Offer Promo Codes This Holiday Season!

Posted on December 6, 2017 in Associations, Chambers, Coupons, Feature Updates, General, Membership, Nonprofit, Promo Code, Promotions

This week we go over Membee’s Promotions feature and all the different ways you can bring in revenue while offering awesome discounts to members and/or potential members! The perfect way to increase membership, event registration and more during the holidays.

Membee’s Promotions feature creates opportunities for you to create new and innovative ways to increase both membership and event revenues. The goal is to increase revenues, not give them away in the form of a discount. With that in mind, we’re going to dig a little deeper into a promotion designed to increase new member signups.

Getting Started With Promotions

When you define “Promotion” in Membee, you are telling the system what specific item(s) you wish to offer a discount(s) on and the specific conditions of your promotion. These conditions include:

Discount can be used for
- New membership purchases
- Existing member renewals
- Event registrations
- Or a combination of the above

The two screenshot below show examples of how applying a promotion code at checkout would look with Membee:

1. Screenshot before promo code is applied at checkout:

2. Screenshot after a promotion code applied at checkout:

There are two types of Promotions:

Direct
- These are simple
- The discount is applicable to a single specified event or membership item
- The applicable discount can be applied on checkout by anyone who possesses the code
Conditional
- More powerful
- In order to get a discount for a specified item, a purchaser must first purchase a different “conditional” item
- You can offer multiple discounts for different items once the conditional item is purchased

But before you start telling people about your new promotion, make sure it is achieving at least one of the following objectives for you:

Provides an incentive to join for potential members who to date, you have now been able to attract
Provides an incentive for existing members to renew earlier
Provides an incentive for existing members to not only renew but also increase their event participation
Provides an incentive for members to register more people for an event or event series
Provides an incentive for members (maybe non-members too) to support something new
Provides increased value to “big ticket” members supporting you at your top dues level(s)

Direct Promotion Examples

These examples show you how simple promotions can help you increase revenues.

A “Bring a Friend” Promotion

A simple idea that applies to the sale of new memberships and event sales. You create a promotion in Membee that generates a discount code. You then send the discount code to members and encourage them to share with a non-member. The non-member could use the discount code to join or register for an event. This promotion achieves objective #1 & #4 listed above.

A “Buy 2 and Get a 15% Discount” Promotion

A common situation would apply to event purchases. A discount would generate registrations that you would not get without it. Depending on your membership structure, the same concept could apply to new memberships as well. This promotion achieves objective #1, #4, & #5 listed above.

A “Register for This Event by a Specific Date and Get $50 Off” Promotion

Getting event registrations earlier can help your event build greater momentum that will yield even more registrations. This is an effective approach if the event is new and has yet to earn its “street cred”. This promotion achieves objective #3 & #5 listed above.

Conditional Promotion Examples

A Conditional Promotion is another option in Membee’s Promotions feature. Basically, a Conditional Promotion works by automatically sending a discount code for a second time when a purchaser purchases the first item. The goal is to sell two things, not just one.

Keep in the mind that a conditional promotion requires the purchase of the designated “conditional” item in order to receive a discount(s) to apply to the purchase of an additional item(s). These discounts are delivered to the purchaser via email only after they have satisfied the condition by purchasing the “conditional” item. The possibilities here are nearly endless but here are some popular examples:

A “Buy an Event and Get a Free Membership” Promotion

Create a conditional promotion where registration in a specific event by a non-member will trigger the delivery of a “100% discount” for the purchase of a membership. This promotion achieves objective #1 & #5 listed above.

A “Buy a Membership and Get 25% Off a Specific Event” Promotion

This conditional promotion motivates a potential new member to join and immediately gain access to an event discount, just like your long-term members. Because the promotion is conditional, the new member gains access to the discount only after they have acquired their membership. This promotion achieves objective #1 & #4 listed above.

A “Pay Your Membership Renewal by a Certain Date and Get a Discount for an Event if Your Register by a Specific Expiry Date” Promotion

This might be the most beneficial conditional promotion. It aids in renewal by accelerating renewal while motivating members to renew in order to gain access to the event discount. Your event wins through increased and accelerated registration thanks to the expiry date set on the discount. This promotion achieves objective #2, #3 & #5 listed above.