As an Online Business Manager that has worked with several memberships, I’m very familiar with the necessary systems needed to keep a successful membership running.

These systems can be applied to whatever tech stack you prefer

I love each and everyone of these platforms for different reasons, and think every online business should use them. But let’s dive into the reason you came, shall we?

System #1: Onboarding New Members

This is the first experience your new members will have with your membership. Having a streamlined system for onboarding people into their purchase will determine if they want to either (a) buy from you again or (b) stay in your membership.

First impressions matter!

This will depend on what your deliverables are, but you want to make it easy and quick to navigate.

A simple way to do this could be a delivery email that includes all of the links they need to get started, and explaining how to access the materials of the membership.

If you’re looking for a more personal touch, you could setup a Zap that drafts an email up for you to personally send to anyone who joins.

Feel free to get creative! But remember – keep it quick and simple.

System #2: Cancelling Members

While of course you don’t want people to cancel their membership, it’s inevitable.

And you’ll want to make sure you have the steps in place setup to make sure your crossing all your T’s and dotting all your I’s – otherwise known as making sure they’re not free access to membership materials.

Think about all of the deliverables you give in your membership.

Think:

• Course portals where you deliver resources
• Communities where you connect
• Exclusive discount codes available only to members of your membership

And any other membership-exclusive benefits!

Maintaining this system, and boundary, will help protect energy leaks in your business.

System #3: Failed Rebills

This is a very important system to have in place, because without it you might not realize when you’re not getting paid by your members.

It’s an easy thing to let slip, so you’ll want to make sure you have something setup to do this properly.

Eventually, this is something you can outsource to a customer service VA!

Read more here about how to manage failed rebills in your online business.

System #4: Regular Member Sweeps

When cancelling members from your membership, sometimes people will slip through the cracks of the system you have in place to cancel members.

That’s why it’s important to setup a system to check the numbers of your communities and portals.

Hopefully this won’t be a strenuous process, once your cancelling system is setup. But it’s still a good practice to have in place to be sure.

System #5: Membership Updates and/or Deliverables

This is as easy as it sounds. And if you have a membership that has something more

However you add new content to your membership, at whatever interval you create it, you’ll want to systemize it as much as possible to make your life easy.

Even if it’s as simple as documenting adding something to the resource portal so a VA could do it.

These systems are meant to help you, not constrain your creativity into a box!

System #6: Booking Calls or Guest Speakers

If your membership involves live calls of any kind, either from yourself or with guest speakers, you’ll need a system for scheduling them and getting them on a calendar for your students to reference.

If you don’t have guest speakers, I strongly recommend you consider it! They’re a great opportunity for collaborations, and you can even earn some extra affiliate revenue if your guest speakers have a product for you to promote related to their presentation. Extra value for your customers, and extra money in your pocket. A win win!

System #7: Data Tracking

It’s always good practice to keep track of the numbers of your membership, so you can keep track of your growth!

You’ll be able to identify trends, notice patterns, and so much more.

Here’s a few data points I recommend collecting in some sort of tracker or spreadsheet, to be collected at the beginning of every month:

• Total number of members
• New this month
• Cancelled this month
• Current monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Current yearly recurring revenue (YRR)

And there you go. The systems you need to manage your membership so you can sustainably scale it without getting overwhelmed and want to quit.

Memberships can be a great way to build up recurring revenue. But they can be difficult to maintain, and even more difficult to scale, without the correct systems in place.

Do yourselves a favor and get these setup sooner vs. later if you plan on really taking having a membership seriously. You’ll thank me later!