In a perfect world new members join your organization with an understanding of your purpose and your value to them.
They renew forever and ever and refer their friends who become loyal members themselves. Everyone's happy and dancing and singing and sharing candy and life is just awesome.
The real world obviously works a bit differently.
In the real world there are dozens of reasons why someone might join your organization. Once they've joined, each member has dozens of reasons why they might or might not retain their membership.
In the real world they often whine, complain, bicker and most definitely do not share their candy.
This is reality, where membership organizations fight a constant battle to keep members engaged and focused amidst a million other priorities and distractions.
Member engagement is how you're going to earn the loyalty you need to thrive and grow.
What you're looking to do is build avenues for engagement that any member can connect with.
Not all of them will attend live events.
Not all of them will network with fellow members.
Not all of them will ever visit your website even once.
None of those mean they're not engaged and active. None of those mean they won't renew their membership or tell their peers to join.
You can still build excitement and action with every member.
It just takes energy, a lot of effort, and some creativity.
We're here to help.
We spend a lot of time talking about customer loyalty here. It’s part of this blog’s title, after all. We’re very interested in the mechanics that lead a customer to enter into a relationship, of sorts, with a brand.
And like any great relationship, that affection can’t just be a one-way street. It’s pretty safe to say that no brand has ever suffered from showing some love back to their customers.
The great thing about customer appreciation is it takes many forms. It’s giving away expensive items, but it’s also having a staff that remembers first names and frequent purchases. The bottom line is there are many ways a brand can make customers feel like it cares about them.
Here are 40 simple and inexpensive ways any brand can express appreciation for its customers:
Getting free stuff is great, but…
There’s always a little skepticism that comes with a “free” price tag. What’s wrong with it? Does the quality level match the price? How good can it really be if it’s free?
You get the idea – generally, the lower the price the less you expect from the product or service. So, maybe some things really are worth paying for?
The idea of a free price tag has even higher stakes when it comes to businesses. Free stuff can be risky for a business, especially if it’s going in front of customers. At risk is more than just a few dollars - the cost of reputation and customer perception can be enormous.
Our advice? Buyer beware. If it has your brand on it, then it’s worth an investment.
It’s hard to believe that so many companies still devote most of their resources to new business. Don’t get us wrong, new customers is always a worthy pursuit.
But this laser focus on the present often comes at the expense of the future.
US companies spend $2 billion yearly on loyalty programs.
Meanwhile, over $180 billion goes into advertising annually.
We get it. New business makes the CEO and shareholders happy. It earns parties in the breakroom and high fives in the boardroom.
Customer retention may not have all the sex appeal, but it's definitely more profitable. Even better, profits are just one of the positive aspects of retention and loyalty.
Let's go over the top ten benefits of retention, shall we?
I joined a professional association once. Over the course of several years and thousands of dollars, this is what I had received for joining: a useful PowerPoint on writing press releases.
That’s all. Obviously, that relationship didn’t last too long. The press releases I’ve constructed since are better, I suppose. Worth my investment into the organization? Eh, nope.
Ask someone why they join a professional association and they’ll offer up networking, educational opportunities, certifications, or representation. All important and vital functions of any association.
Then, ask someone why they won’t renew a membership, or why they’re not interested in joining at all, and they’ll tell you it’s because they didn’t see the personal value in it. There’s just not enough in it for them to justify the expenditure.
As we mentioned, one of Access' core products is discount programs; bundles of valuable merchant offers sourced by us and offered to consumers through our client groups.
We like discount programs so much, we published a 30 page guide about them for free.
They've proven effective at generating engagement and driving acquisition for over 35 years.
After all, when they're put together well, they can save people hundreds of dollars.
What other benefit or reward can claim that?
"What does 'put together well' mean?" you might ask.
Well, not all discount programs are created the same.
