446 - How to Spot If Someone Is At Risk of Leaving Your Membership

In this episode, I dive into one of the toughest aspects of running a membership business: spotting the signs that someone is about to leave your membership.

I discuss the clear and subtle warning signals you need to watch for and share practical strategies you can use to proactively re-engage at-risk members before it’s too late.

From leveraging technology to understanding behavioral patterns and key milestones, I aim to give you actionable steps to strengthen your retention strategy and keep your community thriving.

In this episode:

• What are the warning signs that indicate a member might be at risk of cancelling their membership?
• How can you use technology and data to identify members who are becoming disengaged?
• What are the common “off ramps” or critical moments when cancellations are most likely to occur—and how can you address them?
• Which proactive steps can you take to re-engage at-risk members and boost your overall retention rates?

Key Quotes & Takeaways:

"If someone has come and said, I think I might need to go, the worst thing you can do is ignore it or dismiss it, or treat it with hostility. Even if their specific issue can't be fixed overnight. Just taking the time to listen, to respond quickly and with care can be the difference between them leaving or deciding to stick around a little longer."

"Technology can help you to flag these things. Some software and plugins will have reporting features that will show you when someone last logged in. Some learning management systems will actually show you how long since someone completed at a lesson. You can use tools like WP Fusion, which is fantastic in enabling you to not only add tags to members that haven't logged in for a while, but also let you add a tag when someone completes a lesson or views a piece of content."

"But if you can reach out with something personal and supportive that can make the difference. Remind them that you're there. Remind them that you have resources, you have tools, you are a support service that you can help them out."

"Retention in memberships is not just about reacting when someone hits the cancellation button. Often when someone's hitting cancel, it's already too late. Retention is all about being proactive, having your eyes open, having your finger on the pulse, knowing what to look for and taking small but meaningful steps to re engage those members before it's too late."

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