Using Psychology to Grow Your Membership

When you ask someone to join a membership program, you may say that you’re fighting an up-hill struggle. As great as your website, your skills, and your content might be, the reality is that you’re offering a tough proposition: you’re inviting people to pay for something that they normally get for free. They can read millions of blogs across the net for free right now, or they can pay for yours.

Perhaps they’ve never heard of you before, and if not, they likely don’t trust you not to run off with their money. It makes you wonder how anyone ever gets any members for their sites! So what’s their trick? Well normally, it comes down to human psychology. Here are a few tricks you can use.

Find Your Blue Ocean in the Membership Business

Perhaps it goes without saying, but you need something other than your beautiful mug that makes you stand out from the crowd.

When I’m working with clients, we dig extensively into what their UVP (Unique Value Proposition) is. We look at how they can differentiate themselves in a noisy marketplace – that is, swim in a crystal Blue Ocean versus the shark-infested Red Ocean. For nearly everyone that goes through the Membership Fix program, one significant difference separates them from the rest: They are an active participant in their community.

As much as I’d like to sit here and claim membership businesses are a completely passive source of revenue, that’s really not my style. While it takes significantly less time to maintain a membership program than, say, any other coaching or mental health business, it still does take your loving touch.

Group calls are one way to accomplish this. Posting in the forum is another. Hosting retreats, masterminds, or Q&A sessions are others. Regardless, I’ve found that one of the best ways to find your Blue Ocean and stop playing in the Red Ocean is to simply be involved.

People Love to Feel Belonging and Importance

The big clue here is in the name: ‘membership’. People love to feel that they’re a part of something bigger than themselves; they love to feel a sense of community with other people and they appreciate receiving VIP treatment. When they sign up to be a member, they get all those things. To be clear, this is really what sells a membership site as opposed to the idea of reading more content.

As I often tell clients, people will come for your content and stay for the community. Which is why building and nurturing a community is one of the most critical roles as a membership business owner.

Now more than ever, people are desperate to connect. With most of us in isolation due to the pandemic, it’s easier than ever to feel alone, lonely, and like you’re the only one experiencing whatever you’re experiencing.

That may explain why 82% of businesses are adopting subscription-based business models. Doing so allows them to be leading disruptors while also filling a deep-rooted psychological need in our clients.

Remove Buyers’ Guilt

And while people want to feel like they’re a member of something important and that they’re important by association, they are often reluctant to spend money on a website. They feel guilty because they think they can get a similar experience for free elsewhere. This may evoke buyer’s remorse and your job is to try and thwart that guilt.

Though a slap in the face of many marketing tactics out there, I’m not one for flashing lights and falsified urgency. When you apply such marketing gimmicks, you’re more apt to bring on the buyer’s remorse. As such, my first suggestion is to avoid the b.s. and instead rely on authenticity in your marketing strategy.

Additionally, make sure your membership business kicks serious butt. That’s right! Add value the moment someone joins and don’t let off the gas pedal just because someone has paid for an annual membership. I’ll explore the myriad of ways you can add value in a later article. For now, do your best to continually raise your own bar.

You can also give your members discounts on other products, thereby helping them to save money, whether that be your own personal products or services, or those of someone you collaborate with.

Remove Risk

Finally, you also need to remove any risk that is associated with your membership site. People will worry that you can’t be trusted and/or that what you’re selling isn’t worth the money. You need to remove both these fears by a) using a well-known payment method and b) making sure people can unsubscribe at any time. It shouldn’t be a maze to cancel.

Want More Membership Marketing Tips?

An integral part of the Membership Fix program is marketing – and not just in the sense of Facebook ads. If you’re looking to fill more seats in your membership site, or if you’d like to build a program that nets $10k or more each month, schedule a call with my team.