I Feel Special
Posted on May 19th, 2009 by Cynthia D'Amour
NOT!
I seem to have all the luck when it comes to membership renewals.
- From letters from presidents.
- To calls in spite of earlier threat of turning me off.
- (It’s a wonder I still love being involved!)
Well it happened again…
- Two weeks ago I got the basic renewal email - pay now.
- This week I got another.
- It asked, “Are you going to renew or not?”
I responded sharing I did not plan to renew.
- Their response to my news?
- Simply, “Thanks for telling us.”
- Wow. I didn’t matter to them.
I felt like a number - and didn’t like it.
- While the group wasn’t a fit for me, I had referred others to it.
- No more.
- I don’t want to risk my referrals getting the cold treatment too!
Am I expecting too much?
- Just a little “we care” energy.
- Maybe a reminder of what I’ll be missing?
- Or simply an invitation to return later?
First impressions are lasting - and last impressions last even longer.
Make me think of chapter leaders - how do you keep the door open when members have to move on?
Filed under: Recruiting New Members, Savvy Leadership
Thanks for the frequent consumer viewpoints, Cynthia. I’ll pay a closer look to the renewal processes I’m involved in.
Good idea David. It’s so easy to get caught up on just doing the renewal letters or calls, it can be even easier to forget to put ourselves in the shoes of our members for responses.
Sometimes just a little tweak in copy or process can have a big impact on retention rates. You just have to figure out which tweak produces the best results. Test those variables.
You would think that they would have at least asked why you weren’t renewing, how they could change, etc. What a missed opportunity in so many ways.
I agree Deidre. The lack of caring - especially as I repsonded to their email and they sent a response back - shifted me from charge nuetral about them to negative. Even bigger loss for them.