Exclusive Member Benefits

Most creators think content is the core product inside a membership. But content is just the entry point. Let me explain. What actually keeps people inside a membership? → Community. Access. Experience. A friend of mine—ex-creator platform exec, now planning to launch his own membership—asked me: “What should I offer my members?” We jammed on it and here’s what we landed on: There’s a “ladder” of deliverables. From basic → to irresistible: 1. Ad-free or early access content This works best in specific cases—like one kids platform we know where parents pay just to avoid YouTube ads. (Makes sense: trust + peace of mind.) 2. Exclusive content & trainings Think behind-the-scenes, Q&As, live workshops, even full-on documentaries. The magic? It’s not public. That “just-for-you” feel matters. 3. Smart content filtering Use tech to help people find exactly what they need, fast within a vast content library. No overwhelm, just clarity. 4. Access to you and like minded people Even if it’s light—DM replies, member shoutouts, Zoom hangs—it’s what turns customers into loyal fans. 5. Actual community They come for content. They stay for belonging. Creators doing this well treat their membership like a second channel. Consistent drops. Real interaction. A space members feel seen in. Because when people feel like they matter inside your world… They won’t want to leave it.

Hilton Honors just did something I rarely see in cruise partnerships. They're letting elite status travel onto a ship they don't own. Hilton x Explora Journeys (MSC Group's ultra-luxury line) just launched, and it's a genuinely impressive piece of partnership design. 🛳️ What Honors members get ✅ 10 base points per $1 on cruise fares ✅ 5% off every Explora voyage ✅ Elite qualifying nights earned at sea (cruise nights build hotel status) ✅ Points redeemable toward sailings ✅ Status recognized onboard: Gold gets a welcome cocktail party with ship leadership, Diamond gets Journey Experience Credits, Diamond Reserve gets a bridge tour + private port transfers Most "cruise partnerships" in loyalty are a booking portal with a mile multiplier bolted on. Delta Air Lines Cruises, United Airlines Cruises, American Airlines AAdvantage Cruises, Southwest Airlines Cruises, British Airways Executive Club. Same inventory, same $25 booking fee, same 110% price guarantee, because they're all private-label engines run by the same company: World Travel Holdings. The logo on the header changes. The rails underneath don't. Status recognition is a different animal. It means two unaffiliated companies agreed to read each other's member tiers and honor them in the other's environment. Marriott International does it with the The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. Yacht Collection, but that's a licensing deal on Marriott's own brand name. Hyatt did it with Lindblad Expeditions from 2019 to 2023, then let it lapse. Hilton is doing it with a cruise line owned by a Swiss shipping group. Why both sides said yes 👇 For Hilton: nearly 61% of Honors members say they plan to cruise in the next two years. That's demand walking straight out of the ecosystem. Now it walks into an Explora suite and comes back with points and elite nights. For Explora: a brand new luxury line with two ships (six by 2028) needs qualified high-net-worth travelers. Hilton has 250M+ members and knows exactly which ones are Diamond. Three things I'd change 👇 1️⃣ Make it two-way. Hilton status buys you a cocktail party at sea. Explora Club status buys you nothing on land. Hilton's CMO said the goal was bringing Explora guests into Hilton hotels. Nothing in the mechanics actually does that. 2️⃣ Bundle the embarkation night. Every cruise passenger needs a hotel the night before they sail. Hilton has properties in Miami, Barcelona, Southampton, Civitavecchia. Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection already runs this play: book the hotel package through the cruise line, earn points and elite nights on both sides. 3️⃣ Fix the burn. Honors points redeem toward Explora at a fixed 0.2 cents each, a fifth of a cent, well under what the same points fetch on a hotel stay. Price cruise awards dynamically, like hotel awards. Nearly 90% of cruisers say they intend to sail again. Highest intent CLIA has ever recorded, across a record 37.2M passengers. The stickiest customers in travel. And not one cruise currency you can transfer, stack, or spend anywhere else. Hilton planted a flag. Who follows? #loyalty #partnerships #cruise #cobrandcreditcards #benji

"I have to admit... it's hard to complain about a day at the office when this is your view." 😊 Looking out over Sydney Harbour, watching the Manly Ferry glide past, I couldn't help but think... Shared workspaces have transformed how SMEs work. They've given us flexibility, beautiful spaces, networking opportunities and a community. But I wonder... Is there another opportunity hiding in plain sight? Most shared office providers charge a monthly or annual membership. Once you've paid, the relationship is largely about access to a desk, meeting rooms and coffee. 🎯What if that same membership became a lifestyle membership? Imagine if every SME and every employee working from that space could access: 👉🏻Discounted coffee at cafés around the precinct. 👉🏻Lunch offers from nearby restaurants. 👉🏻Parking or public transport benefits. 👉🏻Gym and wellness memberships. 👉🏻Travel perks for business trips. 👉🏻Cashback when spending with local merchants. 👉🏻Invitations to networking and community events which I have many shared office providers having! Now the membership delivers value every day, not just when you're sitting at your desk. The benefits extend well beyond member satisfaction: 1.Members see greater value in renewing. 2.Local businesses gain a steady stream of customers. 3.Workspace providers create a differentiated proposition that's difficult to replicate. 4. Employees become advocates because they're receiving personal lifestyle benefits, not just workplace amenities. We've seen similar thinking emerge globally. Providers such as WeWork have partnered with brands to offer member perks, while IWG (Regus and Spaces) includes discounts and partner benefits through its membership ecosystem. However, these are often treated as standalone perks rather than being embedded into a personalised, everyday engagement strategy. To me, this feels like another example of embedded loyalty, where loyalty isn't a points programme, but a reason to engage every day. And who knows... maybe that spectacular harbour view should just be the welcome bonus, not the best benefit of the membership. 😉 What do you think? Could shared workspaces become the next ecosystem to embrace embedded loyalty? #EmbeddedLoyalty #Coworking #SME #FutureOfWork #CustomerEngagement #Fintech #Payments #Sydney

Something is quietly separating the mortgage companies gaining market share from the ones holding on. It is not technology. It is not rates. It is access. Access to what comparable lenders are doing right now in compliance, ops, secondary, and tech. Access to a network of operators who will actually tell you the truth. Here is how most mortgage leaders make vendor decisions. They get a pitch. They do some googling. They ask one or two people they know. They negotiate a little. They sign. Nobody tells them what their peer lenders actually paid. Nobody tells them which vendor promised something and did not deliver. Nobody tells them there is a preferred rate available if you just know who to ask. The Mortgage Collaborative changes that math completely. Members get preferred pricing with the best in class providers across the entire mortgage stack. Tech. Secondary. Compliance. Training. Capital markets. These are pre-negotiated rates that most lenders never see because they walked into the vendor conversation alone. Members regularly recover the full cost of annual membership inside the first renegotiation. That is not marketing language. That is what actually happens when hundreds of lenders originating over $300 billion in combined volume sit across from a vendor together. Also ... one of the most underused benefits of TMC membership is the one that has nothing to do with the CEO. Fifteen virtual working groups. Operations. Technology. Secondary marketing. Compliance. HR. Capital markets. Servicing. And more. These are not webinars. They are peer groups where leaders from member companies get on a call, share what is working, share what is not, and solve problems in real time with people doing the same job at comparable companies. Your ops director gets access to the ops working group. Your tech lead gets access to the tech working group. Your compliance officer stops solving problems alone. Most membership organizations are a benefit for the executive suite. TMC is infrastructure for your whole leadership team. If you want to know more about how this works for a company your size, I am easy to reach.

✈️ Want to fly First Class on points? Better read the fine print. There's a growing trend in the airline world - and it's bad news for award travelers chasing luxury seats. More and more airlines are putting up velvet ropes around First Class redemptions, making them exclusive to their own loyalty programs - and only for elite members. Here's what we're seeing lately: 🔒 Emirates just restricted First Class award bookings to Skywards members with Silver status or higher 🔒 Singapore Airlines First Class? Only bookable with KrisFlyer miles - no partners allowed 🔒 Air France La Première? You’ll need to be a Platinum Flying Blue member to even see award availability 🕐 Lufthansa still allows partners to book First Class... but only 1-2 weeks out. Meanwhile, Miles & More members can snag it almost a year in advance. 💡 It’s a loyalty strategy shift: Airlines are hoarding their most aspirational redemptions, turning First Class into an elite-only playground. They’re not just selling luxury - they’re selling loyalty. This changes the game for points and miles strategists. 👉 What does this mean for you? 🔹 Time to rethink which programs you credit your flights to 🔹 Consider elite status with specific airlines if First Class is your goal 🔹 And always check award access before you hoard points in the wrong program ✈️ Premium travel is still possible with points - but the rules are changing fast.

Loyalty programmes are broken. So many brands launch “points for purchases” schemes, but how many of them actually drive real engagement? Loyalty should feel valuable, not like a slow, arduous, grind to the next £5 voucher. 💡 Brands getting it right: ✅ IKEA Family – No complicated points system, just instant, tangible perks: exclusive discounts, free coffee, and member-only workshops. It makes customers feel like they're part of a club rather than just a number in a database. ✅ Lululemon Membership – Instead of pushing discounts, they offer access to exclusive fitness classes, early product drops, and premium experiences. It’s about belonging, not just spending. 💡 Brands getting it wrong: ❌ Those with overly complex points systems. If a customer needs a calculator to figure out what they’ve earned, it’s failed. ❌ Brands that only reward purchases. If the only way to engage is by spending money, is it really a loyalty programme or just a glorified discount scheme? So, how do we fix them? 🔹 Make rewards instant & meaningful. Customers don’t want to wait months to see value. Give them something right away (free delivery, VIP access, exclusive content). 🔹 Loyalty should go beyond transactions. Reward engagement, not just spending. Think referrals, reviews, UGC, and social sharing. 🔹 Create a sense of belonging. The best programmes make members feel like they're part of a community, not just shoppers. Exclusive events, early access and personalised perks all build emotional loyalty. Loyalty should be felt, not just collected. If customers wouldn’t miss your programme if it disappeared tomorrow, then it’s not doing its job. #CRM #CustomerLoyalty #LoyaltyProgrammes #LoyaltyPrograms #MarketingStrategy

Premium buyers convert best on upgrades, not discount. You do not lower the price. You elevate the experience. Which means that the top-performing value adds usually fall into those buckets. 1. The exclusivity that feels earned Not spammy. Not needy. Something that whispers “you’re part of the circle.” Examples that consistently convert: • early access windows • private colorways or limited editions • collector packaging • small-batch first drops Christian Dior Couture and LVMH love to do that. 2. The experience-shifts, not freebies A freebie can feel cheap. An experience upgrade feels luxurious. What moves conversions: • priority shipping or “white glove” delivery • extended returns with zero questions • fast lane customer support • premium unboxing experience 3. The add-ons that reduce risk Premium customers fear regret more than price. So the strongest value adds here: • 1-year protection included • free repairs • complimentary personalization • swap or resize guarantees Patagonia with their products and RIMOWA for example offer a lifetime warranty (on their suitcases for RIMOWA) And #4. the status signals that feel subtle Premium shoppers hate loud flexing. They love quiet recognition. This is where conversion jumps when brands offer: • members-only concierge • loyalty tiers based on behavior, not spend • surprise gifts on reorder • handwritten notes or maker signatures Hyatt and Marriott International use handwritten notes and personalized welcome gifts as differentiation strategies a lot. Tiny signals with massive emotional pull. This is how you convert premium buyers. With experiences.

The AAA Membership Feature That May Pay Your Legal Bill? Most AAA members think they're paying for towing and dead batteries. They don't know about the legal fee reimbursement sitting in their wallet. Last February, my client got rear-ended at a stoplight. Clear liability. Other driver admitted fault. Police report confirmed it. Should've been straightforward. Except the other driver's insurance played games. Lowballed the medical bills. Disputed the car's value. Dragged it out for months. My client hired an attorney. Won the case. Got every penny deserved. Then discovered something buried in their AAA membership: Legal fee reimbursement (𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯...) 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗔𝗔 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 (𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁) Many AAA clubs include a “limited legal fee reimbursement” benefit. If you’re charged with certain traffic offenses, hire your own lawyer, and win (not guilty or dismissed), AAA may reimburse part of your attorney’s fee according to a small schedule. In some regions that might be roughly $100–$200 for a minor traffic ticket and a few hundred dollars for more serious charges, with higher caps for Plus or Premier members. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩: it’s heavily restricted. No DUIs, no guilty pleas, no help with civil lawsuits, and you must submit your claim (usually within about 60 days of the final decision) with proof of the citation, the court outcome, and your paid legal bill. The kicker? My client had been paying for membership for 11 years. Never knew this existed. But they almost didn't file for it. Their claim window? 30 days from verdict. No extensions. No exceptions. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗿: -> Check Your Coverage -> Document Everything -> Know Your Deadlines -> Read Past Page One With winter driving season here, accident rates spike 34%. Ice, snow, holiday traffic, distracted drivers everywhere. Your AAA membership isn't just about getting unstuck from a snowbank. It might be your secret weapon when someone else's bad driving becomes your legal nightmare. The most expensive membership benefit isn't the one you never use. It's the one you never knew existed. Check your wallet. That AAA card might be worth more than you think. Way more.

There's a stark difference between STM benefits and standards... Standards = Needs to properly serve STMs - A season ticket rep - Digital ticketing - A payment plan - Access to buy other products - Ability to buy season parking - The same seat for every game - Ability to swap in and out of tickets - Ability to post tickets for resale Benefits = above and beyond value making being an STM more sticky - Discounts on merch and F&B - First right of refusal on playoff tickets - Access to meet and greets, STM events, etc. - Special member-only gifts (at no additional cost) - Exclusive partner offers/ giveaways I get why standards are often positioned as benefits. It builds up perceived value, but it also dilutes the value-driving aspects of being an STM. With the massive shift in fan habits, maybe we're not leaning into the benefits aspect of being an STM enough. Focusing more on education and storytelling of those true benefits might help smooth out the uncertain future of what it means to be an STM. Would be curious to hear from those on the STM side. Share below! 👇 #sportsbiz #ticketsales #retention

Premium (paid)-based loyalty programs are increasingly popular. Think Amazon PRIME, Walmart+, or RH Grey. With free points-based loyalty programs, consumers might sign up for a dozen programs or more, but for premium loyalty programs, customers are choosier, often paying for just one program in a category. Here are 5 benefits of a premium loyalty program: 1/ Increased Value Over Time → By getting members to commit early, they indicate preference early in the relationship. Since they have already invested, they are more likely to spend more over time 2/ Preference → Customers often start with premium loyalty programs when facing an ongoing problem, making you their first choice before exploring other options. 3/ Community → Direct communication builds a community. Members are more willing to engage, support each other, and bring in others. 4/ Average Order Size (AOS) → AOS is higher for premium members than nonmembers. In addition to more frequent purchases and the cost of the program itself, you also enjoy bigger spending at the point of checkout 5/ Returning Revenue is More Profitable → It's cheaper to keep a customer than to attract a new one. *********  👋 I'm Robbie, I'm a consultant, author, and speaker covering all things subscription businesses. 💡 Free resources, expert tips & advice at robbiekellmanbaxter.com 📩 Join my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/g8bCw7pJ 🎙 Tune in to the Subscription Stories Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gdfjFeS 📹 Catch my latest videos on Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gW8RcSea *********