10 Types of Membership Site Bonus Content to Reward Your Members

Virtual tours of exclusive locations, behind-the-scenes access to cultural events, e-books, or text interviews with experts. What bonus content should you offer next to your members?

Rewarding your members with bonus content is the best way to build strong loyalty and long-lasting relationships, needless to say, it simply brings pleasure and positive emotions to your membership site audience.

But what type of bonus content can your members appreciate most of all? Hard question, isn’t it? Not really!

We are going to provide you with various categorized bonus types, but first of all, remember that it might sound ideal in theory – but the best choice always depends on your today’s interaction with clients, their feedback, and priorities. So, consider our membership site bonus content a template that you can tailor to your needs and business type in practice!

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What bonus content types are popular with members?

Finding bonus content that will resonate with your audience is easy if you measure what content on your membership site is already popular, or, quite the contrary, if you find something completely new to impress your members. If you can also run a poll to find out what type of content they are looking for most – and shape your ideas of bonus content based on that.

Ebooks, tutorials, and templates as Bonus Content

File format: PDF

This is probably the most known format people still enjoy even in the era of a short attention span and video streaming services. There are popular because people can apply such content to their life – read tips and stories in books, take insights from actionable short tutorials, or simply apply ready-made templates to their needs (e.g. nutrition plans, business plans, Airbnb welcome books, workout plans, downloadable exercise routines, healthy recipe guides, etc.). It’s also important who is the author of the content – it can be you as a course/membership site creator or other reputable authors.

Exclusive videos

File format: video

Choosing video content pretty much depends on the type of your membership. Some members might enjoy video interviews, others might be looking for filming of exclusive places. For example:

• Travel memberships can win hearts with stunning destinations showcase, unique experiences, and insider travel tips. For example, if you offer paid video series, you can simply give one for free as a bonus content for loyal members.
• Legal firms can record explainer videos on common legal topics, interviews with legal professionals, or even use animation or visuals to break down complex legal concepts into simple lessons.
• Startup creators may try to inspire and motivate members with exclusive interviews with entrepreneurs or behind-the-scenes glimpses into startup journeys.

Live events

File format: video streaming

Bonus content doesn’t mean static. People learn more from interaction with other people, so your members might find it valuable to join a free live Q&A session, webinars, or other interactive formats as a membership bonus content.

Access to content outside your membership platform

File format: web access to external sites 

While more and more websites and blogs are hiding their content under the paywall, more customers are looking for ways to get free access to such content. Those can vary from a magazine article to a full-scale course on Udemy. Think of partnerships with such websites that offer paid quality content, get the best deals for subscriptions to content related to your business niche – and provide it as a bonus to your membership site audience! This way you won’t just reward your members with great content but also make your relationship with other creators and brands stronger.

Interviews

File format: video, PDF

Interviews are a very relevant format in whatever sphere, from education to entertainment. It might not be the easiest thing to arrange, but if you can record it, your members are sure to value a chance to pick up someone’s brain.

Beta-reading access

File format: PDF / web / Google Docs

If you are writing a book, you can offer your members early access to it, with the ability to leave feedback and comments. Those can be collaborative experiences, like leaving comments in Google Docs or releasing chapters in more static format like PDF.

Itineraries and location-based recommendations

File format: PDF

This type of membership bonus content is very popular with membership sites that deal with lifestyle and activity, travel, hobby, and experience-based concepts. Offer your very own, self-curated activities-based itineraries for hiking, dining, or exploring local culture. Make them clear and step-by-step, with graphs, images, and icons.

High-resolution images

File format: PNG, JPEG

Regardless of your membership site type, offering downloadable high-resolution images is always a great idea. Offer your members a solution to create personalized greeting cards, use images as desktop backgrounds, or print high-quality photos. The key thing is to ensure the images align with your membership theme and provide real value to your members in their everyday lives.

Structured presentations

File format: PPTX (PowerPoint) / ODP 

This membership bonus content format can help you present research findings, market trends, or member survey results with charts, graphs, and infographics in a handy way; showcase successful member stories or case studies; create financial planning strategies or DIY projects relevant to your membership theme.

Resource lists

File format: spreadsheet

Create well-structured lists that matter to your membership topic, for example, project management tools, inventory lists, lists of websites, competitor comparisons, expense tracking templates, etc. People love things like easy ways to track and manage timelines, milestones, and progress – with spreadsheets being a great way to organize such content.

Conclusion: How to choose the best membership site bonus content? 

From member-exclusive content to bonus content, you can build an even stronger relationship with your audience, entertain your members, and improve their lives. This definitely leads to better feedback and reviews of your membership, and more creative pursuits for you. Our key takeaway on how to get started:

• Consider your membership theme and target audience.
• Analyze existing content member preferences, and possibly ask your members what they value most.
• Evaluate content format options and the time you need to spend on them.
• To save up time and money, offer part of your premium content for free as a content bonus for chosen members.
• Go with a type of content and idea you feel most passionate about at the moment.