Tips to Make Your Renewal Process Run Smoothly

Whether you renew all of your members at the beginning of the year, or on the anniversary of their join date, members expect their renewal process to be simple and quick. Our team likes to live by the “4 M’s” to get associations through renewals.

Make it easy.

There are a myriad of things people do every day. You do not want your members spending time getting frustrated and then deciding to not renew. Rules to live by? The fewer steps, the better. Require just a few clicks to get them signed up for another year.

Test everything before it goes live – seriously though, test the website three times. With the high volume of renewals that come in with each effort, you will want to make sure that everything is working properly before it goes live. You do not want members on the phone with your member service department frustrated by the process to reinstate their membership.

Make it logical.

Remember, you know your association inside and out. Your members are a part of that, however, they do not know every detail. Think about that when setting up your process. What is important for your members to understand when renewing their membership? You know what you are talking about – make sure your members do, too.

Make it personal.

Inevitably, there will be at least one issue that arises –the website goes down or there is a user error, for example. Even worse, the wording made sense to everyone in the office but it isn’t translating to your members.  Make sure that your association’s representatives are easily able to help your members through the renewal process if they experience any hang-ups. Member service representatives are there to help your members regardless of what the problem might be so make sure they are aware of any and all solutions.

Make it discounted.

Plenty of renewal reminders are sent throughout the year for memberships, donations, and more from various organizations. This makes it tough on some people as they will need to choose which memberships they can afford (and find valuable enough) to renew. If your association can manage to cut the cost slightly, or offer an incentive to members who renew, this will draw people in and get people renewed before the big “renewal year-end rush” – a win/win!.

VP Demand Creation Services works with numerous associations that have unique renewal processes. Let us help you increase your renewal rate like we did for the Small Business Association of Michigan.

Article written by:

Kelly Adamson

Circulation