of the largely self-paced content makes this totally feasible for members and the founder.
If your membership content tends itself more to a model where you lead people through from start to finish, you may want to consider a more contained conversion method with a hard open/close period.
If your potential members are not coming from another paid offering (and sometimes even if they are!) you’ll want to consider a free trial of some kind. This can provide a great way to show them how valuable and powerful your membership program is for them.
#3 Focus on retention
As with many things is business, focusing on getting more and more members can be extremely appealing. But, focusing your energy on retaining current members is often more profitable and effective.
The percentage of members who stay month to month is an important metric to track. Learning the average life cycle of a member will help you understand so much about your program — from how to structure your content, to how much you can spend to attract new members.
Focusing on retention is also a great way to build consistent revenue for your business without feeling like you are in constant hustle mode. The more members you retain month-to-month, the easier it becomes to reach your revenue goals. Typically, once someone becomes a paying member they have already “bought in”.
So to speak and will be an easier “sell” each month than a brand new person. This is why it is so important to value current members even more than the pursuit of new ones in many cases.
Creating and launching a membership site is a great way to grow your audience and your business. When you proceed thoughtfully and strategically you will surely reach profitability much faster.