Spend any time around Hub staff or clients and you’ll be sure to hear the term “KPIs” batted about. It stands for “Key Performance Indicators” and they’re critical to developing a successful membership strategy.
Here are the top three KPIs we recommend you track:
- # of email subscribers
- % of monthly donors
- # of individual members
Let’s break these three KPIs down:
# of email subscribers: Organizations tend to focus on web traffic, but based on our research, an engaged and growing email list is a better driver of revenue (we know this through our work with the Lenfest Institute!). Notes News Revenue Hub’s Tristan Loper, “You can have a million uniques a month but if you’re not getting them signed up for the newsletter, you’re losing out on reader revenue.” If you don’t have one already, consider setting up a modal.
% of monthly donors: Member retention is difficult when you have to keep asking one-time donors to renew. Through our data analysis, we’ve found that the average monthly donor gives for almost two years, whereas annual donors and one-time donors are statically the same: on average, they only give once. That’s why we recommend you make all your forms and calls-to-action default to monthly—and specifically ask readers to give monthly in your appeals.
# of individual members: It goes without saying that a fiscally healthy organization has a greater share of individual supporters each day. And, like noted above, be sure you’re aiming for recurring members versus gaming the numbers so that everyone who gives $1 is a member. Makes sense, right?
Questions about KPIs? Reach out to our Director of Client Relations Rebecca Quarls.