Guide
Member retention strategies for associations.
Member retention is how many of your members renew each year. The strategies below are grouped by where members are lost: at the moment of renewal, in their first year, during the year, and after they lapse.
Updated
Start by measuring it
Your renewal rate is the members who renewed divided by the members who were due to. If 200 memberships came up for renewal this year and 170 renewed, your renewal rate is 85%. Work it out for the last membership year, then split it two ways: first-year members against everyone else, and by membership level. Those splits show where to start.
ASAE's guidance puts the weight on the first of those splits: "The first renewal is worth more than all the others" (ASAE, 2022).
1. Make renewing effortless
A lot of lapses aren’t decisions. A card expired, a reminder went to an old address, or renewing meant finding a password. Remove those, and you keep members who meant to stay.
- Make automatic renewal the default
- Members who pay by card should renew without doing anything, with a reminder before the charge so nobody is surprised.
- Retry failed cards before anything lapses
- Cards expire and get replaced. Retry for several days and tell the member, before you treat a declined card as a decision to leave.
- Use a grace period
- Keep members active for a few weeks after the renewal date, so a late payment doesn’t cut off access or send them to the back of the line.
- Send a short reminder series
- Remind members before the date, on it, and before the grace period ends, and stop the moment they renew. Templates are in the guide linked below.
- Let members choose how they renew
- Some want automatic renewal, some want an invoice, some will always mail a check. Offer all three instead of losing the ones who don’t fit your process.
Copyable reminder emails, from 60 days out to win-back: Membership renewal letter and email templates.
2. Win the first year
New members renew less reliably than long-time ones, because they haven’t yet seen what membership does for them. The first year is where retention is won or lost.
- Welcome them properly
- A welcome email series in the first weeks: what they get, where to find it, and one thing to do first, such as an upcoming event.
- Get them to one thing early
- An event, a course, a committee meeting. Members who take part in something in their first few months have a reason to come back.
- Check in before renewal
- A short personal email or call a few months in, asking how it’s going. For a small association, this is the highest-return hour of the year.
3. Show the value all year
If the only email a member gets is the renewal notice, membership feels like a bill. Members renew what they use.
- Send a regular newsletter that points to member benefits
- Upcoming events with member prices, new resources, member news. Send it to the levels, sections and groups it’s relevant to.
- Make member pricing visible
- When members see their price at checkout without typing a code, they see what membership saves them.
- Track what members earn
- For professional associations, CE credits and certificates are a concrete reason to stay. Make them easy to find in one place.
- Recognize members
- New members, milestones, volunteers, donors. A line in the newsletter costs nothing and is remembered.
4. Spot members at risk
Members who stop showing up usually stop renewing. You can see it months before the renewal date, if your data is in one place.
- Look for quiet members
- Members who haven’t registered for an event, opened an email or signed in this year. Reach out personally before renewal season.
- Watch first-year members separately
- Track their renewal rate apart from everyone else’s. It tells you whether onboarding is working.
- Ask, then listen
- A two-question survey or a short call with members who seem disengaged often surfaces a fixable problem.
5. Win back lapsed members
A lapsed member already knows you. They are often the easiest people to bring back, if you still have them on your list.
- Keep lapsed members in your database
- If your software charges for every contact, there’s pressure to delete or archive them. Keep them, and keep emailing them.
- Send a win-back email
- Thirty to sixty days after lapsing, invite them back with what has happened since, and a one-click link to rejoin.
- Ask why they left
- Their answers tell you what to fix: cost, value, a job change, or a renewal process that got in the way.
How FullRoster helps
FullRoster is built around renewals. Members who pay by card renew automatically, with an editable reminder series before each renewal. A failed card is retried for about ten days before the member is switched to paying by invoice, and a grace period keeps members active before anyone lapses. Each member chooses automatic renewal, an invoice, or not renewing from their own portal.
Welcome, renewal and win-back email series are ready to go, and lapsed members are free to keep, so you never delete anyone to save money. Every member's events, emails, credits and payments sit on one timeline, and you can ask in plain English for lists like lapsed members who came to three or more events. The home screen shows your active members and renewal rate every time you sign in.
Retention starts long before the renewal date: see member engagement strategies for the rest of the year, and how much to charge for membership if price is why members leave.
Common questions
- What is member retention?
- Member retention is how many of your members renew from one membership year to the next. It is usually measured as a renewal rate: the share of members due to renew in a period who did.
- How do you calculate your membership retention rate?
- Take the members whose membership came up for renewal in a period, count how many renewed, and divide. For example, if 200 memberships were due this year and 170 renewed, your renewal rate is 85%. Track first-year members separately from everyone else.
- What is a good membership retention rate?
- It depends on the kind of organization, and published benchmarks vary widely. The most useful comparison is with yourself: your renewal rate this year against last year, and first-year members against long-time members.
- Why do members not renew?
- The common reasons are that they forgot or their card failed, they didn’t use the membership enough to see its value, cost, or a change in job or circumstances. The first group is fixed with automatic renewal, reminders and a grace period; the rest need engagement during the year and a conversation before renewal.
- What is the difference between member retention and member engagement?
- Engagement is how much members take part during the year: events, emails, courses, volunteering. Retention is whether they renew. Engagement is the leading signal; retention is the result.
About FullRoster. FullRoster is association management software that's free for up to 1,000 active members. Members, dues, events, email, courses and payments in one place, and we move your data over for you. See how it works →
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FullRoster renews members automatically, retries failed cards, keeps a grace period and sends win-back emails. It's free for up to 1,000 active members.