As the cost to bring in new customers ever rises, an efficient retention strategy becomes a must. Having a paid membership with your business provides a strong incentive for customers to come back.
When implemented right, it will drastically improve the baseline.
The power comes from keeping money in the business - rather than paying ad platforms to bring back one-time buyers. Instead, you can invest into increasing the value for those who support you the most.
Paid Membership Benefits
With a paid membership tier as a way to take customer loyalty to a new level, your business can:
Unlock a recurring revenue stream.
As customers stick around for longer, your finances benefit from a steady cash flow and better LTV.
Give customers reasons to return.
Success lies in creating a rewarding experience for customers. Introduce member-only discounts, special offers and store credit they can spend on orders.
Understand your customers.
Paid memberships can provide a treasure trove of insights about customer behavior. Use them to keep customers engaged and decrease churn.
How To Implement A Paid Membership
Start with defining terms. First, decide on pricing as well as on rewards and other exclusive perks you can offer
Set up automatic enrollment and billing. Your customers should be able to:
enter membership;
use their perks on repeat purchases;
renew their membership automatically without any friction;
leave the program if needed.
Optimize to scale. After the successful implementation comes the time to track and analyze data. Study customer behavior to refine your offer - in order to grow LTV and customer satisfaction.
Make sure that your implementation complies with the best practices. as well as leverages your business platform capabilities (Shopify, Magento etc).
Will This Work For Any Business?
The business model and other specifics do play a role in how effective a future paid membership can be. From experience, implementing a paid tier brings the quickest gains to:
D2C brands looking to stay on top of the mind and build a loyal customer community
E-commerce retailers that aim to grow the LTV and beat the ever-growing acquisition costs
Businesses with high-AOV offers that strive to give a VIP treatment to their best buyers
