S6E1 | most common issues owning memberships and how to solve them

“The attitude I would have is: what if 10 people sign up, but these are the 10 people that stick with you for years and years to come? What is the lifetime value of that customer? And what if 10 people come in and they give you testimonials and social proof that then you can use to help market your membership site here on out?”

Membership sites…are they freedom or are they a problem? 

I’ve worked with membership sites for a long time, whether I was building them, developing them, marketing them, consulting for them, promoting them, launching them…you name it. And in my experience, there’s a lot of misconceptions when it comes to membership sites. So let’s dive into them. 

A question I get asked a lot is: ‘what if I create a membership and only a few people show up?’ And sure, that could be a problem. Why create content over and over again for just a handful of people? 

Well, when I started my membership site in 2019, my goal was to get 20 people. After my launch, I got 97 people to join. My launch wasn’t anything crazy, it was a founding member’s launch. I asked people what they would want from a membership site, and then I created that offer within 16 days and launched it. In the first five minutes of my Facebook Live where I was talking about it, 8 people signed up. I hit my target of 20 by the time the call ended. 

I did that with a founding members launch, which offered a lower cost, and that really helped to get people on board. So what if only a handful of people show up? What if these few people stick with you for years and years to come? Think of the lifetime value of each customer, and how much their testimonials and social proof can contribute. Their feedback can help you to make a membership site that more and more people will want to join. So look at the possibilities down the road before worrying too much about the numbers. 

Another problem people have is that they feel like they’re constantly creating content. You keep creating new offers, or maybe you’ve promised people a new video or new ebook every month. One possibility is to bulk create your content. So maybe every three months you set aside a day or two to create all your content, and then you’re done for the next three months. Then you can schedule it all out, sit back, and you’re set. That strategy works well for me with my membership groups. 

Sometimes people will feel like they’re constantly marketing their membership. But guess what? If you didn’t have a membership, you’d constantly have to be marketing something, because the money is going to have to come from somewhere. But with membership you have the freedom to sell once, and then you’re good for months or years to come, because you know the lifetime value of one person. Membership also provides you with a predictable income, which can help you breathe a little easier when it comes time to pay the bills. 

I hope this episode helped to address some of the most common concerns I hear about membership sites, and helped to give you a new perspective!