CPA Society Lapsed Member Campaign Guide

Lapsed member campaigns can help your CPA society understand a person's intent to renew or reinstate their membership. At PropFuel, we define a lapsed member as a member whose expiration date has passed less within the last year. If you are looking to win-back former members that are dormant (more than one year since being a member), see the campaign guide for Dormant Member Win-Back.

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 (yes, even for months!) and a conversational check-in can cut through the noise even when all your past due notices have gone unnoticed.

Unlike traditional exit surveys, lapsed member campaigns in PropFuel are designed to not only find out why they left, but continue the conversation to address hesitations and drive action (and revenue!).

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

• Driving faster renewals and reinstatements (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 to rejoin, 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 reinstate or find out why not, lead them to a retirement solution, or write member data back to your AMS.

• Supplementing the win-back process with SMS messaging.

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

Throughout your PropFuel lapsed member campaign you can ask direct questions about their renewal or reinstatement, and also ask indirect questions so you can better connect your value proposition to their needs and interests. This positions your society as a long-term partner and resource and helps you best connect with that person at the individual level.

Since we've established that the goal of this campaign type is to gauge intent and drive action, we want to frame the cadence to optimize these check-ins. We recommend that this campaign is 3-5 check-ins over a 1-4 month period.

Assuming the membership has lapsed within months or even a year, it's possible these individuals are unaware their membership has ended (despite the dozens of times you've told them this). If there’s a shadow of a doubt that someone could not know they expired, start with a “Did you know you’re not a member?” question. This could be phrased as:

• Did you know your membership expired?

• Did you know your membership has lapsed?

• Did you know you’re no longer a member of _______?

From there, you can ask them directly if they have any interest in membership.

• Are you interested in rejoining _____?

• Are you interested in reinstating your membership?

• Would you like to rejoin?

• Do you plan to rejoin?

Those that say "no" or "not sure" should be redirected to an additional question to be asked why not or why they are hesitant to rejoin. We suggest removing anyone that expressly is not interested in membership from the remainder of the campaign.

Since you’ve asked directly, you could then ask more indirectly if they’re interested in your value proposition. A great way to position this is in terms of goals or values:

• How important is [mission value] to your career/business?

• 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?

Your response options will then lead to a reply of how membership can best fulfill that need and/or other ways to engage with your society towards that goal (non-dues revenue!).

Then ask about 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 “I am interested in rejoining!” Generally this question is phrased as:

• Is there something holding you back?

• Why have you hesitated to rejoin _____?

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

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

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

We recommend differentiating this effort from any previous or current broadcast membership marketing campaigns. These conversations are not for you to give paragraphs of explanation about the value of membership; instead, provide 1-4 sentences of a prompt (just like you would if you were having a conversation in-person), and then ask them a question about their needs, their interests, and their intent. You can then continue the conversation in a way that's relevant based on their reply and ask follow-up questions as needed.

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

Feel free to include more than 4 check-ins in your campaign, alternating between direct and indirect asks. You may also want to consider adding any warm or hot prospects into a nurturing campaign so you can better connect their goals with your value proposition and suggest other ways they can get involved with your society.

In real life, conversations happen between 2 people and not between one person and a group of people. Consider including a headshot and signature and have the check-in come from someone on your membership team. Using first-person language (I’m glad to hear it!) can also make a big difference from always using the organizational plural “we.” If however you prefer to have the campaign come from the entire membership team (or the society at large), make sure you are still being conversational with your wording and be clear who the lapsed member can contact with questions.

The Texas Society of CPAs reached out to members from June to early July, knowing that many of their members wait to renew until their membership is due on June 1.

• Are you planning to renew your TXCPA membership?

• Would you like to renew your TXCPA membership today?

• We're ready to help you renew your membership. How can we help?

Out of the 6,796 enrolled contacts, 1,957 (29%) engaged with the campaign.

While the campaign was active (through one week following the last send), 2,640 members rejoined (39%), and with additional lapsed win-back efforts, a total of 3,787 have rejoined (56%).

The first check-in yielded the highest response rate at 19%, with a ​12% average response rate across the three check-ins.

View the video below to learn more about the TXCPA's 2022 Nonrenewed Members - Grace Period Campaign.

Washington Society of CPAs reached out to lapsed members three times in the month of June between when their membership expires (June 1) until their suspension.

• Are you planning to renew your membership?

• Would you like to renew today?

• Help us know where you stand:

Out of the 1,199 enrolled contacts, 626 (52%) engaged with the campaign.

During the campaign, 404 members reinstated (34%), and in total, 527 members have reinstated (44%) their membership.

The first check-in yielded the highest response rate at 34%, with a ​23% average response rate across the three check-ins. Below is the third and final check-in in the campaign, as it's a great example of how to be conversational with your emails!

View the video below to learn more about Washington Society of CPA's FY23 Lapsed Member Campaign.

New Jersey Society of CPAs reached out to lapsed members September through October of 2021 to ask whether they planned to renew, and why they've hesitated. They also followed up with one check-in in January to verify if these lapsed members knew they lapsed as a last chance effort (after which a member would be required to re-apply rather than renew).

• Do you plan to renew your membership?

• What NJCPA membership benefit is most important to you?

• Why have you delayed renewing your membership?

• Are you aware your membership has lapsed?

Out of the 877 members contacted, 224 members responded (26%).

Before the third check-in was sent in October, 147 members renewed (17%). In January, only 472 members needed to be asked if they knew their membership had lapsed.

The first check-in yielded the highest response rate at 17%, with a
​10% average response rate across the four check-ins.

View the video below to learn more about NJCPA's Lapsed Member Campaigns: