Making Your Membership Site a List Builder, Lead and Revenue Generator

A lot of people put really low expectations on their membership website.  It's where their members go to get content.  That's it.  They might get ambitious and use features for keeping people engaged and learning.  They might use badges and certifications to motivate members to keep moving through their content, but they keep it at that.

When I see business owners take that approach, I feel like they're treating their membership site like the poor kid with a low IQ.  They have low expectations and don't want to lean too hard on it.  I preach just the opposite.  You've got this powerful tool.  You're already using it.  Why not use it to promote your business and watch it to make a huge difference for you.

Let's review the recommendations we share with all our customers.  It should expand your thinking on the potential for list building, lead and revenue generation.  (Yes, they can help you make some money.)

Use your membership site to deliver your lead magnets.

Membership sites are hands down the best way to deliver your lead magnet.  If you have a video, report, white paper or other free give away, deliver them on your membership site.  Some people complain that it's too difficult for their audience.  They worry the extra complexity will complicate what should be a simple transaction.  If you think that, it's likely you haven't seen it done right.

You typically send people your lead magnet after they fill out a simple web form.  They enter their name and email address.  After hitting submit, you take them to a thank you page that says them something like, "Check your email for instructions for getting the item you just requested."   When they check their email, there's an email waiting for them with a link.  They click on the link to watch the video, download a file, or take some other action which gets them what they requested.

What I'm recommending instead is you make that link a membership site auto login link.  They click on the link just like they would before and the membership site, behind the scenes without them knowing it, logs them in.  Then it lands them on a page where they get the lead magnet.  The experience is the same as it would have been otherwise.  The big difference is that now they are logged into your membership site.

What's the big deal?  Well you now have a ton of options available to you for customizing their experience.  The can change what they see based on what you've learned about them.  You can now better promote yourself and your business to them.

Watch the video down below for an example of how this is done.  You'll get a real appreciation for what a person sees as they register for a lead magnet.

Make your membership site a critical part of your sales funnel.

So you've managed to get someone who's new to your business logged into your site.  They think they are there to get your lead magnet.  They are, but they are really there so you can sell them something.  The person was interested enough in your offer to give you their name and email address.  They pretty much know they've agreed to getting some more emails from you.  So now it's time to take some action.

If you visit any membership site, there's typically going to be a dashboard where all the items someone can access are are listed.  If you were NOT wanting to upsell your members, you would only display the items the members had requested or purchased.  But since upselling is what you want, and it really should be, you should be listing what they can access and a bunch of other things along side it so they can purchase it.

I like designing dashboards so each accessible item is available via an image.  You display these images using bright colors signaling they are accessible.  Items they cannot access and can buy are displayed with images shown in grey.  You can consider adding a padlock icons on those images too show they are locked.

You know what everyone does, of course.  They click on them.  It's like dangling forbidden fruit in front of them.  And when they do click, you take them to your sales page.  There you tell them all about it and include big, bright "Buy NOW!" buttons.

Watch the video below for an example that shows a typical dashboard as we build them.  It has an image for accessing a lead magnet along side two tripwires.  The tripwires are inexpensive items they cannot access yet and are up for sale.

Consider your membership site your most valuable upselling tool.

The example above is simple.  I use it to illustrate how to use your membership site to give access to your lead magnet and promote you tripwires.

In this next video, I go over a more sophisticated example.  I use Nathalie Lussier's 30 Day List Building Challenge which is a great example of membership sites used for delivering a lead magnet.   Because her lead magnet is a 30 day challenge, visitors king coming back to the membership site to get content where she presents them with plenty of offers.

I want you to notice how the site is selling, but it's not intrusive. The site is enticing in that it gives member options for determining how to best use the available information.  It even offers a questionnaire assessing where you are currently so it can recommend how best to proceed.

Click here if you are interested in seeing the 30 Day List Building Challenge in action for yourself.