Transitioning from Annual to Monthly Memberships

[hannahka]

Hello, our company is starting the process of transitioning from an annual membership plan to going monthly. I was hoping to hear testimonies from anyone or any company that has done this and how the process went. I basically want to pick your brain!! I understand the technicial side of it but I guess I am more interested in learning how did your customer base handle it, did you still have a decent retention from your customers, was anyone "grandfathered in" and still remained at an annual member price (and what were your criteria for grandfathering them in), etc. Please let me know so that we can connect! 🙂

[reneem]

hi! I have lots to say about this. We transferred over in April of 2022, so been a little over a year. we were ONLY annual upfront. Now we offer monthly- ongoing, annual- ongoing and annual-upfront for certain cases (but there is a $20 fee to not keep your card on file 🙂 )

We had a good retention. Informing them really helped ahead of time. We mailed out the renewals with the new updated flyer and also had a blurb in the renewal letter. We also sent the same email as well, so most people already saw the change before they even called in to renew. We also made it seem like it was the customers idea -"You asked, we listened!"

I included my blurb for you to look at as well.

Happy to hop on a call and talk about the obstacles we ran into, and what we did along the way. Making sure the techs are informed, making sure that everything is setup properly is definitely crucial!

[mhorowit]

Thanks Renee! I would love to connect on a call. Let me know when you're available. 

[reneem]

shoot me an email at renee@ssihvac.com and we can get something scheduled!

[SSeminar]

@reneem would love to know if you have any additional wisdom on this specific topic; I have been encouraging some of my shops to consider having both options as well. 

[mhorowit]

Hi- We are about to transition and I saw your post. Did you make the switch? I'm curious if you did and I would love to connect. 

[gotobrandi]

I am very curious how the transitioning goes. We may be doing same this year.

[jaquelin]

We only offer monthly memberships, it's pretty easy and convenient to sell. There have only been a few that have mentioned wanting to pay upfront for a year but it's very rare. The only time a membership is prepaid is if they purchase equipment from us. We hold different packages that include a prepaid membership of 12, 24 and 36 months depending on their choice. 

As far as monthly members, when we sign them up, we do inform them that they have to stay on club for about 6 months to start up their regular tune ups and not be charged the nonmember price.  Now, let's say a new member is three months into their club and call in with a concern like their unit stopped working, they do get the perks of a diag fee waved and if a repair comes up, they still get the discount. HOWEVER, if said customer cancels right after receiving these perks they have to pay us back the difference.

Sorry for any confusion, our CSRs are the ones to offer a pitch to customers over the phone anyway haha

[JessicaSmith]

@reneem tag! You can help here!