10 Creative Strategies to Cut Through the Clutter

2. Test a relevant premium early in membership renewal.
Some favor reserving premiums for new-member acquisition or a notice late in a membership renewal series when you want an added boost to help persuade people to join or renew. But we have good reasons to rethink this these days:

• In this current economic climate our members, even our best ones, are more likely to lapse.
• It’s always easier and less expensive to retain a member than to find a brand-new one, and that’s only magnified in this economy.

Guard against this by testing bringing a good, relevant premium offer into your membership renewal dialogue (i.e., don’t just reserve it for acquisition), and introduce your offer early in the renewal dialogue (i.e., don’t just save it for the seventh notice).