Hike Nova Scotia Grows Their Membership Using Promo Codes
Janet Barlow, the Executive Director of Hike Nova Scotia, shares how streamlining their membership data in Membee has alleviated their administrative tasks and given them the opportunity to use promo codes to provide existing members additional member perks and increase their new member intake.
It’s time to let Membee handle all your membership administrative tasks so that you can expand on building effective marketing strategies to increase your membership retention rate. Hike Nova Scotia is living proof that automating their membership eliminated unnecessary administrative work, allowing them to focus on the tasks that drive the organization’s growth!
Janet Barlow, the Executive Director, shared how Membee alleviated administrative duties and provided the opportunity to implement promo codes to increase membership retention.
No Membee, No Growth!
Before Hike Nova Scotia migrated to using Membee, they were not using anything but excel sheets to track their membership data. Without Membee, creating and promoting the use of promo codes was not an option to consider!
Only until they transitioned from the daunting excel sheets to using Membee, they were able to streamline their administrative tasks and free up their time to grow and expand their organization.
“At the beginning, it was a little rough to just to transfer the information, get used to it all – there was a steep learning curve. But once everything got going and I know the system, it’s been great. It’s so streamlined our membership process and it’s no longer the chore that it use to be to update an excel spreedsheet just to make sure that emails and reminders will go out. The automation system is tremendous and the online pay – we don’t deal with even a quarter of the amount of cheques that we use to have to deal with!”
Janet Barlow, Executive Director of Hike Nova Scotia
How Hike Nova Scotia Uses Promo Codes
The best part about using promo codes is the ability to be creative in your own unique way that best fits your organization. Hike Nova Scotia demonstrates how providing discount codes has increased its member retention but also increased the number of new members.
Here are a few ways that Hike Nova Scotia uses promo codes for their members:
- Special discount code for volunteers, presenters for events, and board members
- As a prize in the form of a free membership that is applicable for new and existing members
- During a guided hike, a free membership is physically presented inside an envelope with instructions on how to redeem the free membership as a trail prize.
Hike Nova Scotia’s Success With Promo Codes
The big question is how successful are the promo codes? It might be easy to get the word out, but is there a rate of return? Janet noticed that the likelihood for someone to renew was higher with some extra perks and that the number of new member sign-ups increased because new members were redeeming their free membership prize!
Additionally, Janet expressed that the efficiency of promo codes has cut down their administration when ensuring that the presenter, volunteer, or board member receives their discounted rate for larger events. The success of promo codes isn’t measured just by the quantity redeemed, but other factors that improve your organization’s processes.
There’s no need to go through any hassle, simply create a promo code and communicate it via email!
“Every fall and winter after giving out prizes, it’s noticeable that people are using the promo codes. As we see new members sign up, we see that, oh – they used the promo code!”
Janet Barlow, Executive Director
Recommendations from Hike Nova Scotia
There’s more to creating promo codes than to just offer discounts. It’s a “marketing and membership development all in one” – we stole that from Janet, actually. Like many other users that use Membee, Hike Nova Scotia is a nonprofit; to provide valuable incentives, you need to be innovative and creative, working with the resources you already have.
“It is a way of giving existing members some extra perks, whether it be they’re signing up for something and they get an experience, course, event, or something else for cheaper. Of course, using promo codes to give out free or discounted memberships is a great opportunity. When you do have a big event, making sure that your volunteers and presenters have an easy way to sign up with their discounted rate – you have more control over who can get a discount rather than using the honour system and trusting that other attendees don’t purchase the volunteer price. As a nonprofit, there aren’t a whole lot of ways where we can give people really great expensive benefits or free swag, but we can certainly give them a discount on an existing event.”
Janet Barlow, Executive Director
About Hike Nova Scotia
Hike Nova Scotia is a nonprofit organization that encourages and promotes a growing hiking culture throughout the province of Nova Scotia. They strive to be the voice for those who hike, walk and snowshoe and commit towards building a community of outdoor adventure enthusiasts! They believe that connecting with nature improves your physical and mental health, your social well-being, your economic prosperity, and environmental protection.
To visit their Website, Facebook, or Instagram, click the icons below!
Questions? Want to Share Your Story?
To learn more about Membee’s promotional codes feature, jump to our guide by clicking here (Membee login required).
If you have any questions regarding Membee or if you would like to share your story with us for a chance to be featured in a blog, please contact Membee support staff at support@membee.com.
Valuing the member always help the community grow when it comes to numbers and loyalty. Nova Scotia got incredible mountain views for hikers.
Agreed! It’s highly important to be valued, especially as a member. Nova Scotia DOES have amazing hiking views! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
A couple of my friends here been there and they really had a great time. Wifey would like to visit Nova Scotia this summer if time permits. Hope every falls into place.
If you’re looking to go on some hikes in Nova Scotia, you know who to reach 🙂 – we hope everything falls into place too for you and your wifey!
Her schedule for meeting at Fredericton is set so might have a good chance to visit. Only thing is it has been 5 years since we hiked together so may need to condition our physical body.