- D2C
- 4 mins
When you think of membership, does exclusivity come to mind? Perhaps loyalty is a word to describe the experience. Whether you are considering membership to a gym or your favorite wholesale store, membership has its benefits. You can’t wait to receive your card or an email to confirm that you’re in the club — and that access has been granted.
The benefits are not one-sided either. Members benefit by gaining access to exclusive privileges, products, or services. Brands benefit by gaining access to an engaged and loyal audience. When done well, everyone wins during the membership experience.
There’s a challenge, though. How do you come up with the membership names or levels? Is there a perfect number of membership tiers?
These are all great questions and thoughts to consider before you join the membership movement. It is most important to determine if this is the right move for your brand. Taking it a step further, decision-makers have to decide if moving forward with a membership option is happening at the right time.
Ask yourself whether your current audience would be interested in making such a commitment. If yes, keep following along for some of our guidance and suggestions.
Making the Right Moves
Once your brand determines it is time for membership, let the brainstorming begin. While most people get caught up in the details of the membership tiers or levels, they can skip over one big part: deciding on the names. We know you will spend a lot of time on the fine print of the membership details. Be sure you’re not skipping another part of the creative process that is well worth your time.
We have all heard about the standard bronze, silver, and gold levels. If you ever won an award, these membership tiers just make sense. It is easy to differentiate between the levels. Gold is the best, silver is the next best, and bronze is in the last place.
Psychologically, the idea of gold signals “winning.” It’s a great move for marketers. Now, this part may come as a surprise. There is another way to name your membership tiers. It’s OK to step outside the box and spend quality time brainstorming membership titles.
If you choose the right names, you can create engagement with the membership tiers while increasing brand awareness and highlighting particular parts of your business. Following best practices, choose no more than four membership tiers. Ideally, we suggest choosing three. Now that we’ve decided on the number of tiers and hopefully inspired you to think creatively, let’s continue the conversation.
Brainstorming Basics
Before throwing out your favorite names, consider some of the best practices. Memberships aren’t new, and we have seen some fantastic titles — and some flops. Here are a few ways to avoid making membership mistakes.
- Say What You Mean
How would you feel if you had a Tier 1 membership? You are probably just as confused as the rest of the members. Say what you mean in your membership title by being as specific as possible. This doesn’t mean your membership title should be extended. Instead, it should be a researched title that has the right words. For most brands, the words align with current services or products.
- Create Opportunity for Advancement
If you have three tiers, you most likely want members to join one of your highest tiers. If you name your membership levels correctly, prospective members can understand what they are missing. While they may begin in a lower tier to get the initial experience, having specific names that show the following steps can be enticing. Think of terms that show progress, positions, or even placement.
- Know Your Audience
Don’t be a follower when it comes to making membership tiers. Instead, know your audience. When creating descriptors for your tiers, think of prospective members. If your brand is about music, perhaps consider different levels of sound or intensity. For sports organizations, consider membership tiers that play on winning or advancing. Sports terms are also commonly recognized.
Money Talks
Are you ready to talk about money? We hope so because it is the key differentiator between most membership tiers. The price difference is the reason for the various levels of access. If your key intention is to get subscribers to agree to a monthly rate upfront and know what to expect, explore these commonly used words: basic, standard, and premium. Customers appreciate these straightforward terms because they know what to expect. They can also plan what is coming out of their pockets.
Streaming services are great examples. For the viewer seeking all of the bells and whistles during their favorite shows or movies, there is only one choice: premium. Based on this choice, they are not shocked by the price.
Access Granted
Another way to promote exclusivity through membership is by naming tiers based on the amount of access. The highest levels offer the most exclusive opportunities. Of course, my favorite word is unlimited. The use of “all access” in titles is also quite enticing.
When shopping around for memberships, the customer focusing on efficiency will say, “I might as well just choose this option. I’m getting a great deal.” If you have marketed your membership levels well, this is the dream conversation for prospective members. Don’t forget about access based on the user. For college students, there is a membership tier for them. For families that love to watch movies, a membership tier exists, too.
These user-guided decisions return us to our original point: know your audience. If you haven’t researched, you may not know that students are a large part of your audience. If you skip the research part, you may miss the newly added families using your services.
Time is Money
We all love choices, and time-based membership tiers make us believe we have control over how we spend our money. We’ve all seen them before. You can enroll in the annual membership or maybe a monthly option. The price varies, but you are still gaining access to the service or your products. Depending on your needs, it’s up to you to decide on your membership tier.
Should you make a big fuss about the membership tier titles? Absolutely. You want your titles to make sense to your audience. The tier titles should be easy-to-understand choices that invite your audience members to further engage and connect with your products and services.
Memberships are a great way to have a consistent revenue stream for your business. We invite you to spend some time thinking if it is the best direction for your brand.
Talk with Subscription Experts
If you'd like to learn more about how to create the best subscription tiers and a go-to-market plan that supports scalable revenue growth, reach out to us today. Contact our team to schedule a complimentary consultation call to help us help you build the subscription program that will best suit your business and its prospective customers.
