Renewal Campaign Guide

Renewal campaigns have a single goal - to get members to renew, and whenever possible, to do it early. Renewal campaigns remind members their membership is expiring and give them multiple opportunities to renew quickly and easily. This campaign will help to avoid lapses in membership to those who may not have been aware of their upcoming renewal date. It also helps uncover any hesitancies so you can address them prior to the member's expiration. Finally, a renewal campaign can let you know who has zero interest in renewing so you can focus your conversation on those who are more likely to renew. Like most PropFuel campaigns, it's all about understanding intent and then driving action.

At PropFuel, we suggest starting a renewal campaign at around 90 days prior to a members' expiration date, with check-ins up to the day their membership expires. Some renewal campaigns can even continue into a lapsed campaign. For ideas on talking to members after their membership has lapsed, check out the Lapsed Member Campaign Guide.

The renewal process is a tedious annual effort. Calling and emailing members takes time and resources that could be spent elsewhere, and it often doesn't deliver the results you want.

PropFuel renewal campaigns are automated to add members as they approach their renewal date and remove them once they renew. It meets the member where they are, via email or SMS, and provides a quick and easy way to renew.

A few things PropFuel can do better than traditional email marketing include:

• Driving faster renewals (as shown by client data) by making the next step easy and offering a way to act right from the email.

• Gathering more context around the member's intent, by simply asking them.

• Triggering other questions based on the member's answer to capture further insight around their decision.

• Automating further actions based on the member's answer, such as: alert the right person to follow-up with a phone call or email, auto-respond with an email, drive the member to renew or find out why not, lead them to a retirement solution, or write member data back to your AMS.

• Supplementing the renewal process with SMS messaging.

• And most importantly, PropFuel renewal campaigns can be designed and deployed with minimal time and effort. And if you have new staff, your PropFuel Client Success Manager will help you build the campaign.

PropFuel is one tool in your tool belt when it comes to membership communications. You may still send renewal invoices and other marketing automation emails outside PropFuel. Similarly, you could mimic what PropFuel does, using other systems, but "frankensteining" systems together is time consuming and rarely yields the desired results - from both a member experience and data analytics perspective.

Renewal campaigns are typically Sequence (or Drip) campaigns, however some organizations on an annual dues cycle may find it makes the most sense to build renewal campaigns as a scheduled campaign. Scheduling the campaign allows more control over when check-ins are sent, and everyone in the campaign receives the same check-in at the same time. One is not better than the other, so use whichever schedule type works best for your membership renewal structure.

A PropFuel renewal campaign generally consists of 3-5 check-ins, starting at least 90 days from expiration, when possible.

Remember: prompt text is important! It sets the stage for the question in 1-4 sentences and focuses on "what's in it for them?" This isn't your chance to sell them on membership; instead, sell them on why they should answer and then use the landing pages to sell membership based on what they say.

Start with a question that asks their plans for the coming year, instead of assuming they've already decided to renew. This opens the door for more personalized conversation based on what they tell you. This could be phrased as:

• Are you planning to renew?

• Will you be renewing your _____ membership this year?

Some members may not have made concrete plans for their next membership year at this point, so it is a good idea to provide a "maybe, I need more time" - option.

From there, you can ask them a indirect question meant to elicit a more emotional response.

• What member benefit did you find the most valuable this year?

• Which benefit are you looking forward to exploring next year?

• Which of the following goals is most important to your career/business this year?

• What’s your #1 priority this year?

• What’s most important to you and your colleagues this year?

Emotional questions are valuable because they (1) they ask the member to consider the value they saw for their membership dollars, and (2) provide insight to the association on what that individual values. Questions meant to elicit emotions do not generally see as high a response rate as direct questions, such as "are you planning to renew" or "would you like to renew now" but they're invaluable in capturing the voice of your member. We suggest "sandwiching" indirect questions between direct questions in campaigns.

With the member's expiration date nearing, now is a great time to ask directly whether they would like to renew:

• Would you like to renew your _______ membership now?

Since you've checked in a couple times, it is perfectly fine to remove the "maybe" answer choice to encourage a yes or no response.

When someone says "no," you can branch them to a question that asks "what's holding you back from renewing?"

This question is likely the last (or close to last) question you'll ask in this renewal campaign, so it should be all about uncovering any hesitations. Response options tend to be along the lines of member value/cost, budget or approval by employer, retiring/leaving industry, or something else - and be sure to include one option along the lines of “Oops, I'd like to renew after all!” Generally this question is phrased as:

• Is there something holding you back?

• Why have you hesitated to renew _____?

• Is there a reason you’ve hesitated to renew _____?

• Is there something we can do to help you renew?

You may also want to consider adding an open-ended follow-up so they can give you some feedback in their own words.

This is an optional check-in if you choose to continue reaching out to members who are still in the campaign past their expiration date, meaning they haven't renewed and haven't told you "no." Some questions to ask may include:

• Are you aware your membership has lapsed?

• Did you know your _______ membership has expired?

It's a good idea to remove members from the campaign if they tell you they're not planning on renewing. It doesn't mean this is goodbye for good! It's just the last time you'll check-in with them in this campaign.

...they take action! That is, a "yes" is not actually a renewal until they renew! Don't remove people from the campaign once they say "yes." Instead, use a suppression list to suppress people once their expiration date changes to the future (which means they've actually renewed).

Stick with direct intent questions, removing check-ins that have a softer, more emotional approach.

Adding and removing people from a drip renewal campaign would be difficult to do manually, so consider automating using your AMS integration. Your client success manager can help you determine the correct parameters to make that happen.

"Sandwich" emotional or indirect questions between direct questions. For example, ask the direct question, "Are you planning on renewing your membership?" followed by "What member benefit did you find the most valuable this year?" followed by "Would you like to renew now?"

Lapsed campaigns can be standalone campaigns, but you can also add lapsed questions to the end of a renewal campaign, since anyone who hasn't renewed will still be in the renewal campaign.

AACD is a professional organization, so members hold individual memberships and the renewal campaign goes to each individual, not one primary contact at an organization.

• Are you planning to renew?

• Which of these benefits did you use the most this past year?

• Is now a good time to renew?

Out of the 1,172 enrolled contacts, 498 (42%) engaged with the campaign. 488 members renewed since the campaign launched on March 31, 2022 (42% of enrolled contacts).

Direct, action-oriented questions yielded the highest response rate, at 23%. There was an 17% average response rate across the three check-ins.

93 (79%) contacts provided insight on why they chose not to renew.

The Oregon Society of CPAs (OSCPA) is a professional organization, so the membership renewal campaign is sent to individuals. OSCPA sends their renewal campaign as a scheduled (certain dates) instead of a drip (cadence) campaign.

• Are you planning to renew your OSCPA membership?

• Why are you hesitating to renew your OSCPA membership?

• What OSCPA benefits will you take advantage of the most this year?

• Are you aware that your membership is past due?

• Did you know that your membership ends today?

Out of the 1,273 enrolled contacts, 566 (44%) engaged with the campaign.

This campaign had as high as a 34% response rate across check-ins. More than 1,000 people renewed over the course of the three month campaign.

46 member companies provided insight on why they chose not to renew.

The American Boat and Yacht Council is a trade organization, so their membership renewal campaign goes out to primary contacts at each members' organization.

• Are you planning on renewing?

• Are you planning on renewing?

• Why are you hesitating to renew?

Out of the 1617 enrolled contacts, 911 (56%) engaged with the campaign.

The highest engagement rate was with the direct question, "Are you planning on renewing," with a 45% response. More than 1,145 companies renewed since the campaign launched in February 2022.