How many times have you purchased something where you knew you weren’t getting all the benefits that you could?
A perfect example of this is one that all of us in our mid-to-late thirties, and up, can think of.
Remember way back in the old days when they created that thing called a VCR?
I still have one of those prehistoric machines and you know what? It’s still blinking 12:00 over and over again. 🙂
Not only that but I still have no idea of how to program it to record a show at a pre-set time.
Read the instruction manual you say? Whatever! I don’t have the time or patience.
This isn’t just a problem with hard products. It relates to services as well, and it’s even more critical for you to address if it is tied to a membership type product.
If you own a health club for example, you’ll be in a position where you need to add members to your base with more frequency than they are canceling. I understand you can typically accomplish this with contracts and using the fear of an additional initiation fee if your members choose to discontinue their membership.
I believe you can be different from all the rest of the health clubs and eliminate the need for monthly contracts.
The main reason people cancel their membership is because they don’t use it. The main reason they don’t use it is because they don’t have the discipline to change their habits on their own. The reason they don’t change their habits on their own, besides the lack of discipline, is because they don’t have anyone holding them accountable.
You can change all that and become a leader in your industry!
Anyone that studies goal setting or human psychology understands it takes a human 21 days of consistent actions to establish a habit. With this being said, if you leave it up to someone to change their habits without directing them, you will become frustrated most of the time.
You can use email marketing to communicate directly with your members and guide them through the habit changing behaviors so they can ultimately achieve the benefits they are looking for.
Create a 30 Day Step-by-Step Program
Once someone becomes a new member you can help get them off and running toward establishing their new healthy lifestyle. You should begin to write a series of emails that are a maximum of between 200-250 words that have a combination of education and action steps the recipient should follow. You should make sure the content is fun and not stuffy. They are looking to workout not for a sleep aid. 🙂
If you aren’t that good of a writer you can hire one fairly inexpensively to interview you and create the emails for you.
Once you’ve completed the series of emails you’ll need to go sign up for an email marketing program like iContact, Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, or Aweber. There are a ton of choices out there and they all work fairly similarly. The only requirements you’ll need is that they have auto-responders and some way to measure how many times people are opening the emails.
Well, you’ll also want to make sure the company is reputable and has a good track record for delivering the emails through the growing list of spam filter programs. Any of the companies listed above are very good and you’ll be fine.
Once you’ve gone through the process of creating your sequential auto-response series you’ll simply need to add your new member’s names and email addresses and they will begin to receive the emails each day for 30 days. In my mind this is just the beginning. There are many preferred activities of choice among your members. Over time you can create several different 30 day programs so you can offer a multitude of solutions for your members.
This will help keep them from getting bored and will help you relate to the different types of members.
This type of strategy can work for any type of service related company. All you need to do is spend some time thinking of how you could add value for your customers once they’ve made the decision to purchase from you. This will help them get more “bang for their buck,” and will help turn them into a raving fan of your company!
