11 Best Membership Models to Consider For Your Business

Ready to start building recurring revenue for your business? In this article, we will be exploring the different membership models you should consider when starting or growing a membership program.

If you’ve read our guide on the 14 Successful Membership Site Examples, then you may have gotten excited about the prospect of starting your own.

While owning a membership site can be lucrative, it can be difficult to know how to best package it in a way that your customers will find valuable.

In this article, we’ll be discussing 11 popular membership models that can help you generate recurring revenue through subscribers who pay to be part of your membership.

A membership model is a strategy that involves customers subscribing and paying a recurring fee - usually monthly or annually - to gain access to a product or a service. 

Think of it like a gym membership. You pay each month to have access to the gym's facilities and services.

Similarly, online platforms like Netflix or Spotify operate on this model. You pay a monthly subscription fee and in return, you get unlimited access to a wide range of movies, tv shows, or music tracks.

A membership model can be beneficial to your business in several ways:

The success of your membership however, will depend on your ability to consistently deliver value to your members. 

If customers feel that they are not getting their money's worth, they may cancel their subscription. 

This is why you must continually update your content to ensure that your membership remains attractive and valuable.

To ensure that you’re delivering the best value, it’s important that you package and deliver your content in a format that makes sense and is appealing to your subscribers.

Here are 11 membership models commonly used that has proven to be a valuable resource for customers.

Offering premium online courses as part of your membership is one of the most popular ways business owners provide content for their members. 

New courses can be delivered on a weekly or monthly basis, which will improve the value of your membership over time as your course library begins to build with more content.

Daily Burn offers a a library of premium fitness programs and courses which are available to members who pay a monthly or annual subscription for access to their platform.

There's a wide variety of fitness series and workouts to suit all abilities, with more programs added every month.

If you have a range of courses or programs in your business, packaging them in a membership site like this can be a great business model to build long term subscription revenue.

A premium newsletter is a content delivery service that requires a subscription fee. 

Premium newsletters offer exclusive content and are typically targeted at a specific audience with specialized interests. 

They often provide high-quality information, expert insights, in-depth analysis, or personalized content that isn't available elsewhere, and the content is delivered directly to the subscriber's inbox on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.).

Substack allows writers the ability to start their own subscription based newsletters.

Since its launch in 2017, it has grown rapidly and hosts a wide range of writers, journalists, experts and influencers who provide content on various topics.

The popularity of the service highlights the effectiveness of running a newsletter business and is a simple model to get started with.

A Content library is a collection of useful materials and resources that are often organized and stored in one place for easy access. 

These can include articles, guides, ebooks, templates, toolkits, and other educational content related to a particular subject or field.

Depending on the service you’re providing, this can be a great model for members who are looking for consumable content to use for their own purposes.

PLR.Me demonstrates how valuable digital content can be by offering them as paid packages for entrepreneurs and business owners to use in their own businesses.

This is a nice way to remind you of the value of your content when going onto offer it to your customers.

Private coaching and mastermind groups are both effective methods used in personal and professional development, but they serve different purposes.

Both live coaching and mastermind groups offer opportunities for personal and professional growth, but they approach it in different ways. 

Live coaching is more personalized and directive, with the coach guiding the process, while mastermind groups are more collaborative, with all members contributing to the group's success.

Vistage has built a reputable and trusted company by offering live events to their audience.

If you’re an established business offering premium solutions to clients, a live coaching and mastermind package would be a lucrative offer for your customers. 

The ability to provide live services online will especially appeal to clients who are unable to attend live events and will allow you to reach and connect with a wider range of prospects.

A dripped content membership model refers to a strategy where content is released or "dripped" to members over a predetermined schedule. 

This approach can keep members engaged over a longer period, as they regularly come back to access new content. 

It's often used in online courses or learning platforms, where content is structured into lessons or modules that are released sequentially to guide the learner's progress.

Masterclass.com

Masterclass is an online education platform that releases new course content over time. 

Students gain access to a new class each week, ensuring that they stay engaged with the platform over a longer period.

An online community is a closed group where access is restricted to approved members only. 

These communities exist on various platforms, such as Facebook Groups, Slack, Discord, private forums, or even standalone apps or websites built specifically for the community.

DeFi Crypto technology can be a confusing and fast-paced field. The DeFi Pro community offers the opportunity to ask questions, get help with technical issues, discuss ideas and have fun learning.

If you’re a business that requires extensive technical knowledge. A private community can be an effective way to open the doors and provide accessibility for beginners.

A freemium membership model is a business strategy where basic services or content are provided free of charge, with more advanced features, services, or content ("premium" offerings) requiring a paid subscription.

This model is common in the digital industry, including software applications, online games, and content platforms. 

It allows customers to test and use the service without any upfront investment, while still providing a revenue stream for the company through upgrades to paid memberships.

Slack is a communication tool that provides a free version with a limited number of messages and features. 

Paying for a membership gives access to an unlimited message archive, more app integrations, and advanced administration tools.

If you’re a business owner in a particular industry and would like to know whether your industry would be a good fit for offering this membership model to customers, we recommend doing some initial research before investing more time into adding this as a model in your business.

Accountability groups are a great way to motivate your customers to take the desired action. 

You can regularly meet together, either in person or virtually, to hold each other accountable for their personal or professional goals.

It can be a powerful tool to encourages customers to commit.

Habitica has cleverly turned accountability and motivation into a game, to make setting and achieving goals easy and effective.

By using an app for visitors to use and document their progress, it encourages active participation and commitment.

We recommend adding gamification features in your own accountability groups by encouraging other members to motivate each other as well as offer rewards and incentives.

A productized service is a way to sell your services on a fixed-price, fixed-scope basis, as if they were products. 

This business model has the advantage of making the service more scalable and predictable. 

Since the scope of the service, the price, and the delivery process are all predefined, you can focus on delivering quality service at scale, instead of spending time on proposals, negotiations, and scope discussions for each individual client.

Do you have a service that would be valuable for clients?

Whether you’re a fitness trainer or an online service provider, offering bespoke services is a powerful way to ensure your customers get the results they want.

As well as building a more intimate connection, it also provides further accessibility by appealing to a wider range of prospects who may have specific needs.

DesignPickle is a great example of a bespoke service by offering design services to business owners who would like affordable and professional designs.

Software is perhaps one of the most popular membership models due to its scalability and high perceived value.

Many SaaS (Software as a Service) based solutions include a recurring subscription and caters to the needs of the customers designed to fill a need in the marketplace.

Basecamp provides a SaaS platform built especially for project managers. Allowing small teams to stay organized and manage their projects using an all-in-one online solution.

Providing tools to make life easier for your customers will always be a valuable resource and is recommended you look for simple ways to achieve this in your business.

An all-in-one membership model is a business strategy where customers pay a single, recurring fee to gain access to a suite of products or services. 

Instead of paying individually for each service or product, members get everything under one umbrella.

This model offers convenience and can provide significant value to the consumer if they use multiple offerings your company.

Amazon Prime provides a range of perks for a membership fee. Members enjoy expedited two-day shipping on eligible purchases at no extra charge. 

It grants access to an extensive digital library of movies and music for streaming. Various other benefits are also part of the package, enhancing the overall user experience.

Although Amazon is a huge company, you can take this model and easily apply it to your own business through availablity of training (online courses), tools and resources.

Before deciding on which membership model to use in your business, it’s important that you understand the nature of your service to help you get clear on what your membership will offer to your members.

If you’re a dentist or a plumber, then it may not be practical to offer online courses for example, and may be a better fit to offer ‘members only’ expert consultations or customizable plans.

A social media agency may decide a progress tracking tool could be a useful membership model to help organise and keep their clients accountable. 

We recommend reviewing the membership models discussed earlier and brainstorm how they could be used in your business.

With careful thought and planning, you will be well on the way to having a valuable membership that your customers will love.

Ready to build your membership site? OptimizeMentor makes it easy to create a membership site that is both visually stunning and engaging for your members.

With its drag-and-drop editor, no specialised coding skills are required - just pick a template for your membership site and customize with a few clicks.

To learn more about OptimizeMentor (part of the OptimizePress Suite plan) click here now.

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