Registration, Membership, and Subscription. What’s the difference?

What are the key distinctions between these three models, and how do they affect publishers and their revenue options?

We might ask what “membership” means. For example, my “membership” at LA Fitness just that means that I pay a fee to get access to their equipment. But members at the American Legion have to have some connection to military service, and members in the Elk Lodge have to make some profession of faith.

So how does membership apply to publishers and content?

All three – registration, membership, and subscription – are potential ways to restrict access to content. For example, a newspaper website might say you get three free views per month, but before you can get your fourth, you have to register or subscribe.

In either case, you’re giving the site owner something of value: your email address, in the first case, or some money in the second.

All three options might mean you get access to exclusive content. But not necessarily. A newspaper site with a paywall might give an anonymous browser access to the very same article as a subscriber, so long as it doesn’t cross the paywall threshold.

There’s no answer to this question because nobody has the authority to tell us how to use these terms, but I think it’s helpful to divide these options into two groups. Group one is registration and subscription, and they refer to how you pay. Group two is membership, and it refers to who you are in relation to the other members.

What does “members only” mean?

First, you might have to qualify for membership.
- Supporting an organization or cause.
- Swearing an oath of allegiance, or have served in a particular function.
- Part of a club – like an investing club, where you share tips.
- People with a particular expertise in a subject, like football referees, or beekeepers.
- You have to pre-qualify.

Second, what does membership get you?
- It might give you some level of recognition. (Like Mensa.)
- Community and education.

Third, when you’re thinking of membership, ask yourself what would make someone a “good member.”
- If it’s no more than “he pays his dues,” then in my opinion you don’t have a membership model.
- Membership means involvement in a community.

Following that logic, my preference would be that LA Fitness call their deal a subscription, not a membership because nobody there cares if I show up or not. In fact, from their perspective, I’m a better member if I pay my dues and never show up.

What does all this mean for publishers?

I’d say that if your model is a simple exchange of access to content for an email or some money, that’s registration or subscription. Don’t confuse it with “membership.”

To have a membership site, you need these things.

Members have to qualify.
There’s an exchange of value both ways, where the organization gives value to the members, but the members give value to the organization.
Members are part of a community.

Finally, I’d point out that subscription and membership both have one important thing in common, because they both involve recurring fees. And that’s the need to keep selling the value of the subscription or membership. You need an onboarding program, and you need to constantly justify the value of the subscription or membership.

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