It goes without saying that at the dawn of the Internet Age, email was groundbreaking, unique and futuristic. Nowadays, email seems to be a basic function. Younger generations might even call it archaic. However, for a member-based organization that wants to thrive, email is extremely fundamental and highly essential. Email communication touches on almost every aspect of membership management. Factors like finances, newsletters, event hosting, membership tiers, etc. require some form of email communication with your members. Here are some helpful tips to optimize your email communication at different stages of an ordinary membership cycle:

Prospective Members

The main goal when communicating with a prospective member is to simply inspire them to join your organization. They haven’t made the commitment yet, but have shown great interest in becoming a member. Every email communication with a prospective member should highlight the value of joining your association. This is where newsletter-style emails come in very handy. As an organization, you should grow your prospective members mailing list. The bigger your mailing list, the more people will join. It’s simple math. A bigger mailing list alone isn’t going to cut it though. Content rich emails are the big difference here. Well-designed newsletters will attract more prospects to your organization.

Pro-Tip: Make sharing your content easy for existing members.

New Members

Earlier this year, we shared tips on welcoming new members to your association. The main objective when communicating with a new member is to inform them of important matters pertaining to their membership. Do not take sending welcome emails lightly. Ideally, to save you the burdensome task of sending individual emails, you should automate your welcome emails and payment confirmation emails.

Pro-Tip: Nothing compares to a personal touch. If possible, consider reaching out to new members individually if it makes sense. At the very least, personalize your emails.

Active Members

The objective here is not only to share important info, but also constantly provide added value. This is your time to shine and express what your organization is made of. A great tactic to optimize your email communications with active members is to target your members based on membership type. You can tailor your content to each different membership tier. The key part in email communication with active members is to be diligent about adding and removing members in these lists. Be mindful of having your members in the appropriate membership tier mailing list and remove those who are expired. This process should, ideally, be automatic.

Pro-Tip: Let members in lower tiers know about the benefits of upgrading their membership.

Expiring Members

Here the objective is to get them to renew their membership. Simply knowing that their membership is about to expire can be enough in some cases. It would be erroneous not to inform members that they are nearing expiration and that it’s time to renew. This process should also be optimized by automating renewal notice emails. Members might need a couple of reminders to renew. Experiment with how many reminders you should send to find your sweet spot, and by all means make sure that once renewed, the members do not receive another renewal notice.

Pro-Tip: Try to include a renewal button in your email. The simpler the steps to renewing, the higher the chances of renewal.

Do you notice a pattern yet? Most of these communications will require automated emails with lists that are in sync with the category where your email recipient belongs. Our Membership Management Software, MemberBoss, has tools that can help you achieve just that. If you’d like to learn more about MemberBoss, feel free to Book a Demo and don’t forget to subscribe to The Boss Blog to get more helpful tips for you and your members.