Five Ways Membership-Based Organizations Can Grow and Retain Members With Digital Passes

2026 data from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) shows that the median revenue per member for local chambers increased 31% from 2023. That growth shows there is an opportunity for your organization to generate more revenue from memberships. However, it’s imperative that you give businesses a reason why they should invest. One easy membership benefit you can add is a digital pass. Some of the types of membership-based organizations we’ve created passes for include:

• Chambers of Commerce
• Destination Marketing Organizations 
• Downtown Districts
• Food Associations
• Beverage Associations

If you are a part of an organization that is tasked with seeking new members and improving your retention numbers, here are five digital pass strategies that you can use to help achieve your goals. 

Ways to use digital passes to grow and retain members

• Make inclusion on the pass a member benefit

When you build a digital pass, you get to choose the businesses that are included. Many membership-based organizations choose to build passes that only include their members. That serves as a way to entice businesses to join and renew so they’re not left out of the experience. 

Experience Grand Rapids employs this tactic for multiple passes. Jaylyn McCloy, the Marketing Partnership Manager for Experience Grand Rapids, said, “There have been plenty of times when a business reaches out because they've seen one of our passes and want to participate. That gives us an opportunity to talk about partnership as a whole and all the additional benefits available to them. The pass is often what starts the conversation, but the relationship grows from there. It's definitely become a unique selling point for us."  

You can create gamified passes that push traffic to local businesses on the pass, or create passes that consumers pay for that serve as revenue generators for your members. 

• Give member businesses higher point values 

If you don’t want to limit your passes to just member businesses, that’s ok. You can still create increased value for your members on your passes even if you include non-members. For example, on check-in challenges you can include any businesses you like. However, each business is assigned a point value, and when a passholder checks in at that business, they are awarded points for that visit. They accrue points that can be redeemed for prizes, and you have the ability to assign varying point values to the businesses you include on the pass. 

For example, a non-member business could be worth 100 points. A member business could be worth 500 points. That differentiation incentivizes passholders to choose the member business so that they can earn more points, and in turn, provides significant value for your members.  

• Use ad space to feature member businesses

You also have the option to include in-pass ads within the pass itself. Even better, you can have unlimited ads on rotation. Some of our partners, such as Keep Waco Beautiful, use this space as a creative way to pay for their Bandwango license. Carole Fergusson, the organization’s Executive Director, shared, “That ad space was such a great asset for us. And being able to use it for this sponsor paid for our Bandwango license. It was definitely worth the investment.” 

You can sell the advertising space for whatever amount you like. You might also reserve in-pass advertising for businesses at higher membership tiers, creating another tangible reason for members to upgrade or maintain their membership level. One additional ad space also exists in the email confirmation that passholders receive. 

• Feature member businesses in passholder emails 

Messaging is an important part of your overall pass strategy, and is the key to keeping your passholders engaged and using their passes. One way to send messages to your passholders is through targeted email messaging. You can create those messages and send them through Bandwango’s technology platform. 

These messages are a great way to remind people about their pass, and the businesses included on it. This is where your members come in. Within the message, you can include specific information about the businesses you want to highlight. Provide information about them, and give users a compelling reason to visit. You can also include a link to your member’s website. 

• Provide additional marketing exposure to your members

When you build a digital pass, it’s important to create a strategic marketing plan to promote it. That can also include social media and outreach to the media. These are easy ways to highlight your members that are included on the pass and give them additional exposure. 

Destination Toledo found fun ways to get earned media for the coffee shops on their Coffee Quest 419 pass. Caleigh Heuring, the organization’s Director of Marketing & Communications, shared, “We received a lot of earned media out of it. We did on-air morning news segments where we invited different coffee shops to come on with us. We talked about Coffee Quest 419, and they would make a cup of coffee for the anchors.” She was excited to share that one member of the local media took it to another level. “One news anchor visited every single shop and ordered a chai latte at each,” she said. “She won a t-shirt, wore it on air, and talked about her quest.” 

Digital passes are a measurable way to show return on investment to members

With tight budgets, businesses often ask, “What’s in it for me?” Simply put, they have to see value and understand that their investment will create ROI for their own business if they join as a member of your organization. A digital pass is one way to do that. Use Bandwango’s reporting data to access measurable numbers that show exactly how many visitors went to your members’ businesses. With paid passes, you can also see exactly how much money your members made from the pass. 

If your organization is trying to grow and retain members, it starts with providing value and measurable results. Reach out to our team to book a free demo. We’re excited to brainstorm about ways to create meaningful new benefits for your members.