New Co-Op Style Membership

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Hello everyone, my apologies for not posting last week. We’ve been so busy with new projects and projects just finishing up. One of them I would like to talk about with you today. It’s a new membership plan that the Float Shoppe we will be announcing soon.

We’ve found that while floating is our flagship product, we offer a very versatile spread of options for our customers. Simply having float membership, massage membership or yoga memberships feels archaic at this point in the FS lifespan.

To address this we are planning on having a Co-Op style membership. Members will pay a monthly fee that will give them access to deep discounts on all of our offerings. It’s that simple. We believe this style of membership will have 3 affects. I’m curious what you think about this and what issues we might find as we implement it.

One Membership
The first thing this should satisfy is those who want a membership for floats only, massage only, yoga only etc. Instead of having a specific membership for each modality, we will cover all our bases with one membership. We will still have our floats only membership, but we think sign-ups will dwindle in favor of the new membership. The simplicity will be an added value.

A Customer Bond
Co-Op memberships aren’t just about getting a good deal, it’s about supporting the business that you love. We believe that this continues to expand our sense of community. Not only is the customer being taken care of with great discounts through membership, but they are consciously supporting us us as well.

Your Home for Wellness
Another major reason for this membership is that we hope it opens peoples minds to all of the offerings we have. Maybe you only do Yoga here, but with your membership a float is a low cost choice to make. If you come in for floats twice a month, all of a sudden a float/massage combo may sound like a more reasonable option. We truly are a wellness center, so we want to encourage people to see us as just that, their center for wellness.

I am curious what you think about this model. What are some things we should be considering as we launch this? What kinds of hurdles do you see that we should consider?
We’ll be sure to post an update on how this has worked for our business. We appreciate your thoughts so much!

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3 responses to “New Co-Op Style Membership”

  1. Amy Grimes Avatar

    I think the most difficult part is maintaining the membership – using it to make them feel involved. It’s way too easy to get a membership that’s withdrawn monthly from the account and never really think about it. Clients get stuck in a rut and stick with the services they know. Or they may not understand what the other things you offer actually do for them. If I had more time with massage, I think I could have made the program gel and had some wonderful things happen.

    While we are currently down to just a float membership, I am working on an email series set up on an auto responder. We will be giving everyone The Book of Floating with their membership. The series of auto responders is basically a weekly look at how they can use floating (if not for them, it may trigger the thought of someone else they know who can use floating) and I’m using the book and quotes from the book as a guide. It will also cover things like keeping a journal, ways to experiment with the tank, different techniques to try in the tank for quieting the mind and/or meditation, etc.

    We also show them all the cool things that can be done with their membership (inexpensive vouchers that can be used to intro new friends to floating, discount on gift certificates, and ways we recognize them for longer floats).

    On top of education, Mark wants to do quarterly mini-events with our members. We want them to feel special and involved. And after they have their membership for a certain period of time, they get their name embroidered on a large colored towel that will be stored just for them when they come in.

    Because floating was our focus, our pricing was based on that. The more floats/month they chose, the cheaper the floats got. Then our massage had a straight membership pricing that was the same for everyone regardless of the option they chose. It kept things simple.

    For you, you have so much at the center, I would do the auto-responders but have each professional in your office do a mini-video educating them about what they do and how it can help, maybe offering an add on bonus (I wouldn’t recommend discounts). And since you have that lovely space, you could do some really wonderful member-centric mini-events on a monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly basis.

    My brain is generating a ton of ideas you could do, but I think you get the picture (why is it always easier to brainstorm for other peeps? LOL).

    Here’s another thing I’m thinking about… the more value added stuff added to the membership program, the more reasonable it would seem to demand a commitment. Not necessarily a year – but if you’re putting so much effort into the membership, why not ask for a 3 or 6 month contract? Would it help or hinder? I don’t know, but I have spoken to peeps who have contracts for their services and am told the quality of peeps involved in their programs rises dramatically. Whether this is an industry thing or has to do with the area the service is in – that’s yet to be determined.

    This got a little long. Sorry. I didn’t intend to write all this. Take it for what it’s worth. But it’s a fun thing to ponder!

    1. colin roald Avatar

      Amy, why are you down to just a float membership? Was massage not working? If I recall correctly, you were an LMT before opening the float center, right?

      Sara and I may be in a similar position a year behind you (she’s an LMT also).

      1. Sandra Calm Avatar

        Amy, this is great and so helpful! I really like your involvement ideas, and would love to hear others!

        I’m feeling timid but hopeful about this membership structure. We’ll see how it goes, and adjust from there, as we do!

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