Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

Despite my protests over the years, I’m ready to admit that there are a few instances where it is a good idea to use a closed door membership model.Some of them are very niche, some of them require a few “ifs” and asterisks, but they are entirely valid and are all better suited to a closed door model.This episode is well worth checking out if you’re just starting out or if you’re trying new things with your membership. It could make a foundational difference to the way you run your membership!Essential Learning Points:What the difference is between closed door and evergreen membership modelsThe six situations that suit a closed door membership model bestThe one universal truth that applies to every membership modelImportant Links & Mentions:5 Reasons Why I Dislike the Closed Door Membership Launch StrategyWhy You Should Run a Beta Test for Your Membership SiteCreating an MVP to Test and Validate Your Membership IdeaLean Live Launch strategyPromoting Your Membership Site with an Affiliate Program Key Quotes: “If your model uses cohorts – a set intake of students and schedule – then the closed door model is essential.” “If you’ve been running your membership for a year or two and you know that there is a clearly-defined off-season period – where demand subsides and sales drop – then you might be better served by taking sales and marketing out of the equation for that period.”“Whether you choose an evergreen model or the closed door approach, keep in mind that you still need to show up for your existing members.”

Community is often the heart of membership sites but working out the best way to introduce it to your membership isn’t as easy it might seem.Often, we see debates around how to host membership communities that end up focusing on quantity of engagement, rather than quality.Quantity isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not always what you’re actually aiming for.If you want to find the signal in the noise and determine the right community model for your membership site, you’re going to need to dig a little deeper into your purpose, your membership structure, and the goals your audience have.This episode of The Membership Guys podcast will help you do that digging!Essential Learning Points:What the Signal vs Noise ratio is in communities and why understanding the differentiation is importantWhy understanding your membership and its purpose is key to deciding the role your community should playWhat we have learned (and are still learning) about our own experiments with forums and Facebook groupsImportant Links & Mentions:Should I use a Forum or Facebook Group for my community?Do You REALLY Need to Add a Community to Your Membership?How to Add an Online Forum to your Membership WebsiteMembership Mastermind from The Membership GuysKey Quotes:“It is crucial to understand that activity and engagement are not the same thing.”“The importance of your signal to noise ratio will depend on how important community is to your membership.”“We’ve clearly defined the role of the forum and the Facebook group, and how the two connect. Because of that, we’re not experiencing any problems.” “The type of role that your community plays is entirely up to you and it’s going to be dependent on what you know will work best for your audience.”

Member retention is critical to the long-term success of your membership website.It costs 7-10 times more on average to win a new member than it does to hold on to an existing one; and if you’re losing more members than you bring in then your business won’t last long!In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, we’re giving you 21 quick tips for improvements you can make to your membership strategy in order to improve your member retention.

Every industry, topic and niche has its fair share of jargon.And memberships are no different.There’s already so much to juggle as a membership site owner, so the last thing you want to have to worry about is needing to wrap your head around all of the lingo!So to make it easier for you, we’ve rounded up the 9 key terms and phrases you need to know if you run a membership.

Facebook remarketing is one of the most exciting developments in online advertising in recent years. Now, instead of being limited to picking demographics and targeting options that we think relate to our target audience; we can actually leverage actual user behaviour to determine which ads they are shown.This enables us to show the right message to the right person at the right time, which dramatically improves the effectiveness of our Facebook ads.When it comes to membership sites, there are 6 key ways in which you can really leverage Facebook remarketing - and I'm sharing them all in this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast

Running a membership site is a juggling act. There’s a seemingly never-ending list of things to keep on top of; and with much of the focus revolving around things like producing content and marketing to bring in new members it’s easy to see why some of the basics get missed. However it’s often the relatively minor day to day activities that have the real impact on how successful a membership site is. In this episode I discuss 4 such activities you should make sure you’re doing each and every day in your membership

Social proof is a powerful, persuasive factor when it comes to making buying decisions. If we see others behaving in a particular way, buying a product or, say, joining a membership site; then we're far more inclined to follow suit. More and more, customers are basing their buying decisions on what other people recommend, rather than promotions, discounts and other sales tactics. In this episode, I share 7 ways that you can add social proof to your membership sales page.

Memberships are a marathon, not a sprint. Unlike other products where the sale is the end of the journey, with memberships it’s just the beginning. That “journey” – the Member Lifecycle – typically breaks down into 5 key stages: acquisition, onboarding, engagement, retention and reactivation. In this episode, we’re looking at each of these 5 stages and what they mean for you as a membership website owner.

Choosing the right membership plugin is a task that’s easier said than done. The fact that it can be a bit of a nightmare switching plugins after your membership has opened its doors is something which makes your decision even more important. There is no “one size fits all” best membership plugin for every situation, and so the process of deciding which to go with involves identifying your specific needs and then narrowing down the options; however making the final choice often requires you to dive deeper. To help you be sure you’re making the right choice, here are 8 questions you should ask before you purchase your membership plugin.    

Email automation can massively power up the marketing and operation of your membership site; enabling you to trigger various different actions and email sequences according to how your audience and your members behave. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I identify the 4 essential email automations that every membership website should have in place.