How to Price a Membership Site in 2022
If you've made a decision to create the site for membership or you're thinking about it since you're excited by the possibilities of a community business model That's fantastic! Membership sites are amazing and offer the incredible capacity to grow in ways that they're not seen elsewhere in the creator economy.
Just think about it. Imagine being able to gather groups of people around something important to you and them, to walk them through a transformation they care about. This is the strength of the membership sites.
However, one of the toughest aspects of starting out is figuring out what you should actually cost for your product. What is what is the best price, so that you don't be A. Working for nothing or, B. Charging so much that the audience is unable to pay.
Good news is that we've got the data. In this post, we'll go over what we've learned about the best way to charge an online membership website from our study of 12,000 . (Don't forget, if you want to start with your very own Mighty Network, you can take a trial for no cost! )
This article
1.1. Paid plans sell
1.2. There aren't any millions of fans
1.3. Growth is organic
1.4. Paid membership drives engagement
2. Average membership site price for a Mighty Network
3. Questions to consider in determining the price of a membership site
3.1. Will it be scalable?
3.2. What is its place into your business model for revenue?
3.3. What is the amount you require to continue?
4.1. Members must be properly invested
4.2. Price-based value
4.3. Think about the options of your members
4.4. Prices based on the income goals
4.5. One-time vs recurring fees
4.6. Members churn
What our data shows
Paid plans offer
If you're worried about adopting the pricing method for your membership site in order to frighten people away Let's set your minds at peace. Our data shows that, when membership sites offer paid plans They are able to offer paid plans. 77% of those that offer the option of payment selling. This means that your odds of selling your membership are high! Which is good!
If you're considering a freemium business model which allows people to sign up for the free service and later make upsells on their behalf You're in luck as well. Freemium still have the highest conversion rate at 70% for their services.
It's not necessary to have thousands of fans
A lot of our sell memberships to their communities with no huge followers. 53% are less than 10,000 fans!
Growth is organic
Within a Mighty Network, the Host is able to allow users to invite others into the community. For a community that is paid, this organic growth with the members inviting their friends to join is double the amount that it happens in a free community.
Paid membership drives engagement
A well-worn adage states that people are able to appreciate what they pay for and that is also true for memberships, too. The degree of participation in our memberships that are paid. It's not necessary to post 100x a week in order to achieve this. Most successful hosts on just need to update 2-3 times per week in order for their communities to stay alive.
The average cost of a membership site for the Mighty Network
The median cost for membership on Mighty Network is $39.55/mo. For many of the larger communities, the membership fees support the creator full-time. However, even for a smaller community, this fee is an excellent side business and a way better monetization model that almost every other alternative in the creator economy. There would be tens to thousands to billions of views on social media channels to match this income.
With the capability to take orders over $1000, you also are able to look into high-ticket courses and memberships without having to integrate another website.
Questions to consider when evaluating the cost of membership sites
If you're trying to determine what is the ideal price for your membership website Our data suggests that the average cost is between $15 and $40. It doesn't mean you shouldn't charge more in some cases, but it will take some strategy.
Here are some queries to lay the groundwork for pricing your own site:
Will it be scalable?
Every membership website is not created in the same way. There are some that can be scaled infinitely as well as have communities of tens of thousands of people who are members. These massive communities allow creators the ability to charge less for membership as they're earning a return on the size.
However, if you're managing a group that is smaller in scope, such as coaching group or mastermind group where you are limited on the number of members you can serve, it's likely that you'll need to be charging more.
Does it make sense within your revenue model?
The cost of a site that is a member's club cannot be an end-all-beall solution. You should consider it as an integral part of your monetization model. If you're offering upsells for example, courses or premium group access, then you'll wish to keep the cost of membership low, recognizing that it's much easier to offer upsells to members of your community than to try to market your products elsewhere.
If you are selling a physical product that your site's membership program supports, you might choose to offer a customer community on a free basis or at an additional fee that helps users use your product. Figure out how any membership revenue fits within your existing and planned income sources.
How much do you require to go on?
It's easy to become excited about the possibilities with the possibility of monthly recurring income. Since the internet is full of stories of individuals making a lot of money doing little, it's easy to imagine that your local community could be your road to riches.
We hope that it's true!
But, if there aren't a ton of new users signing up in the first month, what are the next steps you do to continue?
If you're planning be putting your energy into the community each month, what's your baseline of income you'd need for that period?
Let's suppose you're certain that you can have 15 members (or possibly pre-sell 15 memberships). If you had those 15 members for the next year, how many would you be able to charge them in order to ensure that the group is worth your time?
Pricing Aspects
As you've likely gathered in trying to determine the best way to charge the cost of a membership site, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. You'll be considering a lot of factors that are unique to you. Let's look at some last things to consider:
Members need to be financially invested
We have already mentioned, one of the things that we observe repeatedly is that people are able to appreciate the value they get for their money. That means, even though this may seem counterintuitive the communities that are charged tend to be healthier and enjoy higher member engagement.
Pricing based on values
A most tried and tested methods to approach pricing is to look at the value. Do not think about how many hours you put into something creating it, but think about the benefits it'll bring to those that join. For example, if an entrepreneur joins a community and gains the experience, teaching, and encouragement to increase their company's revenue from 100-$100k in annual revenue, how is the value of that membership to the person joining?
Think about your member's alternatives
What ELSE do your members need to pay for to get the results they'll get through your organization. If you have the fitness center to help people achieve their health goals think about what they'd need to pay for to reach these goals without. An individual trainer? A gym membership?
Think about the amount members be required to cover to accomplish their goals by other means.
Pricing is based on income targets
Another aspect that could impact the pricing model on your membership website could be your revenue goal. If you were hoping to earn $4,000 a month to leave your job. You could utilize this figure to calculate backward and set revenue goals.
If, for instance, you were pretty confident you could get 100 people willing to be part of your group and you wanted to charge them $40, you could do so. If you wanted to make $4,000/mo as a group coach You might be able to decide that it's not worth a team that is 100 members. In this situation, you'll need to move backwards based on your capacity. If you knew that you could manage 6 groups per month that have 8 participants, the cost of membership becomes a mathematical equation: 4,000 6 x (6 8) equals $83.33/mo.
One-time vs recurring fees
The majority of the information we've provided in this article is based on an idea of regular fee for memberships that are monthly. But there may be instances that it is more sensible charging a single fee. For example, if you have a high-value course that people can do in two weeks that is included in your membership You might think about the possibility the possibility that some individuals might choose to take the course and then leave. This could be a case where something like a one-time cost that provides the benefit of 6 months of complimentary membership makes more sense.
Churning of membership
Websites that are new won't have the exact number, however when you've been in operation for a while you can get a sense of how much your member churn rate isfor e.g. the length of time members remain for on average and the number of members who leave every month. It can determine your pricing strategy in order to achieve a targeted amount per person.
Conclusion
As you've seen above There's not a single solution to the question of how much you should charge for your membership website. One of the best options is to take these elements into consideration, and then create an appropriate price to you, based on the value your members are getting from the site.
And if you're looking to establish an impressive members-only group , that lets you sell courses, host discussions streaming live, or engage your members with an app, come try at no cost!