An "old-school" strategy that still works...

I’m always studying marketing, both what’s new today and what worked 20 years ago. You can’t help but wonder what kind of results you would get if you used an old-school strategy.

This is a strategy that we’re using from way back in the day.

This is a customer retention strategy that we use to retain members in our membership site. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else is doing something like this.

Here’s what we do…

Currently we offer a 30-day trial to our membership site for $7. After the trial, they are billed $67 a month. To help increase the retention rate, we started sending a letter in the mail to people who took the trial.

The letter is mailed 14 days after they sign up.

What’s “old-school” about this strategy, other than the fact that we’re mailing a letter, is how we structured the letter. It’s a real letter from my Dad, that he physically signs and it gives the customer a different perspective of who they bought from.

The letter builds trust, gives the customer a peek into our lives and “touches” them in a different way than they’re used to (direct mail).

The results have been astounding. Over 90% of the folks who take the trial stay at least another 30 days and 58% of the folks who take the trial stay for six months or more!

Just thought this would be beneficial for those of you running membership sites.