Creating a valuable membership program beyond the exhibit

Membership programs and donors are two of the largest sources of revenue for not-for-profits and museums.   These organizations typically reward members with free admission, early access, and other perks to encourage visitation and create value.  However, many of these member benefits require being at a physical location to take advantage of them. In 2018, an estimated 24% of online transactions were made using mobile devices, as a result of covid and changing consumer expectations, that number will only increase. 2018 Consumer Survey. In the Covid era, as more and more patrons and museum supporters move online, can museums translate the membership experience online?  With the right software, yes, you can!

As consumers shift to a digital, subscription-oriented, and green-conscious world, the competitive response is optimizing convenience.

Offer pre-booking for members.

Though many museums offer free admission and entry for members, it requires an in-person validation to provide benefits. Offering a scheduling and pre-booking widget on your website that recognizes and provides discounts for members is one way to optimize your experience and embrace digitization.

Offer customizable membership tiers and billing options.

Are you offering multiple payments and membership tiers for your donors and members? bLoyal’s research suggests that only offering a one-size fits all membership and donation program is not maximizing your membership value.  Some customers will want to donate and contribute small amounts monthly, while others will want to pay for an entire membership in advance.  Traditionally, it would have been a challenge to offer and enable memberships digitally and in-person, but with bLoyal, you can offer as many membership tiers and benefits as you would like.

Offer multi-channel signup

It is clear the museum industry is following other consumer trends, going digital and mobile.  Although generally based locally, most museums have an online audience that is much larger than individuals that will come through your doors in any given year. Thus, being mobile and online compatible is paramount.  Offering a secure online membership signup option expands your member pool to your digital audience.   Through bLoyal you can embed a mobile-friendly, secure sign-up form directly in your website that enables auto billing.

Offer an event sign up

Knowledge is power especially when it comes to information about upcoming exhibits. Capturing the contact information of your digital audience enables you to keep in constant contact with information about upcoming exhibits. Combining this with free-membership entry and pre-booking for your highest donors and members provides even more value to your loyalty program.

Offer Gift Memberships

Grandparents and friends want to provide gifts that help children grow intellectually or simply enjoy great entertainment. Offering a gift membership option enables these audiences to pay for a child’s or friend’s membership easily and securely.

Offer defined membership onboarding and up-selling communications

Successful nonprofit and museum membership programs require dynamic customer segmentation and journey mapping.

At a minimum, you should define multiple stages of a membership lifecycle and create associated communications, for example:

• First-time Visitor. The customer considers becoming a subscriber and returning to your establishment.
• Returning Visitor- evaluates your membership proposition.
• Member Activation- Becomes an active member and starts to use their benefits.
• Member Evaluation/Onboarding- This is widely accepted to be the first 30 days of membership. Within this stage, members will determine if the value of their membership is worth it.
• Active Member- Continued communication and donation.
• Renewal
• Member Churn.

NFPs with established membership programs will identify, engage, and understand customers at each stage of the member journey.

A successful membership program requires the resources, features, and tools to create dynamic and convenient offerings to convert prospects to lifelong members.

With the bLoyal platform, it is possible, to pre-select and automate all these customer journeys and associated communications, so that you can identify the right up-sell strategy and capture and retain your members. We are here to help all non-profits, attract, engage, and understand their donor and customer base through dynamic membership and communication programs.

Contact us today and start building life-long members.