Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses

A member who doesn't renew rarely tells you why. They just stop opening the emails, and by the time the lapse shows up in a report, whatever got in the way has already won. AWHONN could see who hadn't renewed. It couldn't see what was stopping them, or whether those members were even still reachable. So they pondered a different approach - what if the renewal reminder asked instead of just reminded?

• Association Type: Individual membership, women's health, obstetric and neonatal nursing.
• About the Organization: AWHONN is the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, run by a small membership team responsible for its own renewal outreach.

The Challenge

‍Chuck Salvetti, AWHONN's Director of Membership Development, put it simply: they had nothing going out to lapsing members like this and didn't have the bandwidth to build it by hand. A renewal reminder went out, and then nothing. No way to know if a member was still deciding, already gone, or just one answer away from staying.

The Solution

‍So AWHONN built a renewal sequence that keeps asking, at four points along the way a member could otherwise go quiet.

It opens with "Are you planning to renew your membership?" with three answers:

• Yes, I'd like to renew now!
• I need more time.
• No, I am not renewing this year.

Anyone who says no gets one more question: "Is there something holding you back from renewing your membership? We may have a solution!" with real, actionable reasons to choose from: cost, unused benefits, having left the field, retiring, or something else. Say yes, and you're routed to renew. Say no again, and you're out of the sequence instead of getting asked the same thing twice.

For members still undecided, the sequence checks back in roughly a month later with "Is now a better time to renew?", then again with a more direct "What is holding you back from renewing?", this time with an open-ended option for members whose reason didn't fit a button. And for the members who'd already lapsed, there's one last different question entirely: "Would you like to rejoin?"

The Results

• ✅ 18% engagement on the first check-in – 2,246 answers from 12,067 members, against a broadcast baseline of 1% to 3%.
• ✅ 664 members said what was holding them back – unused benefits, cost, and having left the field were the top reasons, and the pattern held steady at the next check-in too, supporting the initial responses.
• ✅ 42 open-ended answers uncovered problems no button could have caught – some members weren't objecting at all. They thought they'd already renewed, didn't know an autorenewal had failed, or ran into a billing or login issue on the back end. They wanted to stay, they just didn't know they'd lapsed.
• ✅ 88% said yes to rejoining – at the sequence's last touchpoint and after they were already considered lost, AWHONN asked one simple question: would you like to rejoin? Of everyone who answered, 88% (502 members) said yes.
• ✅ Four check-ins, one member journey – engagement held between 11% and 18% at every step, instead of dropping off after a single reminder.

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"Looks great. This is such a huge leap forward for us. You have no idea." Chuck Salvetti, Director of Membership Development, AWHONN.

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Why It Worked

• Don't stop at the first no. A member who says "I need more time" isn't a lost member, they're a member who needs a different question later.
• Give every reason somewhere to go. Cost, unused benefits, and having left the field all mean something different, and each one points to a different next step, not just a generic renewal link.
• Leave room for the reason nobody predicted. The open-ended follow-up caught members who weren't objecting at all: people who thought they'd already renewed, or hit a snag they didn't cause and couldn't see.
• A lapsed member isn't a closed door. The rejoin question reached people the renewal reminders had already lost, and most who answered said yes.

What's Ahead‍

The sequence keeps running, and every reason a member gives becomes something AWHONN's team can act on before the next renewal window closes.

Ready to hear what your members are telling you? Schedule a call with our team.

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