Publishers often overlook new members as a crucial group of subscribers. Focusing on getting members to renew after the first and second years of membership can be critical to the success of subscription sales. Studies show that by the third year, members are very likely to become long-term members, renewing every year. This article provides tips for converting new members into long-term subscribers.

In order to engage new members, try implementing a member welcome letter. In this letter, it is important to resell your membership; you should convey what a great decision the new member has made in joining your organization. You should also work to make contact with members who are in their first two years of membership every month and encourage additional interactions between the new member and your society.

Here are some ideas to help your society encourage member–association interactions:

• Launch a survey the results of which your members will want to know. Make the results available only to survey participants.
• Have members upload favorite pictures from annual meetings or other events to the society website.
• Each week, create a short article that highlights a member and his or her contribution to the association or industry and include information on the member’s family, talents, and hobbies. Publish it on the front page of your website, in the journal, or in a newsletter.
• E-mail five active members about a special, limited-time offer on one of your society’s products and ask them to forward it to a few of their friends.
• Send a handwritten thank-you note to one or more of your society’s biggest promoters.
• Celebrate your members’ successes—their grants, awards, new degrees, promotions, and so forth—by announcing their accomplishments to the membership.
• Initiate an “anniversary campaign” to celebrate members for their years of membership.
• Schedule a walk/run at annual meetings. Research has shown that walking with another person fosters agreement and mutual appreciation.
• Offer free webinars with quick-hit information on cutting-edge topics. Make these webinars free for members, but charge nonmembers a modest fee.
• Use video testimonials of different members talking about how they have personally and professionally benefitted from being a part of your organization.
• Create opportunities for members to give feedback online and acknowledge that feedback.

In a recent survey of former members, a national scientific association asked, “What is the primary reason you allowed your membership to lapse?” Surprisingly, nearly 30% of respondents answered that they were unaware that they hadn’t renewed. In other words, 30% of its lapsed members­—individuals who wanted to stay in the organization—were dropped because they either did not recall being asked to renew or thought they had already paid their dues. Here are some ways to make sure that does not happen to your organization.

Your first challenge is to grab your members’ attention. To do this, you need to use multiple means and increased contact to retain members. A renewal campaign should use mail, e-mail, and phone and should have ten or more contacts to achieve optimum results. We have seen that just starting our renewal schedule earlier and adding two additional mailings significantly increases responses for some clients.

However, redundant mailings are easy to ignore. Change the look of your mailing pieces to get people to notice your message. This raises the cost slightly, but improved response rates will offset any increases.

Your renewal pieces should lead with the key benefit of belonging to your association. Remember to make it about them, not you. A great way to do that is to highlight one specific program or benefit in each renewal communication to constantly underscore the value of the membership.

Build urgency whenever possible; try to motivate members to act now so that your renewal notice doesn’t just sit in their “Maybe Later” pile. This motivation can be in the form of offering an early-bird discount to those who renew before a certain date, or an early-bird incentive that is something of value, such as a free special publication. Limited availability also makes a powerful proposition. For example, say “Call now: the first 40 people to renew will be get 25% off their annual meeting registration.”

Do not stop trying. How many efforts should be in your renewal schedule? When do you stop? The general rule is: “Keep mailing until response is no longer profitable.”

Do not let your renewal series become a sleeping dragon. Spending more time and attention on this important membership source will pay off.

Exit surveys should be an important part of your renewal campaign. They provide useful insight into a member's reasons for not renewing their membership, which is important information for planning the future of your organization. It can also help you ascertain in which category a former member belongs: lapsed, defector, or gone for good.