A successful and sustainable association relies on retaining its members. One key strategy for boosting member retention is sending timely, effective renewal reminders.
By leveraging email and push notification automation through your association management software (AMS), you can ensure members receive the right message at the optimal time to encourage them to renew.
Here are 7 best practices to follow when crafting your automated renewal reminder campaigns:
Key Takeaways
- Segment your member lists based on factors like membership tier, engagement level, and interests to deliver highly targeted and relevant renewal reminders that resonate.
- Personalize your reminder emails and push notifications with details like the member's name, expiration date, and past involvement to build a stronger connection.
- Implement a strategic reminder sequence starting at least 30 days before expiration, with multiple touchpoints that guide members toward renewing.
- Highlight tangible membership benefits, popular resources, and exciting upcoming initiatives in your reminders to reinforce the value of staying involved.
- Simplify the renewal process with one-click options, mobile-friendly forms, and self-service portals to remove barriers and friction for members.
- Bonus Takeaway: Streamline and automate your entire renewal reminder workflow by leveraging a comprehensive AMS like Glue Up, which provides advanced features for segmentation, personalization, multi-channel campaigns, payment processing, and performance analytics tailored for associations.
1. Segment Your Member Lists
Not all members are alike.
Segmenting your lists based on factors like membership tier, length of membership, engagement level, and interests allows you to tailor your messaging for maximum impact.
For example, you might send a different sequence of reminders to first-year members vs. long-time loyal members. Or offer an exclusive renewal discount to your most engaged segment.
List segmentation has been shown to boost email open rates by 14% and drive 77% of ROI from email marketing (Hubspot).
2. Personalize Your Reminders
Personalization goes hand-in-hand with segmentation. Use merge tags to dynamically insert each member's name, membership expiration date, and other relevant details into your reminder emails and push notifications.
A personalized subject line that includes the member's name can increase open rates by 26% (Hubspot). Also, mentioning details like their joining date or last event attended shows you value their relationship with your association.
3. Craft a Strategic Reminder Sequence
Instead of relying on a single reminder, develop a sequence of 3-4 touchpoints that guide members toward renewing:
- 30 days before expiration: Send a friendly "heads up" email
- 14 days before expiration: Share a list of their membership benefits and an easy renewal link
- 3 days before expiration: Provide a "last chance" notice with a clear call to action
- 1 day after expiration: Let them know their benefits have been paused but it's not too late to reactivate
Of course, stop the sequence if they renew along the way! Setting up this flow in your AMS ensures no one slips through the cracks.
4. Highlight the Value of Membership
Your renewal reminders should do more than ask members to renew—they should remind members WHY they should renew.
What are the key benefits only available to members? What have they taken advantage of in the past that they'd miss out on if they let their membership lapse?
Here are some ideas you can consider:
- Mention popular resources they've accessed like white papers or webinar recordings
- Showcase a roundup of valuable events they attended in the past year
- Remind them of their member-only discounts on certification courses or conferences
- Share a list of exciting new benefits or initiatives on the horizon
The more you can highlight the tangible value and tap into FOMO (fear of missing out), the more motivated members will be to renew promptly.
5. Make Renewal Easy with One-Click Options
The harder you make it for members to renew, the less likely they are to follow through. Every extra form field or step in the process increases the risk that they will abandon it.
Streamline renewals by including a direct link to a pre-filled online form or enabling one-click renewal right within the email itself. If their payment details are already on file, see if you can set up an automatic recurring payment option they can opt into.
Your AMS may also provide members with a self-service portal where they can log in, review their membership details, and renew in just a click or two.
Make sure your reminders link to this page and walk members through the steps.
6. Offer Support & Flexible Options
While the majority of your members will likely renew online with no trouble, some may need a little extra assistance.
Provide a way for them to reach out if they have questions or issues, whether by replying to the reminder email, calling a dedicated phone number, or chatting with a team member on your website.
You may also want to offer flexibility for members who are on the fence about renewing. Could you provide a monthly payment plan option? A 3-month extension before full renewal is required? Or let them pause their membership for a brief period and restart on demand?
Showing understanding and accommodating members' needs can go a long way to retaining them.
7. Test, Measure & Optimize Over Time
Like any member communication, your renewal reminders should be viewed as an iterative process. Don't just set them up once and let them run on autopilot indefinitely.
Continually monitor key metrics like email open rates, click-through rates, and of course, renewal rates.
A/B tests different subject lines, calls-to-action, images, and sequences to see what performs best. And don't forget to QA your automation regularly to check for any outdated information or broken links.
It can also be helpful to gather qualitative feedback by surveying or interviewing members. Ask what motivated them to renew or what made them hesitate. See if any questions came up that you could proactively answer in your reminders.
The more you know about what resonates with your members, the more effective you can make future campaigns.
Automate Renewal Reminders with an All-in-One AMS
Implementing these renewal reminders best practices is made much simpler with a robust association management platform like Glue Up. Rather than juggling disparate tools for email, landing pages, forms, and payment processing,
Glue Up centralizes everything you need to execute an automated renewal campaign from start to finish.
With Glue Up's AMS, you can:
- Segment lists and personalize content using a simple drag-and-drop interface
- Pre-schedule your renewal emails
- Send both emails and mobile push notifications for multichannel impact
- Process payments and update member records automatically
- Track results and surface optimization insights through built-in analytics
Consolidating your renewal workflow in one system not only saves your team time and eliminates missed steps, but also creates a seamless experience for members. From the first reminder to successful renewal, they'll appreciate how easy you've made staying connected to your association.
See for yourself why thousands of associations worldwide rely on Glue Up to engage and retain their members while growing their revenue. Book a personalized demo today to learn how our all-in-one AMS can level up your renewal reminder strategy.
