Relationship Marketing Strategy and implementation

158 Relationship Marketing

The membership experience
At present, membership subscription fees vary according to the member-
ship category type that each person belongs to. Table 2.6.14 gives details of
the 1996 membership charges and the benefits that each member will
receive over the year. Prior to Young’s arrival and ‘Towards 2000’, commu-
nications were geared to an individual’s location on the inverted pyramid.
For example, once a member had agreed to a direct debit subscription,
communications would then be geared to encouraging the member to take
out an RSPB Visa card or become a covenanted donor and rise to the next
level of the pyramid, this was regardless of the individual’s specific inter-
est in the charity.

Table 2.6.13 Retention of all members recruited by

direct debit (1994–96)

Year %

1994/95 48

1995/96 67

Table 2.6.14 RSPB membership fees and benefits (1996)

Membership Membership Joining Welcome Free visits Birds YOC**

type fee (£) incentive pack to reserves magazine membership

Life fellow 500* Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Fellow 45 Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Joint 27 Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Family 32 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Single 22 Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Concessionary 12 No Yes Yes Yes No

* The Life Fellows fee is a one-off payment.They and Fellows gain from other benefits, such as copies

of the RSPB Annual Review and an extra ‘behind the scenes’ newsletter; **Young Ornithologists Club.

Table 2.6.12 Retention of new members by

method of payment (1994)

Method Average % retention

Payment by cash 33.5

Payment by direct debit 99.2

Average retention 62.9