Written by Michael Gillespie
In this issue:
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Your members remember how you made them feel long after they’ve forgotten what you gave them access to.”
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Please allow 10-12 business days for a reply, as our inquiry volumes are higher than normal…
Sound familiar?
That’s the reply I received after sending an email to the product support team of my favorite coffee maker last week after it stopped working.
Now, I’m a reasonable person, but waiting 10-12 business days…just for a response?
Not happening.
So instead of waiting, I proceeded to purchase a new coffee maker (by a different brand) for a few key reasons.
In today’s issue, I want to unpack points 1 and 2 above because I was reminded of something we often forget when operating our memberships:
Members are real people with real problems.
And their trust can be lost in an instant.
Let’s dive in.
(And by the way, it’s now eight days later and I still haven’t received a response to my inquiry.)
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There’s a certain type of appeal around membership metrics.
They give you something to fix. Something to push on. Something to celebrate.
But metrics don’t tell you when someone is quietly slipping away. They don’t tell you when someone feels frustrated or let down by your service. They don’t tell you when someone logged in, looked around, and thought:
“Maybe this isn’t for me after all.”
Metrics just tell you what someone did.
Not what they felt.
And if you stop paying attention to what people feel, your membership becomes a machine.
Well-oiled. Efficient. And slowly...hollow.
Because behind every “inactive user” is a person who once trusted you.
Who once said yes to something you promised.
Who once believed your membership might help them change something.
And the moment they feel forgotten, or unseen, that trust cracks.
Not loudly, but quietly.
That’s typically how most members leave. They don’t make a scene for all to see and hear. Instead, they walk away in silence, carrying their frustrations with them.
And those are feelings that will forever be associated with your brand.
You see, as an operator, there’s a real cost to not tuning in to the feelings that drive the actions we often measure in our dashboards, charts and metrics.
And it’s not just the cup of coffee.
It’s the ongoing trust that your members will associate with your product - potentially for years to come.
And reliable, predictable revenue will always follow trust.
And that trust must be protected at all costs - even when it feels insignificant.
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