4 Simple Yet Effective Ways to Encourage Member Renewals
- Nonprofit Learning Lab
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
This is a guest blog.
For member-based organizations, a steady renewal rate is the foundation of sustainability and growth. Yet, the end of the membership cycle often kicks off a high-stress period: the last-minute push to secure renewals. This chaotic scramble can cause frustrating, preventable member churn.
The most successful organizations know that securing renewals is the result of a continuous strategy that removes friction and proves value through professional development, community, and other benefits all year long. To help you create a better member retention plan, we’ll explore a handful of simple strategies for inspiring your members to stay involved in your community.
Eliminate Friction with Automatic Renewals.
One of the biggest barriers to renewal is a complicated or manual process. Members are busy. They might overlook invoices or abandon a clunky online payment form. Approximately 18% of lapsed members simply forget to renew.
Implementing automatic renewals is the most effective way to eliminate this friction. By offering a “set it and forget it” payment option, you eliminate steps in the renewal process. While you should let members know about the opportunity during their initial sign-up, make sure they can opt in at any point.
This simple change means that the member only has to make a conscious decision if they actively want to leave, not if they want to stay.
To power this strategy, you’ll need to adopt a system that supports automatic, recurring membership payments. iMIS’ guide to membership management software explains that your membership platform allows you to offer auto-renewals and automatically remind members who don’t set this up that their renewal deadline is approaching. With the right software, your staff can spend time reaching out to those at risk of lapsing, not chasing members who were already planning to renew.
Leverage Engagement Scoring to Identify At-Risk Members.
Before it even comes close for someone to renew, you need to make sure you’re creating a positive member experience! Engagement scoring is a great way to monitor individual member engagement.
Essentially, engagement scoring is a proactive system for tracking and valuing member interactions, and it is most effective when all your member data lives in a single, unified system. These interactions might include:
Attending events
Donating to your organization
Completing an online course
Downloading your resources
Posting in a forum
Opening emails or other communications
Assigning a point value to these actions gives you a clear metric for member loyalty.
A low score flags an at-risk member, enabling your team to intervene and improve their experience at any point. On the other hand, a high score identifies a potential advocate, and while their engagement might already signal that they’ll stick around, you can boost the chances that they’ll do so by inviting them to volunteer, mentor others, join a committee, or give you a testimonial for your membership marketing.
Showcase Personalized Member Value.
A generic renewal invoice doesn’t offer a compelling reason to stay, forcing the member to do the work of remembering what value they received from your organization over the last year. And that can be detrimental since 43% of members lapse because they don’t see the value of membership.
Highlight the value of membership by using your member data to showcase that value for them. Send a personalized “value summary” a few weeks before the official renewal notice, or work it into your membership renewal letter.
For example, you might say, “This year, you attended 5 webinars, downloaded 4 reports, and earned 6 continuing education (CE) credits.” Reiterating the value they’ve gained proves your organization is paying attention and reframes renewal as a simple choice to continue a beneficial relationship!
Spotlight Upcoming Member Benefits.
Proving past value is powerful, but building excitement for the future can be even more effective. Members want to know what’s coming up next and what they will miss out on if their membership lapses.
Fundraising Letters’ guide to membership renewal messages recommends highlighting any upcoming engagement activities and professional growth opportunities to ensure members understand the benefits of staying involved. You might create a targeted “coming soon” campaign or just work it into your regular renewal communication.
Examples of benefits you could highlight include:
An exclusive, members-only research report or industry benchmark study
A new certification program or professional development course
Early-bird registration or special discounts for your big annual conference
An upcoming webinar series featuring a high-profile industry expert
An online community app where members can connect and stay involved
Communicating new value reinforces the idea that you’re investing in your members’ future success. You’ll show that your organization is evolving, and the best is yet to come!
Wrapping Up: Start Improving Your Renewal Approach.
Rethinking your retention strategy doesn’t require a complete organizational overhaul. It begins with a simple shift from a reactive, last-minute panic to a proactive, year-round plan that consistently provides an enjoyable member journey and proves your value.
As a next step, pick one of these strategies to try. For example, you might implement a “coming soon” email campaign this quarter or enable an automatic renewal option with your membership software.
You can start small. Nailing just one of these tactics is the first step to building a more resilient and effective approach to retention.
