There’s something keeping your members up at night.
Is it the neighbor's barking dogs? Probably for some.
Heartburn? Hopefully not.
According to a recent study, the number one WORRY keeping Americans up at night is COVERING MONTHLY EXPENSES.
Forget what the economy is doing. People are looking at their own personal finances (savings vs. debt, raises vs. inflation, the cost of necessities vs. discretionary income) and they don’t like what they see. In fact, 41% are even more stressed about finances this year than they were in 2024.
What does this mean for membership organizations and businesses looking to capture and hold their audience’s loyalty?
It’s no secret that member attention is getting harder and harder to capture. You compete with other organizations to make sure you’re offering the best and most value. You contend with endless entertainment choices for literal seconds of their time. Add financial stress into the mix and suddenly, you’re also competing with the electricity bill, the grocery budget and gas money.
It certainly doesn’t feel like a fair fight, BUT savvy organizations might just be able to see a golden opportunity to connect with their members on an even deeper level.
What if, instead of being just another expense, your organization became part of the solution? If you understand your members’ greatest financial struggles and help them overcome these challenges, you won’t just keep their attention — you’ll become an essential part of their lives.
A person’s perception of their financial situation has a profound impact on their spending habits – including their willingness/ability to remain a paying member. Right now, that perception isn’t good. Nearly three in four American workers report they are living paycheck-to-paycheck, facing worsening personal debt, declining real wages, and looming generational inflation.
This financial strain is hitting membership organizations and loyalty programs hard. In the past few years:
If your organization is perceived as an extra cost rather than a valuable necessity, you risk being next on the chopping block. The good news? There’s a way to flip the script and ensure your members never question your worth.
The average American household’s budget is split between non-discretionary expenses (housing, utilities, insurance, healthcare, etc.) and discretionary expenses (everything else). Non-discretionary expenses are also known as fixed expenses because they are essential, recurring costs that individuals must pay regardless of their financial situation, with little to no flexibility for reduction or elimination.
On the other hand, discretionary expenses give the individual a lot of flexibility to choose an option that fits in their budget, or choose to go without for a time. These include items like clothing, furniture and food (groceries and dining out) and also entertainment, travel and other services. Note that many of these are still considered necessities.
Roughly 58% of the consumer expenditures are discretionary, meaning you can make a big difference by giving members options on where and how much to spend. How?
One popular answer is: membership discount programs. A well-crafted member discount program meets your members where they are by targeting those discretionary (but still necessary) purchases they make every day. Imagine how much the savings can grow when a member is able to save on every purchase that makes up the majority of their budgets.
To truly make an impact, focus on strategies that put money back into members’ pockets in a meaningful way.
It’s always been important to deliver value by consistently providing the highest quality services and products that make up the core of your membership. However, in order to stand out from the crowd, organizations might have to branch out, providing value-added benefits that address a wider variety of member concerns.
That’s why many organizations are choosing to offer exclusive, money-saving discounts that address members’ current biggest worry head on. A great membership doesn’t just offer perks; it provides solutions that make life easier, more affordable, and less stressful. By implementing the following strategies, your organization can transform from an optional expense to an essential financial ally.
For members, a cost-neutral membership is one where they save as much (or more) as they pay in dues.
For organizations, a cost-neutral benefit means selecting programs that generate revenue through rev-share or sponsorships, so they can afford to provide even better benefits without increasing membership fees.
How Access Helps You Become Cost Neutral: Access negotiates directly with business owners to provide high-value discounts – much more than they typically offer to the public. Whether it’s $5 off a pair of shoes or BOGO meals at a restaurant, the savings add up fast. Discount travel booking with prices typically 25-50% better than other travel booking sites like Expedia or Orbitz add even more value. Members can easily save the equivalent of the cost of membership, sometimes even in a single transaction.
Plus, Access works with many organizations to offer cashback savings, bonus points or miles on hotel stays, car rentals and theme park tickets. Rev-sharing options mean that organizations can claim a portion of the reward to help pay for the program while the member still earns big – up to hundreds of dollars in cash back and rewards.
During good times and bad, members love deals that help them stretch tight budgets AND make luxuries more affordable. However, to be relevant to an audience that is worried about personal finances, the best discount programs provide deals where members already spend their disposable income.
Roughly 85% of U.S. disposable income is spent in brick-and-mortar stores. Of the other 15% which is spent at online retailers, most go to Amazon, Walmart and other mega-giant retailers that do not typically offer discounts. That means if a member benefit offers mostly online discounts, even if they have thousands of online retailers participating, they’ll still only be relevant to a small fraction of member purchases.
How Access Helps You Be Relevant to More Members: Access is the nation’s largest private discount program. More importantly, it’s the only provider with the reach to deliver savings on 100% of discretionary expenditures, with over one million physical locations encompassing categories like apparel, home & garden, automotive, warehouse clubs, hotels and restaurants. That means members can find relevant deals on every single discretionary purchase they need to make. Access provides over one million locations for all discretionary expenditures.
Communication with members is more than just a numbers game. Of course, proving transactional value by showing a member can save more money than they pay in dues is powerful messaging. However, emotional engagement has an even more profound and lasting effect.
People are hurting financially, and they appreciate organizations that see them. The effect is so profound that many organizations are changing their messaging to acknowledge member challenges. They make it clear that their benefits are carefully curated to support members. Perhaps most importantly, they paint the picture of how much better life can be when members use and love their benefits. Studies back this up. Empathetic messaging is the number one factor driving long-term advertising success in garnering loyalty (and, of course, enrollments.)
How Access Helps You Emotionally Connect with Members: Access works closely with organizations to create marketing that resonates with members by providing:
Talk with an expert to learn if Access is the right partner to help you increase member engagement by offering money-saving solutions to members' biggest worries.
Right now, your members are stressed, stretched, and making tough decisions about where their money goes. If you want to retain them, you need to prove that membership with your organization isn’t just worth it – it’s essential.
By understanding their financial struggles and actively working to solve them, you don’t just keep members' attention, you become their partner in achieving financial stability. And when membership feels like a solution rather than an expense, loyalty isn’t just possible, it’s inevitable.
Want to see how the right benefits program can transform your membership? Learn more here.
What types of organizations can benefit from easing their members’ worries with money-saving benefits: Professional Associations, Loyalty programs, Subscription services, Travel & vacation clubs, Fitness & Lifestyle Brands, Banks & Payment providers, Farm Bureaus, Hobby Clubs, Charities & Fundraisers