Your members live in a subscription economy. Many of them pay auto-renewing monthly fees to watch movies (Netflix), listen to music (Spotify), cook dinner (Blue Apron), or enhance their wardrobe (Stitch Fix). Would some of them do the same for association membership? The data says yes. View Slides >>
A monthly auto-renewal payment plan allows a member to join your association for the price of lunch and start receiving benefits immediately. Join us to determine if auto-renewal membership is right for your association. We’ll discuss the benefits, the pitfalls and how to get started and/or optimize your current auto-renewal and monthly installment processes.
Mark Jones, CAE, President of enSYNC Corporation says:
“We can work on more valuable member services than being a billing administrative association in which we’re spending all our time kicking dues notices.”
Auto Renewals in the Association World
- 29% offer automatic renewals and 41% offer installment plans
- 23% of members would opt into auto-renewal plans if offered
- 26% didn’t renew because employers wouldn’t pay/stopped paying the member’s dues
- 19% of members didn’t renew because they simply forgot to do so
- 50% improved member satisfaction and retention after offering auto-renewals
7 Reasons to Love Auto Renewals
- Offer members a more affordable plan: The initial cost of joining an association can seem like a formidable outlay of funds for many prospects. A one-time dues payment of $325 can be a deal-breaker for many, but is much easier to manage if you only have to pay $28/month.
- Eliminate barriers to joining decision: We’re less retrained with our money when we spend it in small increments. A monthly auto-renewal payment plan allows a member to join your association for the price of lunch and start receiving benefits immediately.
- Make life simpler for members: The great thing about automatic renewals is members can set it and forget it. They don’t have to worry about a service interruption if they forget to pay. And, they don’t have to complete forms and gather approval signatures to get a check cut every time.
- Give your members options: Everyone appreciates having options. Some members would rather pay their dues all at once because their employer prefers it that way. However, others appreciate having a more budget-friendly option.
- Free up association staff time: Association staff love auto-renewal payment plans because they reduce the amount of time spent on the renewal process. You no longer have to spend time developing and sending renewal emails, making renewal calls, and finding out where invoices ended up/need to be paid by the employer.
- Eliminate unintentional non-renewal: With auto-renewal, you don’t have to worry about dues invoices ending up on the wrong desk. And, as long as their credit card works, you don’t have to worry about members in transition who forget to send a new mailing or email address.
- Enjoy predictable revenue stream: The business world has taken to the subscription model because it provides recurring revenue each month and a steady predictable revenue flow throughout the year. Best of all, according to a enSYNC survey, half of associations offering automatic renewal or installment plans reported improved member satisfaction and retention.
Are Auto Renewals Right for Your Association?
- Know who pays for your members’ dues
- Know how members prefer to pay dues
- Poll your members to gauge interest
- Make sure your organization and partners are PCI Compliant
- Communicate security efforts to ensure trust
