What can you learn from dropped members?   Plenty!  IF you track and report on just a few items in your membership management software.   For this post, we’ll consider“dropped” members as members that have cancelled their membership or those who you’ve dropped because they haven’t renewed their dues.  (You are dropping them after they are past due, aren’t you?  You should be!)

This two-part post will first deal with Drop Reasons.  Part 2 will deal with Additional Potential Lost Revenue.

Drop reason – Whether a company was a member of your organization for 6 months or 60 years, when it comes time to part ways, find out why!  When you officially “switch” them from a member to a non-member in your membership management software, make sure 1) find out the main reason why they are dropping and 2) have a way to record that information.    

First determine what the 5-10 most frequent reasons are why a company does not renew.  Then, establish tracking or drop codes in your member database that include or list those reasons.   Some examples include:

· Company relocated

· Saw no benefits

· Dissatisfied

· Out of Business

· Non-payment

· New ownership

· Joined other organization

· Other

You can also add topic-sensitive drop reasons.  For example, if you organization recently backed a certain ballot initiative and several members cited that as the reason they dropped, create a new drop code and track that information.  With a bit of brainstorming with your staff, you should be able to come up with 5-10 main drop reasons to use in your member database.  Then, make sure your staff is contacting every member to determine their drop reason.

Once you start tracking these reasons, use them in your dropped report to easily see trends on why members are not renewing and how it could be affecting your member retention.   For even easier analysis, plot this information on a chart or graph, such as the example in this post.

And you can get even more detailed with your member intelligence.   You can also classify these drop reasons as “in your control” or “out of your control.”   Reasons out of your control might be “company relocated” or “out of business.”   However, members who claimed “saw no benefits” or “non-payment” could have potentially renewed if you made better or more frequent contact with them. 

By tracking your members’ drop reasons and reporting on them with easy to understand charts, you can quickly determine area for action in your member retention efforts and your new member sales.  If 75% of your members who dropped last year did so because they “saw no benefit,” then perhaps it’s time to create new benefits or communicate the current ones more effectively.    Or if a high percentage of first year members are going out of business, you may want to adjust your new member sales strategies or find ways to foster a stronger local economy.

By learning from your dropped members in this way, you can increase your member intelligence and make better decisions for managing and marketing your organization.