Hi {{first_name | there}},
It is renewal season, which means some version of a hard conversation is coming at your next board meeting. Retention is soft across the association world. Roughly 55% of associations are facing flat or declining renewals, and non-dues revenue has been the top financial challenge for association executives three years running.
The instinct when renewals come in light is to look at the renewal process. Better notice, earlier reminder, a payment plan, a phone call from a board member. All of that is worth doing and none of it is where the decision got made.
A member decides whether to renew over the eleven months before the invoice shows up. The notice does not create the doubt. It surfaces doubt that was already there.
The line worth putting in front of your board
Members rarely leave because of the price. They leave because the price reminds them they were not sure what they were getting.
That reframe changes what you do about it. A member who heard from the chapter twelve times last year and found something useful in it has a different relationship with the invoice than one who heard from you at the annual meeting and then again when the bill arrived. The first member is doing math about value. The second one is doing math about cost.
What that means in practice this quarter
Look at how many times your association made contact with a member who did not attend anything. For most chapters the honest answer is two or three, and one of those was the renewal notice.
That is the gap. Not the event calendar, not the benefit list, not the dues amount. The eleven months of silence in between, which is exactly the window your member newsletter is supposed to fill and usually does not, for reasons we covered in August.
One thing worth trying before December
Send a short, plain note to members who have not attended an event this year. No pitch, no renewal language. One useful thing plus a sentence asking what would make membership more valuable to them.
Some of them will not answer. The ones who do will tell you exactly why your renewal rate is what it is, and they will tell you before the invoice goes out rather than after.
The takeaway
Renewal season is a reporting deadline, not a persuasion window. The persuading happened in April, and either you were in touch or you were not.
I send Builder Playbook to more than 9,500 builders and remodelers each week. If you need assistance with your newsletter, let me know! I’d love to connect and see how I can get your Association on track. Just hit reply to setup a quick chat.
Timothy Dahl
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Founder - Builder Playbook
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