We empower event organizers around the globe, from destination festivals, major sporting and music events to club nights, local fairs, charity fundraisers and private galleries.
Start an event, members’ hub or virtual event for your community and discover how Eventcube can transform your business.
Get Started
If you run membership plans for your organisation, it’s likely that your members are increasingly wanting more member perks to make the cost of their membership worth their hard earned cash. We’ve done the hard work for you and come up with this list of 14 of the best member perks ideas that will seriously boost your membership club’s engagement.
A club membership is a subscription-based model where members pay a fee to have access to a company’s curated set of experiences, products, and opportunities. But beyond its services, membership clubs are more sought after for the community it provides to individuals in similar industries, fields of interest, professions, and trade. This network opens doors to partnerships amongst club members, if not, to learning zones that catapult careers and businesses into new heights.
A members’ club is home to like-minded folks who invest in skills enrichment and opportunities to grow their network. But it’s not only the vast network and sparkling deals that make them worth joining. The membership perks are the real buy-in.
Members’ perks are the services and benefits individuals receive in exchange for their membership fee. It’s the entire package members buy into and enjoy over a certain period of time and it could be an array of things from special use of facilities to events, networking activities, and deals on premium goods.
Members’ perks are curated to fit needs and interests of its members. When added up, these member perks exceed that actual cost of membership, which as you can only imagine is appealing to members and hopefuls.
Club member benefits are at the top of the club runners’ priorities. We’d even say that it comprises a handsome portion of the business strategy.
Good membership perks serve 3 major purposes:
If you’re starting your own private members’ club or trade association or have been running one for some time and have run out of ideas for exciting membership benefits, you’ll love this article. In this blog, we outlined 14 of the best members’ perks ideas you should never miss having in your membership toolkit.
The 14 Best Members' Perks In 2023 Are:
For professionals in the early stages of their career, job boards are worth their weight in gold. Coupled with more tenured club members who hold distinguished positions in their respective organisations or are entrepreneurs in their own right you have the perfect members-only job board.
Private clubs are home to people in diverse age groups and different stages in their careers. Thus, it’s worth asking members from opposite ends of the employment spectrum how you can help facilitate a valuable exchange of expertise and improve the quality of talent pools.
Targeting your members’ perks toward young professionals or members who are planning a career shift and are looking to equip themselves with relevant skills can be an effective strategy. A series of training sessions with industry experts is a great perk to lead with, especially if this comes with certifications.
Other clubs may use their connections and offer on-the-job experiences for its members. But if that’s not feasible for your organisation, you can publish an events calendar instead featuring coaches and experts on different facets of a certain skill.
Socialising is a core part of any club membership. Your role as administrator is to stir engagement and one perfect way to do so is by booking events that drive members to interact with each other, be it as a virtual event, hybrid or in person.
Events could range between breakfast gatherings to fundraisers, mini concerts, and award shows. You could even invite special guests for a sit-down interview on a topic that matters to your members. One that’s closer to home is a livecast one-on-one with the most inspiring and successful club members where you talk about their secrets to success and hard-learned lessons.
You can also expand your horizon outside the four walls of your membership and find interesting events in your community or online that align with the club’s values. A partnership could be struck such that club members receive a special discount on tickets to these events in exchange for a marketing boost. This pitch is more attractive between clubs with thousands of members and events with limited traction or event promotion time.
Combining points 3 and 4, you can create your own event but sell tickets at a higher price point to non-members. Not only would you be implicitly promoting your members’ club at point of sale, you’re also bringing that VIP feeling among club members to the surface which is always a win.
Trade associations can leverage members’ industry experience by running surveys that evaluate trends, issues, and opportunities in the market. Results can be summarised and packaged as an exclusive publication that lands in members’ emails at a given time every year.
Industry reports are valuable membership perks because it’s a “you heard it here first” piece that informs businesses’ decision-making and trajectories. Research is expensive and painstaking if done by yourself or through a think tank. So having it as an ongoing benefit on top of other networking advantages is an appealing buy-in.
Take the principle of industry publications and break it down to more regular updates, news, and entertainment pieces and you have an engagement strategy that is sure to please. Exclusive content is easy to deliver and is highly engaging. You simply need a content team who seeks feedback and pays attention to every engagement your audience
Make it a point to diversify your content. Use a mix of short-form articles, infographics, live videos, webinars, guides, checklists and see which content type creates the most buzz.
Ask your members what services they would find most useful in their business and everyday life and reach out to local suppliers, software companies, and service providers for a partnership.
Discounts as little as 5-10% can make a world of a difference to members who are already consumers of the service. On the flip side, businesses can secure contracts in a close-knit market where word-of-mouth is only as powerful as ever. There’s also the potential to earn affiliate revenue from your members when they purchase one of your exclusive partnership offers.
At its core, membership clubs are hubs for people who wish to feel connected. But more than anything, it’s a rich ground for meeting the right crowd – a buzzing opportunity for entrepreneurs, innovators and even newbies who are looking to grow professionally.
As an administrator, part of your promise to your members is to stage social gatherings where networking occurs with ease. So it only makes sense to put networking events at the centre of your members’ perks.
An important element of networking is finding the right match. And you could effectively play the role of the match-maker by finding similarities in your members’ interests, professions, and aspirations. From which, you can organise multiple networking rooms with predetermined groups and jumble attendees up, speed-dating style.
If you need more creative ideas, we created an article listing all the ways you can make networking a productive and enjoyable experience (and conveniently online too).
There is nothing quite like the pride of being in the same league as someone influential and important in your field. And you can play up this unspoken token in your membership club with directories.
Member directories can be used for connecting outside your platform and finding viable leads, resource speakers for events, mentors, and subject matter experts for company training. Introducing oneself as a fellow in a membership club makes cold pitches less stand-offish because you are technically not a total stranger. Naturally, this increases members’ chances at success which only reinforces their desire to stay within the ever-growing membership community.
Provide a free space for members to ask each other questions, drop nuggets of wisdom, and document their projects and accomplishments through an exclusive online community. Online communities are self-sustaining and if it requires anything from you, it would only be the right amount of moderation to keep the conversation going and relevant.
By allowing members to freely interact and exchange ideas, you democratise the membership circle and improve engagement. On the flipside, you can use communities to promote events, highlight exceptional members, and even host mini challenges and competitions.
Now this may sound more like regular alerts to you but couple this with an offer from a highly coveted brand, magazine, service or concert and your members will thank you for giving them the scoop.
Apart from the sheer satisfaction of acquiring news before it’s broken for all, early alerts also let members be first in line in bookings and presales. And who doesn’t love a good discount or first dibs on the best seats and in the theatre?
One for sports club memberships–you can offer as part of your members’ perks, the best view of the field in all your sporting events. Make it as comfortable and VIP-like as you please to draw a distinction between valued members and regular patrons.
Take it from Middlesex County Cricket Club who only offers access to the historic Lord’s Pavilion to their paying members.
Image Source: Wikipedia
Creative community memberships are also something else. Banking on members’ shared love for art and music, club runners can develop a collection of never-before-heard nor -seen mixes, digital installations, and poetry for members to enjoy monthly.
Taking their own spin on this creative curation and melding it with charity work, War Child launched a unique membership fundraiser in collaboration with the underground music community in the UK. The Right to Dance collects a membership fee of only as little as £7 a month in exchange for a host of exciting perks including exclusive access to monthly downloads and tracklists from its artists in-house.
Can you think of any resource from your arsenal that you can package and offer as a value-add? That might just be your next perk!
Contrary to popular belief, membership benefits don’t need to always have consumer value. Sometimes, you can do just as much nurturing relationships with long-time members as closing deals with brand partners.
Loyalty awards are customary in most memberships and it has various meanings such as a discounted membership in their next renewal, an inner circle with ultra-exclusive gatherings or their own page on your website. If you have an online community, consider adding badges next to legacy members’ photos or profile and grant them to an exclusive hub.
And that’s 14 club membership benefits ideas you can start incorporating into your business today to boost members’ engagement and improve retention rate.
Club membership can be a glorious business model if done right and well, using the right tools. So if you’re still manually renewing and upgrading memberships or are using clunky, unreliable software that only ever eats your time, this is your sign to explore new options.
Eventcube’s Memberships Platform is a white-label membership platform that simplifies database management for ongoing and seasonal membership passes, with the added benefit of event registration, ticket selling and virtual event capacity. Eventcube offers an exclusive online portal where your members can manage their own details and payment plans, so you could dedicate more time growing your business.
Request a demo today to see more of what’s under the hood.
Need more advice on a members' clubs? Read some of our related guides below:
