Successfully Redesigning Your Membership Site

Posted on 19. Oct, 2010 by Steve in Tips & Tricks

There are a lot of reasons that you may want to redesign your website. Most membership sites are redesigned because the owner is planning on doing a big re-launch. This normally means adding more functionality, boosting content, and overall increasing value. While the goal of redesigning your website is to attract new members, if it is done poorly it will actually cause you to lose members. Here is a quick look at some steps that you should take in order make sure that you are keeping your current members happy, while redesigning your site for future success.

1. Gathering Information

No matter what you plan on doing, you need to ask your members first. In fact, there is no better resource that you have that is more valuable than your current members because they know exactly what you can do to make your membership site better. If you have a mailing list that includes previous members who canceled their membership, they are an excellent resource as well. There are two common methods of getting a good grip on what your redesign should include: polls/surveys and open forums. With polls and surveys you can ask questions about potential changes that you are thinking about making and getting direct feedback. With forums, you can ask much broader questions and simply let your community respond.

2. Damage Control

During the redesign process, there is a chance that your site may go down or some glitches may affect your members experiences. You need to have a single person in charge of damage control. The best way to do this is to let your members know that you are creating a forum thread that is completely dedicated to answering questions and responding to issues that arise during the redesign phase. This will keep your channels of communication open and will let your members know that you are serious about being able to complete a redesign without making their experience any less valuable.

3. Testing

Some people prefer to simply upload their redesign as they go and allow their members to test out new abilities as they become available. Others prefer to have a “members area” inside the members area. The goal of this is to allow members to test out new features and the “new members area” without having to give up their old members area. Regardless of what you decide to you, it is important to always be communicating with your current members.

Redesigning your membership site is the perfect way to start a re-launch. It gives people a feeling of “newness”, which will make your promotional campaigns much easier. Plus, it will allow you to do a little updating and housecleaning to make the website function more effectively. Regardless of how you decide to do it, make sure that you take the time to gather information from current members, have someone stay in constant contact with members throughout the process, and just like your first launch, it is vital that you allow members to test out your new tools and features before they are opened up to the public.