A Plan for your Inactive Members
I recently had a question come up in a weekly strategy meeting:
"What should we do with the inactive members in the group?"
It's something I've long debated ― do you let them churn? Are they worth the effort of reaching out to? Is their lack of engagement a sign that they no longer want to be involved? Should we manually churn them ourselves?
Lately, I’ve been trying to level up my LinkedIn game. I recently got a good piece of advice that I think bears similar weight here:
“Just because someone isn’t engaging with your posts doesn’t mean they’re not seeing it.”
The same wisdom can be applied to communities as well.
Your community may in fact be an important resource for someone who seems to be inactive, but perhaps they’re gleaning value in ways you aren’t aware of.
They may be lurking, reading without contributing, gleaning value in the shadows.
Most times, I suggest keeping them involved for this reason. But most community managers stop here. They don’t quite know what to do with inactive members, hoping they’ll magically become active [again] soon.
A difference in approach:
I like to reach out to inactive members. They’ve already said “yes” by joining – but something in the community wasn’t working for them. I aim to connect with them personally.
I always use text/email instead of relying on faulty notification systems to do so.
My goal is to ensure they know, "You're still invited to be in this community and we want you to be more involved because we know you joined for a reason."
Defining “Inactivity”
Some proper community-building specific platforms (i.e. Circle) will tell you key information:
Last login date
Participation rates
Event attendance
No matter how you slice it, if they haven’t logged in 90 days, that’s a problem.
After a long period of inactivity, it's clear your community has not been top-of-mind for this person. It's either not the right fit for them, they've already gotten everything they needed from the community, or they forgot about it.
So what do you do?
An important note:
I suggest the same kind of approach regardless of whether or not your community is monetized. All communities (paid or free) run on value, relationships, and generosity.
My Post-90-Day Inactivity Plan:
This is my own workflow – it’s worked well enough for the communities I’ve managed. And while your workflow could be much more complex, the key learnings you’re trying to understand are:
Why did they become inactive?
Where am I losing them?
Are the community features clear enough? Valuable enough?
What benefit are they hoping for and am I really delivering on it?
Have I inadvertently broken trust with them?
Most often, I do suggest focusing most of your attention on acquiring new members.
But it’s also important to work with those who have already expressed interest in your community, and to see what’s missing.
If you can help revive their involvement, learn from them along the way, you’ll be primed to make your community incredibly more valuable as you move forward for everyone involved.
A final note:
Most inactive members will stay inactive unless you know them well personally. This is okay! Don’t expect them to answer your questions, but if they do – you’ll be well positioned to learn from them and make your community even more beneficial for everyone involved.
Have fun reviving,
Jesse
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and trust.
