Associations Trends Talk Blog – When Should You Increase Membership Dues?

Pricing your membership dues is a delicate balancing act. You have expenses, you want to keep your value up, and you want to keep your members. David Ewald recently sat down with pricing expert Ben Malakoff to discuss pricing strategy for associations including when to increase dues, by how much, and how we can change pricing models to be more forward-thinking.

Ewald’s biggest takeaways from Ben Malakoff:

1. It is time to increase your dues. Your members are vital to your organization, and you want to stay loyal to them as they are to you, but you need to keep up with the cost of operations and inflation. Increasing dues support the value you provide by keeping up with the economy and allowing you to grow. Ben suggests increasing your dues by 2-4% every couple of years. If you haven’t increased your dues in a while, this may be more like 7-8%
2. Changing your dues model could re-energize your organization. As younger generations enter the workforce, some organizations are considering a subscription-type system where dues are automatically renewed, meaning existing members have to actively opt-out rather than opt-in every year. This is a familiar model to Gen Z, who grew up with subscriptions for content. Another option is the “freemium” model, which gives members free access to some content and allows them to pay for premium content À la carte. Ben recommends being careful with this model, however, as your members provide revenue, making the membership mostly free could cost you consistent revenue.
3. Communicate. Ben says communicating with your members is the easiest way to evaluate whether or not your dues are appropriate for the value you provide. When altering dues rates, communicate to your members early and often that the price will be changing. Further, if you are considering an increase, send out surveys and/or host a focus group. With this information, you may be able to suggest new offerings or ideas that would provide more value.

Did you miss this month’s ATT? Watch the recording here.