Get More Clients Online

Upsells for a membership site

Q: Can you help me think of ways to upsell, cross sell and reduce refunds for our software membership website?  We do upselling, cross selling and saving refund/cancellation via inbound calls of our existing members who has questions regarding billing, technical concerns and other inquiries. 

Frances Meris
Izonetech-ph.com

A:  Hi Frances -- Great question!  You've already got a good start in that you handle much of this though your inbound call center.  Here are a few more ideas:

1.  Use your shopping cart to create a special one-time offer for another product/service when:

• someone signs up for your software
• someone signs up on your prospect list
• someone purchases another product

2.  When someone calls to cancel their service (if they have been a short-term subscriber), give them a "rural refund".  This is a trick that I've seen other Internet marketers use for physical products.  When a customer calls to return a physical product, they will ask the customer is they live outside a city where it might be troublesome to get to a post office or mailing center to return the product, or just ask if the return process would be troublesome regardless of location.  Assuming the customer will say yes, they offer to refund the customer half of the purchase price if they'll try the product another two months before returning it. If they want to return it at that time, they can do so and get the remainder of their money back.  I'm told this decreases cancellations.

This could also work for a membership subscription by asking the customer to continue to try the membership for an additional 2-3 months at no cost (you extend their membership at no charge).  This also decreases cancellations.

The key in any of these upsells/conversion tactics is to not to try and fool the customer.  Make sure that they fully understand what/if they're being refunded and how much they're being refunded, or if it's an upsell, what additional charges will appear on their card.  By being transparent, you'll avoid having nasty chargebacks levied against your merchant account.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

5 Most Effective Online Continuity Program Models

Continuity programs are the "new" online business model that has recently escalated in popularity. No longer is it good enough to simply sell information products for a one-time sale or sell your services online. Instead, online business owners need to seriously think about changing their business model to include the concept of recurring revenue. This passive revenue model brings in regular recurring income on a weekly or monthly basis from the same customers. While there is still some work required to continue to market these programs, overall you will find it much more profitable to sell to one customer over and over again rather than having to go and find new customers repeatedly for a one-time information product sale.

Many companies have been offering continuity programs for years. Proactive does it with face cleanser. Leeza Gibbons does it with Sheer Cover makeup. Doubleday does it with books. Columbia House does it with DVDs. Each of these companies offers an option in which subscribers pay a set fee each month and receive something new in return (books, DVDs, etc.). I've belonged to all of these continuity programs at some point in my life, and chances are, you have, as well. How can you incorporate this recurring revenue model into your business?

Here are the 5 most effective online continuity program models to consider for your online business:

1. Retainer. Attorneys and accountants have done this for years -- their clients go on a regular retainer and the client can contact the attorney/accountant whenever needed as defined by the parameters of the retainer. Consultants, coaches, and virtual assistants offer this option, as well, as a way of providing services over an extended period of time. While having this in place makes for less client turnover, this model is the most time-intensive model of all of these models, as the model requires trading time for dollars. Most retainers offer x number of hours of work or x projects to be completed in return for a set monetary amount.

2. Subscription Membership. In this model, you are providing new content regularly to your members via a membership website. Members log in and access new articles, audio, checklists, ebooks, discussion forum posts, etc. This is a content-driven model, as you need to continue to provide new content for your returning members as well as to attract new members. The upside of this model is that many members retain their membership for a year or longer, especially if offered the option of a reduced annual membership fee.

3. Fixed-term membership. In this model, you are providing new content on a weekly basis to your members for a fixed period of time. While initially time-intensive to set up, this model runs fairly seamlessly once all of your program modules are written. As long as your topic isn't one that needs continual updating, you can create this once and resell this again and again. However, unlike the other models, you keep your members only for a limited time (3 months, 6 months, 12 months) and then need to boost your marketing to continually replace members for this program.

4. Club or Inner Circle or VIP Program. This is a model that coaches, consultants, and speakers often use and may be marketed as a group coaching program. Typically the participant gets access to the program leader or an expert via a teleclass, and a printed teleclass transcript and CD are mailed to the participant each month. The program leader may also include open Q&A/coaching sessions, sporadic 1:1 coaching mini-sessions, and access to various resources and contacts to further help the participants. As long as members feel they are receiving value, they'll generally remain a participant in this type of program.

5. Association. Becoming the founder or president of a national or international association offers the kind of leverage not found in any other model. Because associations connote expertise, being the leader of an association automatically makes you the expert in a particular area. Reporters and writers often look to leaders of associations to comment on trends in an industry, which will result in much media attention for your business. Membership benefits and membership packages are the key offerings here, whether that's a monthly teleclass, access to specific downloadable content, networking opportunities, direct mail membership welcome packets, etc. This model is generally the least time-intensive, as 80% of your members will receive their membership package and not be heard from again until it's dues renewal time.

Why continue to trade time for dollars? Take a look at these continuity program models and see which one(s) make sense for your online business. If you pick the right target market at the right time, one of these models may become your full-time business.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a  baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.OnlineBizU.com

Choosing software for a membership site

Q:  Your membership site looks wonderful.  What software do you use for your site?
Leisha

A:  Hi Leisha--

I looked long and hard at a variety of membership site software, and I chose one that might not be as popular because of the fairly high upfront costs. It's called Membergate, and here's why I chose it:

1.  Best tech support.  I can submit a ticket on the MG ticket system and usually have an answer within 30 minutes during normal U.S. business hours.

2.  Open to suggestions.  Anytime I want to do something a bit differently than what the software is designed to do, I can make a request and either get info about how the system can do that, or that the developers will put it on the list for consideration for the next upgrade.

3.  No ongoing costs.  Once you have made your initial investment for the software service ($3995 for up to 1000 subscribers as of this writing), there are no additional costs, other than your hosting (about $92/quarter).  Many systems have you pay a monthly fee indefinitely.  Once you hit 1000 active subscribers, you will be asked to pay another $3000 or so, which will take you up to 2,500 subscribers, I believe.

4.  SEO support.  Membergate is designed to provide you maximum Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to help you get found easily by the search engines.

5.  Built-in features.  I don't currently use all of the features that MG offers.  However, because they are so extensive and I can activate them when I'm ready to use them, I have a software service that's designed to grow with me as I grow my membership site.

6.  Excellent video training.  Trying to figure out how to make the software work for you can be daunting.  MG provides a large number of video tutorials and written checklists to help you get started quickly.

Best of all, when you contract to buy the software service, they include graphic design to help you customize your site for your audience.

And, if you'd like more info on running membership websites, check out membership in Membership Site Owner, which is run by Tim Kerber, one of the founders of Membergate.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Automatic membership site

Q:  How do i create my own membership site on autopilot mode?
Jayro

Hi Jayro--

I'm making a bit of a leap here and am assuming that by autopilot, you're referring to the ability to set up your membership site once and not really have to worry about it once it's set up.  The best way to do that is with a fixed-term membership site.

I first became acquainted with the term, "fixed term membership" from Internet marketing guru Jimmy Brown,  when he created his Membernaire program, who defines a fixed term membership site as a membership that consists of weekly content shared via autoresponder to paid members for a specified period of time. 

Once you've created all of the content for this membership site, all you have to do is market it, rather than having to worry about continually creating new content.

I've written an article about fixed-term membership sites here:  Leverage Your Expertise: Create a Fixed Term Membership Program.

And, be sure and subscribe to Jimmy Brown's Membernaire program.  I'm a member and I love the quality of info that I'm getting there.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Marketing a Membership Site

Q:  Because spam is a no-no, how do I market my new membership site?
Donna Caissie
www.Extra-Assist.com

Hi Donna--

I'm glad you realize that if you build it, they will NOT come, unless you do things to drive them there.

Here are a couple of ideas for you:

1.  Develop a list by creating a free giveaway that solves a pressing problem of your list.  Create a squeeze page that promotes the giveaway and encourages visitors to sign up for your list.  It's best if you do this prior to the launch of your membership site.

2.  You can drive people to join the list through social networking, article marketing, blogging, and finding out where your target market for your site hangs out online.  A great tool I use for target market research is www.GetMoreClientsResearch.com, which has just released a new free version.

3.  Once you have some people on a list, start to reach out and touch them regularly with an ezine or blog, and upsell the membership site when you email your list.

4.  Create a panel of experts for your site and ask them to promote their selection to your site to their lists, or find other suitable JV partners who would be willing to promote your site to their list for an affiliate fee.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of promoting a membership site.  The two components that need to be in place to have a successful membership site are:
1.  a  large pool of hungry prospects who are already buying info about your topic
2.  a niched target market that is very focused (i.e. small business owners is too broad, but US-based accountants in small practices with less than 5 employees and who specialize in family business tax returns is very specific)

I would also encourage you to check out Tim Kerber's Membership Site Owner for great info and insight for people who run membership sites.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Leverage Your Expertise: Create a Fixed Term Membership Program

by Donna Gunter, The Online Biz Resource Queen (TM)

I first became acquainted with the term, "fixed term membership" from Internet marketing guru Jimmy Brown,  when he created his Membernaire program.  He defines a fixed term membership site as a membership that consists of weekly content shared via autoresponder to paid members for a specified period of time.  I would have formerly called this concept a fee-based ecourse, with the distinction that in the fixed term membership, the lesson is delivered in a PDF file, rather than as a part of the text of the email autoresponder.

Should you integrate a fixed term membership into your product offerings?  Here are 7  reasons why this business model makes sense:

1.  Ease of operation.  In many ways, this type of membership site is easier to operate than a traditional site because it is much less involved.  To run a fixed term membership program, you simply write one article lesson every week. load this article to an autoresponder for subscribers to access, and then sell access to the series, which would last 3 - 6 - 9 or 12 months. Of course, you do have to set up a website as your selling point and create the copywriting for your sales letter, just as you would for any online business.

2.  Greater implementation by subscribers.  The useful aspect for your subscribers is that the info that you teach is broken up into small, easily digested pieces.  So, rather than overwhelming your customer with a 400-page ebook and 5 DVDs to watch, you can instead feed this info to your subscribers slowly over time, with action steps included with each lesson, and offer check-in points as needed.  In this fashion, there's a greater likelihood that they'll actually implement the information you provide, instead of leaving the binder and DVD cases to gather dust on their bookshelves.

3.  Numerous upsell opportunities.  During the term of the fixed membership, you can easily integrate upsells to other products and services that you offer into any lesson.  So, for example, if your membership site teaches people how to start a professional organizing business, you could upsell them to individual or email coaching throughout the term if they want some additional help and hand-holding.  Or, if you have a DVD program that goes into depth about marketing a professional organizing business, you could mention that in the course of the marketing material you provide in the fixed term program.

4.  Greater retention.  Many traditional membership sites suffer large attrition because members get bored, don't have time (or make the time) to revisit the site for updates, or have gotten all that they want from the membership and leave.  However, with a fixed term membership site, you structure the membership so that if someone leaves, that person has to start from the beginning of the membership again if she returns and wants to renew 3 months later.  The simple aggravation of being unable to pick up where you left off is a great motivating factor for fixed term program members to complete the full term of the membership.

5. No regular updates required.  With traditional membership sites, there's always the pressure on the owner to provide more articles, more downloads, more videos, more information.  However, with a fixed term membership, the only content you provide is that which is contained in your weekly lesson. You can write these all ahead of time, or stay just ahead of your members by creating one a week. Once you've written that content, you can sell that fixed term membership again and again.

6.  Few administrative hassles. Common problems for membership site owners include issues like members losing passwords or being locked out of a site.  With a fixed term site, those problems are non-existent, since all information is delivered via autoresponder.  And, if you make sure to mention in all of your lessons that the links to the previous lessons can be found in the current lesson, that greatly reduces the "I didn't get the lesson" emails you might receive, as you can remind your subscribers to simply wait for the next lesson and they will catch up.

7.  Greater profitability than traditional info products.  Which would you rather sell, a $97 ebook to a one-time buyer, or a $27/month, 12-month program that distributes the same info, with the addition of the upsell opportunities explained in #3?  The pricing psychology of a fixed term membership site is also more attractive, as many of your target market may look differently at a $27/month investment than they would a $300 up-front purchase. And, your overhead is very low with this model, as a fixed term membership requires no costs for CD/DVD duplication or printing for transcripts, manuals and binders as you find when selling hard copy information products.

Assess your collection of information products and determine if any of them might be better delivered as a fixed term membership. Or, create a fixed term membership program as your first information product or as a test for a full-blown membership website.  Your monetary and time investment is minimal, and the rewards could be quite profitable!

Want more info about creating your own fixed term membership?  Check out Jimmy Brown's Membernaire program for all the details.  I highly recommend it!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at  AskDonnaGunter.com.

Updating Your Website(s)

I got a funny email from my brother over the weekend as he was searching online for my email address.  In a nutshell he said, "How many d*mn websites do you have, anyhow? I Googled you to find your email address and got tired of looking at all of the listings that came back."  As an online business owner, I personally think that's pretty cool to be an online legend with lots of listings that come back linked to me.  I don't think my brother was impressed, though -- he just said, "Uuuggghhh!" in response to my online legend comment and probably just thinks I'm a just legend in my own mind..LOL

As an owner of multiple websites, it can become a royal PITA to maintain and update these sites.  I don't have current info on many of them.  As a matter of fact, some are as much as 4 years out-of-date, I'm embarrassed to admit..:)  Granted, they're not ones that I use frequently, but they do occasionally rise to the top of certain search engine queries.

In the quest to update one of my older sites, I completely hosed the template.  Yes, it happens to the best of us...:)  Instead of trying to fix what was broken, I decided this site needed a facelift and have taken this opportunity to completely update the look and feel of the site so that I can feel confident in promoting it again.

When's the last time you updated your site?  If it still makes reference to a teleclass you offered in 2006, I think it's time for an upgrade..;->

To your online success!

Directory of Membership Sites

Q:  A client of mine who subscribes to your newsletter and is a member of eWomen Network wonders if there is a directory of paid online membership forums, especially those like yours that are directed towards service professionals?  If you know of one (and if you don't, then I *KNOW* there isn't one), would you kindly let me know?
Regards,
Anne Ferguson
http://www.va-anne.com/

A:  Hi Anne--

I'm not aware of any type of directory of membership sites.  The closest thing I can recommend is the listing of active sites on the websites of 3 companies in the membership site software biz:

http://www.membergate.com/public/department10.cfm (this is the company that I use for my membership site)
http://www.visiongateportal.com/content.php?cid=1092
http://www.memberize.com/ (see lower right hand corner for links)

You might also try searching for niche market name + membership or +subscription and see what comes up.

Warmly,

Donna

Membership Site Owner

The most informative source of information that I've found if you want to start a membership subscription website is a membership website, Membership Site Owner. This site offers the best soup-to-nuts resources on all aspects of creating, maintaining, and growing a membership subscription website. Despite the fact that the owner of the site, Tim Kerber, is the tech support guy for MemberGate, a company providing software for membership websites, there is still a wealth of info available for those who are not using the Membergate platform.

Get your 14-day fr*ee trial here.

5 Tips to Starting a Successful Membership Website

In the last few years, I have seen membership subscription websites take the Internet by storm. Most subscription sites offer their subscriptions for a fee; however, a handful offer their information for free to anyone who will provide an email address and name.

The focus of this article will be on the fee-based membership subscription websites. Back in the Internet dark ages in 1997 or so, everyone expected everything online to be free of charge. For a few years, as more and more people purchased computers and chose to be online, that philosophy worked quite well. Around the year 2000, however, that philosophy began to change. The dot-com bust was beginning, and many companies realized that continuing to provide their services or content free of charge wasn't going to work in the new Internet marketplace. The fee-for-content phase was beginning, and many were skeptical, saying the people would never pay for something that was once free.

Now, paying for information online has become the rule, rather than the exception. Newspapers charge to access their article archives; membership associations charge to access their membership lists; and membership subscription websites charge to access the "insider" information that a particular industry or niche finds vital for success.

I am amazed at the number of membership websites out there that cater to all interests. Here are some examples:

• The Janitorial Store:  provides tools and resources on how to open and run a cleaning business.
• Landlord Support:   helps property managers with the challenges of managing and maintaining rental property.
• Patterns Patch:  offers cross-stitch design patterns to avid cross-stitchers
• Dog Problems:  teaches you how to train your dog to become better behaved.

There are a number of companies providing membership subscription software and services in the marketplace, and the prices are all over the board. Two that come highly recommended are MemberGate, which is a membership website development company that will host and help you develop your website, and aMember Professional, which is software that you purchase and install to help you manage your membership site.

Integrating a membership website as a key part of your marketing funnel will be a time-consuming endeavor, but I think you'll find it worthwhile. Here are some tips to keep in mind, as you think about launching your own membership subscription website:

1. Pick a niche market with which you have some experience and credibility. Your audience is paying for your expertise and insight, so trying to fake it won't work.
2. Talk to members of your target market and evaluate their enthusiasm for providing content they want online. You may find out that they'd prefer the delivery of the content via a different medium.
3. Determine the size of your market. Are there already some products and services available for this market? How does your pricing compare? How will they find you? What will be their incentive for joining? What sets you apart and makes you different from others offering a similar product or service?
4. Is the information you're providing readily available offline?  If it is, people may not be willing to pay a monthly or yearly membership fee to access the information.  However, they may be willing to pay for convenience if you bring all of the info together under one roof.
5. Don't think of a membership subscription website as a "get rich quick" effort. It will take 3-6 months for you to develop the content for and then launch the website, and at least another year to build your membership and begin showing a profit.

A membership subscription website can be a phenomenal way to leverage your expertise and can grow to become a lucrative multiple profit center for your business. Create your business plan for your site and do the research up front to determine if this strategy will be a viable profit center for your business and how you will integrate it into your current offerings.