You Built the Membership - Now Let’s Make it Manageable (simplifying membership management with systems to support the experience) - Kasey Pierce

wildflowco.com

Instagram: instagram.com/wildflowco

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/thekaseypierce

00:00 So you finally launched your membership. You've got people joining, paying you monthly. But behind the scenes, it still feels a little messy, like you're juggling too much, You're stuck in your inbox answering questions, or you're second guessing if you're missing something really important. If that sounds familiar, you're in the right place. Today, I'm going to help you simplify the back end of your membership to jump start making your membership work for you. Hey there i'm Casey i'm a Kajabi and membership operations specialist. Since 2017 I've helped Wellness practitioners and heart LED solopreneurs build and manage membership systems that have served over 3000 members and counting. 

00:38 But I'm not here to talk tech or overwhelm me with automations. I'm going to walk you through three simple strategic systems that will help your membership feel management. So let's dig in what we're going to cover today are these three foundational pieces. The welcome trail experience that sets your members up for success, a simple way to track renewals, field payments and cancellations, and a lightweight member support system that grows with you. These aren't complicated, but they're often overlooked. And when that happens, that pesky burnout can sneak up on you. Let's start with onboarding. Your welcome trail is the very first impression that members get, and it's what can help them feel either grounded and at home or confused. 

01:17 If a new member logs in and doesn't know where to go, they're more likely to disengage. And once someone stops logging into your membership, it's tough to bring them back. It's not impossible, but it is tough. Here's what to include in this onboarding area. A warm personal welcome. Keep it conversational and in your voice. Give them simple next steps where to start first, if they're at different stages when they join, a road map that tells them, if you're here, go this direction, and if you're here, go that direction it can be really helpful an overview of how the membership works. 

01:49 Is it best for them to work through the modules in order or can they jump around? Where can they find the call schedule and a clear way to get support if they get stuck? Is there an email address to reach out to or support ticket hub? You want to keep this welcome trail short and skimmable. No big blocks of text. Use bullet points, headings, and quick links. The biggest thing here is you want to make it easy to find too. 

02:11 I recommend giving it a simple name that's also obvious. Something like start here, welcome guide, where to begin, what you need to know, and my personal fave orientation station. Then you're going to put that link everywhere at the top of your membership dashboard as the very first module. Your membership sidebar, your emails, your community. Honestly, you can never put it in too many places because not all of your members are going to be looking in the same exact area. This gives members a great place to start and helps them avoid information overload because they know exactly what to do. 

02:46 Now let's talk money specifically, the stuff that often falls through the cracks. If you've ever been surprised by failed payments or you had no idea someone cancelled until weeks later, you're definitely not alone. Quiet churn is common and it chips away at your income overtime. So here are three things that you can track. You remember start dates so that you can routinely check in and make sure everything is good to go with them. Failed payments. So then you can touch base with your members and help them update their payment information. 

03:13 This is also great to include in your welcome guide instructions on how they can log in, get to their settings and update their billing info. And then you want to track cancellations so you can make sure that those who have cancelled are no longer accessing the membership, content, community or receiving the emails. Ideally you want to also track why they cancelled. I recommend having an off boarding form that goes out when someone cancels. Then you can just check into that. Especially for someone like me who is rejection sensitive, it can be a lot easier to check the form than to have a direct conversation with people, and they may be more likely to fill out the form versus having that conversation. 

03:51 You don't need a CRM or fancy software you just need a system that you're actually going to use. I've set this up in Airtable, Trello, Clickup, Asanam, even Google Docs or Sheets could work for you if you'll actually use it. That's the key here it doesn't pay to set it up on a platform that you're going to forget about. So when I set this up for clients, I just use whatever task or project management tool they're already using and here are some simple ways to track. You could potentially use tags in your membership platform to flag anyone who cancels or fails. You may have to play around with the automations to see what's possible. 

04:26 Some platforms may have this capability built in, while others you may have to use Zapier. Do a routine membership management check in. This can be weekly or monthly depending on the size of your membership. For larger memberships, I recommend checking in at least weekly. The more people you have, the more often you're going to experience failed payments and cancellations. But if your membership is smaller, you can get away with a monthly check in. 

04:48 Block this time off in your calendar so you know that that time is dedicated to management. And then build a basic tracker in your task or project management platform. I already mentioned some of those. It doesn't have to get complicated, just a simple way to track members. If you can have an automation that plugs their name and email address and maybe even the date they joined in the tracker, then any other information can be added manually. 

05:13 Now let's talk about supporting your people without drowning in support emails. Even with a small membership, you can end up answering the same questions over and over, but with a few light systems in place, you can make support feel smoother for everyone. Start by asking yourself, how do members ask for help right now? Are they emailing you do you have a support hub set up? Are they asking in the community? What kinds of questions come up the most? A lot of the time I see questions about how to login, how to cancel, when the next charge is going to be, if they can pause their membership, how they can access the community, and what the call schedule is. 

05:48 If you had a surge of members join tomorrow, how would you feel? I know that can be a lot to think about, but it's a great way to check yourself. If you're thinking that you're probably going to lose your mind, a great check in is to ask why would you be overwhelmed at the amount of questions? Would you need to manually give access to the membership, the community, or the emails? See if you can systemize any friction that comes up. Here are some support systems that I recommend. A dedicated inbox, especially if you have a team helping you manage your membership. 

06:17 If you have a support ticket hub or a form, you can have those responses sent to that inbox. So it's easier to keep track of questions. And also if you're seeing a lot of the same questions come up, you can add it to your frequently asked questions doc, which I'll talk about next. But this keeps the support issues out of the inbox that you use for client communication or your personal inbox. Having a basic frequently asked questions page or a doc that you can link to is really helpful and it helps members get the information they need to try and problem solve themselves, whether they forgot their login, need to update their billing. 

06:53 And then I recommend 2 putting that link in your autoresponder for your support inbox. So your autoresponder is going to say something like, we'll get back to you in 24 to 48 hours or whatever your turn around time is. Then you can say something like. In the meantime, check this doc to see if your question has been answered. And then if that doesn't help, then they can get support directly from you or your team members. 

07:18 An internal SOP doc with how your membership works, how the management side works. This is for you, your current team, and your future team. And SOP for membership management is a must. Keeps everyone on the same page. And then I would say check in quarterly and see if it needs to be updated. And then this one is sort of optional, but also kind of not optional. A regular check in or feedback loop to catch issues early. It's also a great way to gather some social proof if things are going very well, which I love for you. Systemizing doesn't mean automating everything it just means making support easier to handle for both of you and your members. 

07:56 So if you feel a bit overloaded at the idea of setting up all of these automations, you can absolutely do it manually, but you've got to have the systems in place to make it sustainable. So let's recap you're going to have a clear welcome trail experience that helps members get settled in, a simple tracking system that protects your revenue, and a support process that keeps you from burning out as your membership grows. These don't have to be perfect. They just need to exist. You don't have to do all of it today just pick one area that feels low lift or the one that's been nagging you the most. 

08:27 That one system can create way more ease than you think. You can grab the free Membership System starter kit that's linked to my presentation and I have some goodies in the swag bag and VIP pass too. I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn, Instagram, or email and hear all about your membership. Thanks for hanging with me today and I'll catch you next time.