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8 Reasons Why Your Online Membership Platform Is Missing the Mark

Nov 24, 2022 | E-Commerce | 0 comments

If you have an online membership platform, you’re wondering how to attract more members.

Photo by Samantha Borges on Unsplash

After all, the best membership platforms are already attracting new members and growing their numbers by leaps and bounds. So how do you get ahead? 

You need to offer something compelling that will compel people to sign up for your service or product. 

I’ve highlighted the mistakes you should not make in the future to help your membership website perform better. 

8 Worst Mistakes You’re Making On Your Membership Platform

Many aspects include creating offerings, such as marketing strategy and pricing structure. One of the most vital is having an online membership platform built on solid tech foundations that can withstand heavy usage—and even growth!

You are making the following mistakes in your membership platform:

Your content is unattractive.

Content is king. It’s the most important thing you have to offer, and it should be engaging, relevant, and valuable for your members.

Your content should be easy to find and read, high quality with a clean design that makes sense for your website or app (if you’re building one). 

You want people to fall in love with your brand by being able to share their favorite pieces of information from whatever medium(s) they use. Whether that’s Facebook posts, podcasts, or Tweets, you don’t want your membership website to stay behind. 

After creating excellent content, you should follow up on conversions when they’re ready for more information about what makes them tick as potential customers/members!

Your target audience is too broad.

A membership platform is a great way to bring together the people who want to use your product, but it’s not the right choice for everyone. If you’re trying to be everything, you’ll end up being nothing. 

You need to decide what kind of member experience you want your members to have and focus on that one thing instead of trying to do everything else.

A good rule of thumb is: if someone can get what they need from another source, why would they join yours? If someone wants convenience and affordability with their membership, why would they join yours instead?

So, try to make a target audience-oriented platform that attracts the right audience.

You don’t market your offering.

Marketing is essential to any business, but it’s especially crucial for online membership platforms. 

You must ensure that people know about your offering and can find it on their mobile phones or computers. It’s also critical that they have a good impression of your company when they join—and you need to market!

Here are some tips to avoid marketing mistakes:

  • Create content around the product or service to increase potential clients’ awareness. Your content should be informative, engaging, and helpful. It should help customers decide whether they should sign up with your platform (or anything else). 
  • If possible, include videos or images to give viewers a better understanding of what kind of quality experience awaits them when signing up through this channel. 
  • Don’t forget about keywords, either! Think about how many searches come up whenever someone types “online membership platform” into the Google search engine (or any other search engine). Then add those phrases into one paragraph under each video title so visitors know exactly what kind.
  • Invest in customisable designs for your website. This will help you create a unique and memorable look for your membership platform that appeals to potential customers. Additionally, consider investing in subscription website templates to make the process of building your platform easier. This will also ensure that your website is optimised for mobile devices and other platforms.

You are not engaging your audience.

The first step to a successful membership website is engaging your audience. You must build a community around your content and engage them through social media, email, and live events.

You can’t do this alone—you’ll need the help of an expert in the field who understands how people interact with each other online.

So, consider hiring a social media expert. 

Your website is difficult to navigate.

When you think about how people use your site, you imagine them clicking from one piece of content to another. 

They want a simple, easy-to-navigate experience that lets them find what they are looking for, but this requires some thoughtfulness in the design of your site.

Your pricing structure is confusing.

When you look at a membership platform, you may see that your customers have different options: monthly, annual, and lifetime memberships. But what does each one mean? And how do they differ from each other? 

Let’s review some of the most common types of membership plans to help you understand their differences better.

The Monthly Membership Plan.

This one-time payment entitles users to access your product or service for an entire month (or another). 

For example: Suppose someone wanted to use WordPress as their blog platform but didn’t want it anymore after 30 days had passed. They could cancel their account anytime without having paid anything extra once they decided not to use it anymore. 

The Annual Membership Plan.

Similar concept as the monthly membership, except that users pay annually instead of once every 30 days.

The Lifetime Membership Plan.

This type provides unlimited access across many platforms/services within your organization and all future updates released by developers over time.

Subscriptions vs. Recurring Payments.

A subscription means paying upfront before using something regularly. In contrast, recurring payments occur every month without having any prepayment required beforehand (e g subscriptions).

You don’t provide enough tech support.

Your membership platform will not hit the right spot if it doesn’t provide enough tech support.

Tech support is a necessity for your members. It’s essential not to them but also to you—and if you want to keep them as customers for life. 

Why would someone bother using your service if your organization doesn’t offer tech support and only asks for money when there are issues? It’s no wonder that many people prefer using other systems over yours!

There are two ways tech support can be provided: by the organization or by third-party providers. Both options have pros and cons, so choosing the best method is best.

For example, if I were setting up an online membership platform where new users could sign up and receive discounts by buying merchandise through my website every month. Then offering 24/7 telephone help might not be necessary due to how automated most transactions would be. However, if you’re using third party print on demand service, make sure to always choose companies with good service reviews.

Suppose you were selling books through the Amazon Kindle Store. In that case, having someone available 8 am-10 pm every day during peak periods might make sense. Those times correspond with when people do most shopping online.

Your call to action is not compelling.

Your website and email newsletter are essential selling tools for your online membership platform. That’s why consider filling these pages with high-quality content that drives people toward making a decision. 

If your calls to action aren’t clear, then how will you get them engaged? 

For people to click on your CTA (call-to-action), they need to know what you want them to do next and why they should take action now instead of waiting until later or never.

Tips to Consider While Creating a Membership Platform

Research your Market.

Find out if any existing businesses are like what you want to offer. You can find this information by looking at sites like BuiltWith (http://www.builtwith.com/) and Similar Web (http://similarweb.com/) or Google searches using terms like “online membership platform.”

Identify your target audience.

Before creating your membership platform, it’s essential to consider your target audience.

The first step in creating a membership platform is understanding your potential members’ needs. The critical question you’ll need to ask yourself is, “Who are my potential members?”

You can find this information by looking at the demographics of your website visitors or using a tool like Google Analytics. You can also ask customers for feedback about your site experience.

Create Shareable and Consumable Content.

Once you have determined your audience, the next step is to think about the type of content they want to see most often. 

The most popular types of content on social media are links, quotes, and videos. 

Additionally, your participation on various social media platforms and your marketing initiatives can have a beneficial impact on sales and increase the number of new members you sign up for your company. If you implement the campaign and carry out all the necessary steps, you will also be able to increase sales. You may link salesforce Google Analytics to learn which marketing campaign generates the most leads and money.

Suppose you’re trying to build a strong following for your business or brand. In that case, you must provide these types of content.

The key is to provide this type of content and make sure it’s easy for users to share with their friends and followers. 

If you write blogs, use short sentences and paragraphs so that users can get through their reading. 

If you have longer pieces of content (e.g., articles), break them into smaller chunks along with headings and subheadings to help guide users through.

Set up a chat or forum.

A forum is a great way to involve your audience in the conversation. It’s easy to set up, and you can use it for any purpose, from product launches to community engagement.

A chat is much like a forum but focuses on one-to-one conversations with individuals. You can use a chat as a way to engage with your audience or as a tool for gathering feedback on specific topics.

Choose your web host and domain name.

Choosing your web host and domain name before creating a membership platform is important to ensure success. There are many different domain extensions, such as .com, .net, .org, .biz etc. 

You can choose a domain name using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner tool or Keyword Tool Pro.

After deciding how your site looks, it is time to choose the hosting company that will host your website. Many web hosts are available, from affordable shared hosting through cloud computing to dedicated servers. 

Choose wisely based on what features you need for your website and how much money you want to put in on monthly hosting fees.

Pro Tip: Try using a host that provides unmetered bandwidth to ensure your site can handle all the traffic it will receive. 

If possible, have some traffic testing done on your site so that you know exactly how many visitors will be coming through each month and what their average

Grow an email list before the launch.

You want to grow an email list before your online membership platform launches. How do you do it?

One way is to use an email marketing software. When you build a platform that integrates with a CRM, you can create lists based on lead information from your CRM.

Another way is to use a third-party service with an extensive database of email addresses which can help you contact potential leads.

You’ll want to confirm that the company you’re thinking of using will work with the type of membership program you’re planning on launching (free vs. paid vs. etc.). You should also confirm that they have a large enough database for their services.

Always Have a Plan B

Never create an online membership platform without a backup plan. You can never be too sure of the future or what will happen to your business. 

If you do not have a plan B, you will be left scrambling when something goes wrong, and you need to get your site running again.

Having a backup plan for your business is vital for many reasons. It can be the difference between making it through a crisis or not. 

Suppose you don’t have a backup plan, and something happens to the company that could cause you to lose everything.

If you don’t have a backup plan, you won’t know what to do if things go wrong. You may even end up in bankruptcy or foreclosure and lose the business altogether. If this happens, it will become difficult for anyone else to take over your position as CEO or owner of the company.

Conclusion

People worldwide use online membership platforms for various purposes like selling courses, creating learning management systems, and many more. You can use a membership platform to provide content access to only subscribed people. 

It’s easy to get caught up in running an online membership platform and forget about your customers. Make sure you keep up-to-date with what your members need to know and stay on top of any changes in technology or content marketing trends. 

Your website will be more effective if you support new and existing members. Commitment to customer service should be the core of everything you do as an online membership platform owner.

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