How to run a renewal reminder campaign for your membership program (templates included!)
Use these handy templates to run a membership renewal campaign
Reminding your members to renew their annual memberships is a really important part of keeping your membership numbers up.
There are 2 different types of memberships you can tackle with this reminder campaign, both focusing on annual memberships:
Memberships renewing automatically: in this case, the membership will auto-renew, so you don't need to ask the member to do anything. But it's still a courtesy to let them know renewal time is coming up and thank them for their support thus far, to encourage them to stick around.
Memberships due to expire: these memberships have been cancelled at some point during the membership period and will shortly end. You want to use this campaign to encourage them to take action and renew their membership
This campaign is designed to help you address both renewing and expiring memberships at once.
How to run a membership renewal campaign
We have prepared a set of email templates for a campaign targeted at both renewing and expiring annual memberships, encouraging them to continue their support for your project.
The campaign is designed to run over 4 weeks. Follow these 3 simple steps to set up your campaign:
1. Collate 2 lists of members: one list of those due for auto-renewal; the other for memberships that will shortly expire.
To do this, head to your Members (Opens in a new window) area in Backend and filter your members by "state".
For memberships soon to renew, select the state as "active" and then filter by date to find the members who last purchased memberships 11 months ago. They are due to renew within the next month.
For expiring memberships, select "expiring".
You can download a CSV file with these members' details so you know who to contact for your campaign.
If this is all new to you, here are some tips on working with your member data (Opens in a new window).
2. Send your first reminder email. There are two versions of this email: Version A is directed at members due for automatic renewal, while version B is for those whose memberships are about to expire. Send both versions now, to the relevant members (see the 2 versions below).
3. Follow up with Emails 2-4, sending one email per week, but only to members whose memberships are due to expire.
Remember that repetition is the key and people are busy! They might want to take action but life comes up, so give yourself and them the best chance to keep supporting you.
Email templates for membership renewal campaign
Email 1
Version A: For memberships due to auto-renew
[Subject line] Thanks for your support
Hi [name]
Soon you will receive an email from Steady, who manages our memberships, advising that your [project name] membership is up for renewal.
We wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support over the past year and let you know what we’ve been able to accomplish. Here are 3 of our highlights:
1. [Use this space to link to 3 of your most engaging or popular pieces of content from over the past year. You might like to detail the impact the content had on your readers, or positive feedback you received.]
2.
3.
All that, and more, was possible thanks to our members, lovely people like you who enable us to continue our work.
We’d love to have you on board for another year, and hope you will continue to support our work. The good news is, if you would like to continue being a [project name] member, you don’t need to do anything at all – your memberships will automatically renew at the end of your current membership.
If you do need to cancel your membership or update your details, just follow the prompts in Steady’s email.
Thanks so much for your support,
[your sign-off]
Version B: For memberships due to expire shortly
[Subject line] Thanks for your support
Hi [name]
We wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support over the past year and let you know what we’ve been able to accomplish. Here are 3 of our highlights:
1. [Use this space to link to 3 of your most engaging or popular pieces of content from over the past year. You might like to detail the impact the content had on your readers, or positive feedback you received.]
2.
3.
All that, and more, was possible thanks to our members, lovely people like you who enable us to continue our work.
We’d love to have you on board for another year, so if you are able, please consider renewing your membership with us today:
[Link to your Steady project page, as the user will need to purchase a new membership:] Renew your membership now
Thanks so much for your support,
[your sign-off]
Email 2: For memberships due to expire
[Subject line] Renew your [project name] membership today
Hi [name]
We’ve loved having you as a [plan name] member over the past year and, frankly, we’d love to have you stick around. We wouldn’t be able to do our work without the support of generous members like you.
Here’s a quick reminder of what the [plan name] entitles you to:
[List the plan's benefits]
X
X
If you don’t want to miss out on those benefits and are able to support us again, that would mean a lot.
Renew your membership now (Opens in a new window)
And if you have already renewed your memberships, we’re so thankful! Looking forward to continuing to provide you with [something specific about what your project offers].
Thanks again,
[your sign-off]
Email 3: For memberships due to expire
[Subject line] Your support means a lot
Hi [name]
The support of generous members like you enables us to continue our work on stories like [Give 3 examples of your best work from the past year, to jog their memories (remember they might not have read all of these emails, and people are busy, so it doesn't hurt to remind them)].
If you would like to keep your benefits and continue supporting our work, please go ahead and renew your membership now:
Renew your membership (Opens in a new window)
And if you have already renewed your memberships, we’re so thankful! Looking forward to continuing to provide you with [something specific about what your project offers].
Thanks so much for your support,
[your sign-off]
Email 4: For memberships due to expire
[Subject line] Your [project name] membership
Hi [name]
If you would like to keep your benefits and continue supporting our work, please go ahead and renew your membership now:
Renew your membership (Opens in a new window)
The support of generous members like you enables us to continue our work on stories like XXXXXX.
And if you have already renewed your memberships, we’re so thankful! Looking forward to continuing to provide you with [something specific about what your project offers].
Thanks so much for your support,
[your sign-off]
