429 - The Hidden Costs of Legacy Pricing (And What to Do About It)

In this episode of the Membership Geeks Podcast, I dive deep into the topic of legacy pricing for membership businesses—a practice I’ve long advocated, but one that can pose major challenges as your membership grows and evolves.

I discuss the benefits and pitfalls of letting members lock in their original pricing, explore when legacy pricing stops serving your business, and outline strategies for dealing with long-term members who are paying far less than new signups.

If your membership has gone through significant changes over the years, this episode will help you navigate the often-tricky conversation around updating your pricing structure while staying fair to your most loyal members.

In this episode:

• What is legacy pricing, and why has it traditionally been seen as a best practice for member retention and conversions?
• When does legacy pricing begin to work against you and your membership business, rather than for you?
• How can you fairly and effectively address the issue of long-term members paying outdated rates, especially when your offering has fundamentally changed?
• What are the practical options and communication strategies for transitioning legacy members to new pricing, and how can you do this while maintaining trust and goodwill?

Key Quotes & Takeaways:

"The fact that I would lose out on that legacy pricing, the fact that if I left and then came back in the future would mean I'd be paying a lot more. That can be enough of an incentive for me to not cancel, for me to leave my membership active for a month or two, even if I'm real busy, in order to hold on to that really advantageous, really attractive legacy pricing."

"So instead of going from $20 a month to $80 a month, you maybe go $20 to $50 a month, and they're locked in at that rate. So you acknowledge their loyalty by giving them still a significant discount, but you also acknowledge the fact that the product has changed, and you're taking care of them essentially by saying, you know, what you're paying for now, this is a total different product."

"You can take the original offer as a basic tier whereby what people get at that level more closely resembles what was originally offered at the time those members signed up."

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