Before membership software existed, using one fixed renewal date for all members made managing memberships more efficient. Since renewal notices needed to be physically mailed to members at that time, having one fixed renewal date for all the members meant their notices could all be sent at the same time once per year.

We highly recommend the rolling renewal date membership model. Some of the main advantages of setting it up this way include:

• When using a rolling renewal date, new members will always pay the full membership price for a complete billing period.

  When using a fixed renewal date, new members who sign up part way through the year may pay a pro-rated or discounted amount and since it is not guaranteed that they will renew, organizations may never receive a full membership payment from them.

• Potential members are more likely to join right away when an organization uses a rolling renewal date. When an organization uses a fixed renewal date, potential members may wait for the next pro-rated break or they may wait until the beginning of the billing period. In either case, some of these potential members may ultimately not end up signing up later.

• An organization’s average revenue per user/member (ARPU) will likely be higher when using a rolling renewal date than organizations that use a fixed renewal date.

• When using a rolling renewal date, an organization can offer multiple billing options that are in different intervals. For example, they can offer both yearly and monthly billing options.

• Billing calculations are less complicated when using a rolling renewal date since members never need to pay a discounted or pro-rated amount.

Organizations who have previously used a fixed renewal date due can easily transition to the rolling renewal date model.