Implementing a plan which will attract new members who will in turn, become long term sustainers of your organization is no easy task. In this month’s newsletter, we aim to answer the question: How can you acquire more members for your organization?
How to Acquire More Members
Make a Great First Impression
Making a first impression starts with the ticket purchase either on your website or when the visitor waits on line to purchase the ticket. How they view their experience is integral to your success in acquiring members. Here’s where you need to conduct some detective work. Find out;
- Did they have a pleasant experience?
- Was your ticketing process smooth and efficient?
- Was it engaging in some way?
- Did you provide them with opportunities to learn something new about your organization?
If your answer is “no” to any of these questions take the necessary steps to improve upon the visitor experience and make a great first impression.
How to Make a Great First Impression
It is important to focus on engagement and value, as well as establishing a welcoming atmosphere, whether it be in person or online. A positive initial encounter fosters visitor engagement and enhances the visitor’s overall perception of your organization.
Make On-Site Improvements
- Welcome visitors as they enter. Friendly and helpful staff members set a warm tone and make visitors feel welcome.
- Provide a well maintained and aesthetically pleasing environment that creates an inviting and comfortable space.
- Have a staff member to hand out membership brochures and talk to potential members about joining your organization.
- Place more promotional signage for people to read while they’re waiting on-line, but also make sure their wait is not too long.
- Create an engaging atmosphere with visual elements that inspire visitors.
- Have available colorful listings of upcoming exhibits or performances at the point-of-purchase.
Make On-line Improvements
- Improve your website so that it provides a better experience for the potential member. Is it easy to navigate? Does it provide interesting and informative content? Does it encourage them to return to the site? Is it easy for them to purchase tickets online?
- Consider creating an impactful landing page dedicated to a specific exhibition or show.
- Create a highly visible call-to-action button encouraging visitors to become members. Studies show call-to-action buttons result in higher conversion rates.
- Mobile device traffic accounts for roughly 64.5% of website visits, yet mobile conversion checkout rates lag behind desktop. Industry analysis attributes this to check out difficulty and excessive form fields. If this is where cart abandonment is happening consider reducing form fields to speed up the transaction, utilize one-click mobile wallets, QR codes, or 3 field check outs with first/last name, email address, and zip.
Setting the tone for a positive visitor experience will encourage repeat visits, ultimately shapes the visitors likelihood to recommend your organization to others, and results in positive reviews.
Collect Visitor Information
On average 82% of first-time, non-member visitors never return within a 12-month period. It could be that they lack time, your shows or exhibits are not appealing to them, or you haven’t asked them to return. This statistic makes capturing an email address during that initial visit critical. Collect email addresses (as well as their names, addresses, and phone numbers) when visitors are purchasing their tickets at the ticket counter or online. Email addresses provide an essential point of communication for disseminating information about your organization and the benefits of membership.Encourage them to share their email address with a “subscribe” button.
How to Collect Visitor Information
Visitors need to feel they will get something valuable in return for sharing their personal information. When at the ticket counter or online, focus on exclusivity. Let them know that by sharing their email and physical address they will receive:
- Preview emails about upcoming shows and events.
- Seasonal promotional offers.
- Special membership offers which could include an incentive for free parking, a reduced rate, a guest pass, early previews of new exhibits or shows, a branded tote bag or t-shirt, or exclusive behind-the-scenes events.
Understand Your Audience
Who is the ticket buyer? Identify demographic trends and behaviors among repeat and one-time visitors. Determine what motivates a donor to purchase a ticket. Is it for entertainment, altruistic support, savings, or something else. Once you find out why a visitor purchases a ticket, utilize what you learned when formulating benefit levels in your in your membership appeals, on your point of purchase displays, and on your website. On the other hand, strive to understand what stops someone from purchasing a ticket. Is it high cost, lack of time, or low interest?
Create Membership Levels
Create various membership levels based upon the information you learn about your ticket buyers. Structure membership tiers based upon the various membership benefits. Calculate how many visits a member needs to make before the membership becomes less expensive than buying a single ticket. Be cognizant of pricing levels that can attract families, individuals, and high-net worth patrons. Ensure family membership tiers are priced high enough to sustain revenue, but low enough to make the immediate on-site upgrade enticing.
Send Email and Direct Mail Appeals
What you do next will prove to be the most fruitful thing you can do to acquire members for your organization.
Create an Email Series
- Follow up quickly with an email series. Within 24-48 hours of purchasing a ticket, send visitors a warm thank-you email and offer them a limited-time 10% discount on an annual membership.
- A few days later, remind them about all of the valuable benefits of becoming a member.
- Follow up again with a third email which includes a targeted “Become a Member” video, highlighting the perks of membership.
- Send yet a fourth email highlighting a few member only benefits that the visitor missed out on, such as free parking or early access hours.
This article, creating an email welcome series, will give you an idea of how a strategic email series should flow. Museums in particular enjoy exceptionally high email open rates compared to the industry average. This signals a highly receptive audience that responds to tailored membership renewal paths and post visit follow ups.
Create a Direct Mail Membership Invitation
In addition to an email series, it is essential to send a direct mail membership invitation to all new ticket buyers. The invitation should include:
- A compelling outer envelope with an eye-catching design, teaser copy, and your organization’s branding.
- An engaging letter with a story focusing on your cause. Highlight the benefits of becoming a member, and include a strong call to action signed by organization’s director. The letter should shy away from transactional perks such as discounts and parking to emotional impact.
- A colorful brochure with vibrant photos of events and exhibits, along with membership tiers and prices.
- A personalized reply form with checkboxes for membership levels.
- A postage paid reply envelope for ease of return should be included.
- Consider adding an extra perk in subsequent appeals, such as a free guest pass, a discount to the museum shop, or an invitation to an upcoming preview night.
How to Sustain Members
Once a visitor becomes a member, it is essential to communicate with them throughout the year. Email is the most cost effective way to do that, but an occasional brochure or self-mailer can go a long way towards creating a positive connection.
Consider implementing Member Appreciation weeks where members can bring a guest completely free of charge. This rewards your existing base, deepens their pride in ownership, and builds an organic pipeline for new member acquisition.
Information about new exhibits or shows, early preview invitations, and exclusive behind-the-scenes events are all benefits the member appreciates being the first to hear about. If members are not aware of what you are doing, they will not have the incentive to visit. The more they visit, the more invested in your organization they become, and the greater the chance they will be open to renewing their membership. Consistency in communication is key.
How to Renew Members
First year member retention is notoriously difficult. Roughly 35% of first-year members do not renew. This usually happens because the initial membership was bought transactionally at the admissions counter to save money on a single day visit, but the user never formed the habit of returning. This is where consistent email and direct mail communications is essential both in sustaining and renewing the member.
Membership Renewal Strategies
How do you move from transactional first-year sign-ups to predictable multi-year recurring revenue. Smart strategies are essential to keep members from letting their subscriptions lapse before the first 12 months are up.
Email and Direct Mail Renewal Communications
Members are not going to renew unless they are asked. Create a series of renewal emails and a direct mail renewal appeal.
The copy should highlight how dues support your cause in the form of an emotionally impactful engaging story. Include information about the benefits of membership as well as a strong call to action. Membership tiers and prices need to be clear and concise. Initial communications should shy away from transactional perks such as discounts and parking. Vibrant photos of events and exhibits create interest and excitement.
Consider integrating an “Enroll in auto-renewal” box during online, direct mail, and front desk membership. It makes it less likely for a member to let their membership lapse. Frame it as an eco-friendly option that eliminates paper, lost mail, and physical renewal notices.
Offer a monthly billing model, instead of a single upfront annual fee. This makes membership accessible to younger, budget conscience demographics while securing predictable, ongoing revenue.
Acquiring new members is a long term investment and is necessary to keep your organization viable. Once you have the commitment of a new member it is integral to become serious about nurturing and communicating to them as if they were treasured family members.
If treated correctly these new donors will become the long term supporters your organization and will sustain its mission well into the future.
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Write Choice Marketing-Helping nonprofits raise donations through compelling copy, engaging content, and donor responsive strategies that get results. We offer creative, cost-effective fundraising and marketing solutions. Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation.