We generally think of marketing and sales as everything before a customer gives us credit card information. But as you grow your membership business you’ll learn quickly that getting someone to sign up is only half the battle. Your goal is not only to get new members, but also to build trust and a personal connection with them as they transition into your community so that they stay members.
Engaging your members with the value you provide is not a one-time thing. How consistently you are able to communicate will have a large impact on long-term member retention.
Without consistent communication and engagement, you risk:
- Membership churn (members canceling or unsubscribing)
- Low member satisfaction (NPS)
- Increase in refund requests
To properly avoid this you can introduce some automated systems using CRM and marketing automation that will communicate with members for you, indoctrinate them, and handle repetitive tasks so you can focus on creating amazing content.
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Why do you need CRM and Marketing Automation?
From the first contact, till a new member signs up and engages your content, prospects leave a trail of data that can be very useful for scaling and growth. Being able to access and leverage that data can be the difference between your business becoming stagnant, or experiencing accelerated growth.
You need CRM & Marketing automation, together as a single product. Having one without the other is like running a race with one leg. It just doesn’t work that well.
Your CRM provides access to the raw data, so you can make educated decisions about your marketing, sales, and retention efforts.
The marketing automation component allows you to act and leverage that data, to create new campaigns and sales efforts to member spend and satisfaction.
Ways that you can leverage CRM & Marketing Automation for your Membership site
After working with hundreds of membership sites, we’ve identified some simple and highly effective ways you can implement CRM and Marketing automation in your Membership site that will…
- Convert more leads into members
- Improve member satisfaction
- Retain members longer and improve lifetime spend!
For example…
- Proper member onboarding
- Automated followup with prospects and cancellations
- Net Promotor Score tracking
Effective onboarding of new members
The first interactions your new members make with your membership site no doubt create a first impression. New members may feel overwhelmed with the structure and navigation of your site, or unsure of which content to consume first.
You can use Marketing Automation to create a series of automated welcome emails sent in a sequence when a new member signs up to guide them around your site or show them which content they should start with, making their first experience simple.
This onboarding process plays a role in maintaining their interest to stay engaged with your content. In the long run, it can determine whether they’ll stay a paid member.
Need help with onboarding? Learn How To Increase Customer Retention by Automating On-Boarding
Smart and effective follow-up
As prospects and existing members interact with your membership site, they may skip certain events.
For instance, new visitors are expected to follow a series of promptings that lead them through the signup process. However, they may end up not completing the transaction. At this point, it is not conclusive that they have lost interest in signing up.
Several factors like difficulty with making a payment could be responsible for the delay. If allowed to grow cold, there is a high chance that you will lose the sale. At this point, follow-up becomes necessary.
With CRM and marketing automation software, you can set specific events to trigger an automated follow-up email to a lead. In this instance, the trigger event could be a visit to your checkout page without proceeding to the payment confirmation page, prompting them to complete the signup.
You can also follow up with recent cancellations. For example, if a member cancels their plan, you might want to reach out and ask why they canceled so you can improve your service for others. You may find out that the recent they canceled was totally avoidable, and you can re-activate them by resolving their issue.
Net Promoter Score
A Net Promotor Score is a system of tracking how satisfied your audience is with your service. With CRM you can ask your members if they would, or would not recommend your service to someone they know. If they answer no you can follow up with them to ask how you can improve, otherwise you can ask them to share Groundhogg with someone they know.
Know your members better than they know themselves
With the right CRM tools, you’ll be able to make educated and effective marketing and sales decisions because you have access to an endless stream of data about who is using your products. By collecting the right data, you can improve retention, revenue, and reviews.
Real-time KPI tracking
Failure to track specific key performance indicators on your membership website negatively impact your overall productivity. Whichever CRM you use, it should make complex reporting and analysis quick and simple.
One of the benefits of having your Membership site tightly integrated with your CRM is that you can use data in your membership plugin to improve your understanding of your members in the CRM. Clarity is power when it comes to data, and having a CRM which can provide you a clear analytical picture of your audience will help masively.
Some important KPIs you can track using CRM and marketing automation software are:
- Website traffic & site activity.
- Prospect conversion rate.
- Net Promoter Score
- Retention rate.
- Members lifetime value.
Members need consistency
Members require consistent communication to build a relationship. Without communication, members may forget about your value proposition, and not take any action or initiative with your content. This will inevitably result in abandonment or cancelation.
CRM and marketing automation tools help you maintain consistency and function more effectively. With these tools, you can repeat processes consistently.
Improve your customer relationship
Design automated funnels and sequences to deliver tailored content based on customers interests. Keep them engaged by reaching our via SMS or email. You should aim to be in their inbox, or whatever channel they consume daily.
By being in front of them, there is a constant reminder that you are provided a useful and valued service that they will benefit from.
CRM & Marketing Automation is a must-have for every membership site
Without it, you are cutting yourself off from deeper relationships with customers, improved conversion rates, increased revenue and retention, and preventing you from understanding your members on a deeper level.
Fortunately for you, Groundhogg is the all-in-one CRM and marketing automation suite you can install on your WordPress-based membership site. Simply install and begin communicating with members and prospects alike almost instantly!
We integrate with MemberPress and WooCommerce so connecting your membership site to Groundhogg is brain-dead simple.
Groundhogg CRM and automation tools reduce the stress of running a membership site such that you only need to put in minimal effort. Having your processes automated helps to increase customer satisfaction and retention, and boost growth.
