How to Build Member Relationships: Membership Business Tips
How do you establish trust and rapport when building member relationship? It is somewhat similar to building any relationship because these feelings and attitudes are rooted in human psychology.
But there is one significant difference – for your members, you are seen as a public figure. This means expectations from you are higher and minor missteps can put your reputation at risk. You need to deliver true value, stand your ground with your actions, and listen actively to your members.
How to do this? Get prepared to wear many hats… You need to be a bit of a pop star, a bit of a support engineer, and a bit of a friend to your members to build member relationships. With our membership website practical tips, this journey might be easier.
What’s Behind the Psychology of Building Member Relationships?
Trust and rapport are the result of your actions and words as a content creator, consultant, or coach.
Just like with friendship, it all starts with consistent communication with your members, within and beyond the content you deliver through membership tiers. If friendly and open, it leads to reliability and trust.
With these emotions activated, members become more engaged in your content and activities. Then you have this connection – and when you take the time to listen and respond, it shows that you value their members’ input. This makes members feel a special part of a community, bringing you their loyalty. The more members feel connected, the more likely they are to stay and even recommend your services to others.
Too complicated? Let’s summarize and visualize this formula to help you see the path you should take:
Communication > Reliability > Trust > Engagement > Validation > Sense of Community > Loyalty.
Key Actions for Building Rapport with Members
Evaluate not only the quality of your content but also your actions across different areas.
Prospects and active members consistently pay attention to certain aspects of your membership or course.
- Be consistent in communication and respond to comments and messages kindly and promptly for building member relationship. Open prompt channels of communication via popular messengers, like Facebook or WhatsApp.
- Be an active listener and pay attention to your audience’s feedback. For example, host live Q&A sessions on Zoom and encourage real-time communication, feedback, and even a ‘team-building’ effect.
- Deliver value inside and outside paid membership content. For example, share tips on the blog, in short videos; provide free resources, tools, or templates.
- Be transparent about processes, pricing, and limitations people can encounter in your membership. Have a carefully crafted policies page on your site for building member relationships on trust.
- If you promised to deliver new content, workshop, or product, follow through with these promises.
- Practice empathy to see the real challenges of your members. Try to solve them with new content.
- Show that you collaborate with other industry leaders to build your credibility further.
Collecting Feedback & Communicating with Members to Build Rapport
Remember, the way to rapport and trust starts with consistent communication?
But how do you enable members to say what they want? How to encourage and support a dialogue for building member relationships?
The ways may vary based on your membership type, but some general practical tips we share below:
- Welcome emails to guide new members.
- Newsletters to share tips and content.
- Feedback requests.
- Built-in messaging and notifications/alerts in your membership system.
- Events and updates on your membership site.
- Q&A threads.
- Private groups on social networks.
- Direct member messages in emails and other apps.
- Public posts and comments within your membership community.
- Live chat and support.
- Webinars and live streams.
- One-on-one and group video calls.
- Feedback sections on your courses, videos, etc.
Many of these ways to communicate with and build rapport with members can be seamlessly performed via modern membership, coaching, or course building (LMS) software.
For example, with the ARMember membership software, you will be able to manage and automate all on-platform interactions, with social messaging, public wall notifications, alerts, and app messages.
It’s important for your members to feel heard and that their feedback is taken seriously. When possible, even work into your membership programs! If you come across feedback that isn’t feasible to implement, it’s better to be upfront about it and explain why in any way – use personal messages, social networks, email newsletters, and other means.
Want to better manage customer feedback? We have a detailed tutorial on how customer feedback can bring your membership program success.
Boosting Member Engagement to Build Rapport
As a membership website creator, you should know that a well-designed onboarding process is key to boosting engagement levels as it gives people the first impression of your efforts.
But once they know what to expect, how to take this engagement even further? How do members get engaged?
Just like in a personal relationship, trust is about giving and taking, giving and taking. It should not be one-sided and your task is to start a dialogue for building member relationship.
- First of all, through your content. Add discussion sections to articles, watching videos, or courses they complete.
- Open forums and discussion boards and keep them active.
- Turn on likes, comments, and sharing options on your membership site/software.
- Add surveys, polls, or feedback forms.
- Focus on so-called user-generated content. Encourages members to contribute content, including posts, testimonials, or success stories.
- Allow members to track their progress on courses, activities, or challenges.
- Implement email reminders and push notifications to bring people back to you.
Supporting & Engaging Language to Build Rapport with Members
The language you use in your ads and personal communication is very important and it influences the ways you build trustful relationships with members.
There are specific words and phrases to use to build bridges of trust with your members.
1. Inclusive and engaging language:
“We’re in this together.”
“Your feedback is invaluable.”
2. Reassuring statements to build trust:
“It’s okay to start small.”
“You’re not alone on this journey.”
3. Credibility building for your expertise:
“Based on my experience in [relevant field].”
“Here’s what worked for me/my clients.”
4. Encouraging language for the learning process:
“You’ve got this!”
“Every step forward is progress.”
5. Clarifying an caring phrases:
“Let me break this down for you.”
“Here’s a simple way to think about it.”
6. Acknowledgments:
“That’s a great question.”
“I appreciate your perspective.”
7. Calls to action:
“Let’s take the next step together.”
“I’d love to hear your thoughts.”
This brings us to the end of our practical section of tips for building rapport with members!
Concluding Words – How Do You Start Building Relationships with Members?
You can’t build trust and rapport with members overnight, it all takes time and effort. As a bottom line, here is your go-to & quick-start guide for building member relationship.
- Stick to a simple formula of building rapport with members: start with constant communication to eventually earn member loyalty and engagement.
- Look for ways to get member-generated content, which will be useful for your business and inspiring for members.
- Pick words carefully, choose smart membership software, and improve onboarding processes.
FAQs:
- Why is building rapport with members important for a membership site?
Building member rapport and relationship helps establish trust, promote member engagement, and enhance loyalty. All this leads to member retention in the long run.
- What are some effective ways to improve communication with members?
To improve member communication and build member relationship, include welcome emails, live Q&A sessions, feedback forms, newsletters, and so on.
- How to encourage member feedback to promote memberships?
Create feedback forms, surveys, or have open comment sections. Have an anonymous poll or Q&A to encourage genuine feedback. Offer discounts, special content on submitting feedback for motivation.
- How long does it take to build trust and rapport with members?
It takes consistency over a long period of time to build member relationships. Keep delivering value consistently and stay true to your promises. You might not build a rapport with each member initially, but a bunch of loyal ones would stick around. Keep them close and nurture them as they are your true ambassadors.
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Brian Denim
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