Keep BUNDLED Memberships from being Bungled Memberships

I just returned from Vancouver where I spoke at the CESSE Annual Conference. What a fantastic conference in a fantastic city.

One of the two sessions I spoke on was "Creating Irresistible Bundling Packages for Ultimate Member/Customer Value." I was fortunate to be speaking with my good friends Richard Fischer, Naylor LLC, and Jim Warren, FMA.

As I lead off the session, my portion was composed of what "bundling" is and recommendations of "do's and don'ts" which I'll now share with you.

What is Bundling?

Bundling refers most commonly to the “inclusion or addition” of other memberships, products or services to the basic membership offer.  It “is” a tried and true way to recruit more members and sell more products

Why Consider its Use?

Allows an association to add “immediate real or perceived value” to the membership offer, helps overcome possible objectives to join – (value add), and helps sell other products or services at the point of the initial membership sale. It also Helps differiate your offer vs. competitors and can be used for market or product expansion.

Items Typically Bundled?

Additional memberships, books or publications, conference ttendance (#1, MGI Benchmark Survey) and just about anything of value can be considered.

If you're unsure as to what items to bundle, a quick look at the results of the soon to be released 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey indicated that organizations with members in the following activities were more likely to have renewal rates over 80% compared to organizations that did not offer these programs:

• attendance at annual convention
• attendance at a professional development meeting
• attendance at a webinar
• volunteering
• participation in the private social network
• participation in young professionals program
• purchase of a book or directory, certification, insurance, or other miscellaneous non-dues product or service

Picking the wrong bundle can harm the offer, so before you choose, a good rule of thumb is to:

• Ask Members or Prospects What They Want
• Look at Buying Trends, Can 1+1 =3?
• Know the economics – “don’t give away the store”
• Understand that "An offer to good to believe” may not be believed
• and as always...Test, Test, Test

I want to thank Rick Whelan, President of MGI, for his advice and counsel on this information. If you don't know Rick, I suggest you find a few minutes and introduce yourself. He is a great guy to work with and "bat ideas around." Tell him that I sent you.

If your association offers bundled memberships, perhaps you'll describe what they are and your experiences with them?

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President & Strategist for Marketing General Incorporated. He can be reached at (703) 706-0358 or via email at Erik@MarketingGeneral.com 

 

  

Great article cited in Collloquy

I always talk about the "power of ego" as an important tool in membership marketing. Here is a great article written by Aline Ostrowski Share and posted in Colloquy on 4/12/2011 that I think clearly addresses this and brings some clarity to the topic. If you're interested, here is the post address
http://blog.colloquy.com/2011/04/12/ego-power-of-status-incremental-business/

Ego + Power of Status = Incremental Business

by Aline Ostrowski Share

Although we all like to claim that we do not care about silly things like our position in society or our status among our colleagues, but admit it … we all have an ego that needs to be fed in some form. For some status is defined by designer clothing or a fancy car. For others, like me, it is all about the recognition of being a VIC (Very Important Customer). It is not that I think that I am better than anyone else, but it sure is nice to be recognized and rewarded for the continued business and patronage that I pay to select brands.

The truth is that it is not the status that makes me loyal to a brand. However, the experiences that the status enables makes me more loyal and makes me consolidate my spending. And the brands that do it right are those brands that take full advantage of a customer’s status to provide a set of experiences that continually endear customers. It is not status that drives loyalty, but the continual special experiences that foster preference and trust – two core elements of loyalty.

As a road warrior, I have the benefit of getting my ego stroked by my favorite brands. But the memorable experiences are those that come from being a VIC and the special thanks from these brands. Two quick examples to illustrate are: 

• My favorite airline works hard to keep me happy. As a VIC I get the usual perks of boarding first, the occasional upgrade to first class, and special offers to use my points. Recently, however, I had a mix-up in flights that was of my own doing – the response from the customer service agent was just delightful. And although I did not get home any sooner than I had hoped, I was wowed by the efforts that this customer service agent made to try to help me out.  
• When I check into my hotel of choice each week, I am greeted with smiles from the employees – they know me by name as if I were a celebrity. But the true test is when I go to another location of my favorite hotel, one that is not my home-away from home, and I am still greeted with the friendliness and appreciation that I am use to.

 Great experiences and as a VIC I feel nice, but “did it impact my purchase behavior?” you ask? Yes it has – even I, a loyalty veteran, am influenced… not because of the points, but because of how I am treated. I paid extra for my spring break trip this year just to fly with my preferred airline, because I trust that should something go wrong that they will take care of me and my family. And when traveling for other company business, I choose my regular hotel chain first even though I may be across the street from colleagues who are in another hotel.

Everyone has an ego – what are you doing to stoke the egos of your VICs? How are you making them feel when they engage with your brand or through your loyalty program?

You can have the best program in the world, but it will only be moderately successful if you do not feed the egos of your VICs or potential VICs.

Let me know what you think.

Erik's Experts in Membership Marketing Blog is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President of Marketing General, Inc. For more information, contact Erik at Erik@marketinggeneral.com

The difference between Membership and Loyalty

I often speak with corporate marketers about developing programs that increase the level of engagement between their customers and their business. Usually they end up saying something like "...we already have a loyalty program."

Well, a loyalty program is very different than a membership program.

Wikipedia defines a Loyalty Program as "...structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior — behavior which is potentially of benefit to the firm."^[

The focus of the relationship is one dimensional being only based upon 'buying' or simply transactions.

Membership is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.

With membership, the customer also buys into the "mission" of the organization and is aptly '"rewarded" for this both by the organization as well as by his/her own good feelings of accomplishment. Membership uses the individuals need to be part of something bigger, to leave a legacy, to develop a loyalty that far surpasses anything a simple "loyalty program" can achieve.

This is what corporations should be aspiring to. Jimmy Buffet, KISS, Apple, the list goes on. These corporate brands have taken loyalty to the level of membership. Their customers 'identify' with them and THAT drives sales. The sales are indicative of the loyalty - but not the whole shabang.