Lapsed Member Campaign

Situation

At the conclusion of a membership organization's annual renewal campaign, it had not heard back from 30% of its members, leaving several hundred thousand dollars in dues revenue in limbo.

Lapsed member campaigns can help your association understand a person's intent to renew or reinstate their membership. There is always a reason someone did not continue their membership, and often if you're willing to have the conversation with that former member, they will communicate why they left. Sometimes, that reason is as simple as they forgot and a conversational check-in can cut through the noise even when all your past due notices have gone unnoticed.

Action

There is always a reason someone did not continue their membership. It might be as simple as they forgot—even for months. But to find out what that reason is, you need to make contact with them. The organization enrolled 537 contacts from 92 lapsed member organizations in a campaign to inquire about their organization's intention to renew and drive action. The campaign consisted of email messages asking one of several simple questions:

• Did you know your membership expired?

• Why is your organization hesitating to renew?

• Is there anything we can do to help you reinstate your membership?

Each message featured click to answer buttons right in the email making it essentially effortless for recipients to respond.

Result

Out of the 92 organizations enrolled in the campaign, 37 (40%) had at least one contact engage with the campaign. Within the four weeks that the campaign ran, staff regained direct contact with 36 member organizations (39%), helping them facilitate reinstatement. The check-ins yielded a 6% average response rate, but more importantly it spurred the new or existing primary contact from these member organizations to email or call the membership team directly, establishing the personal connection needed to get the relationship back on track.