Associations and member organisations · Lapsed

How do I win back lapsed association members by email?

By BREME · Updated 23 October 2026

Who this is for: Membership managers and executive officers at Australian associations, professional bodies, industry groups and clubs who have a list of former members and want some of them back without spamming people who have moved on.

Start where your renewal emails stop

Most associations send a run of renewal reminders before the membership year ends and one gentle note a few weeks after it. Win-back is what comes next: the people who have now been gone for months, sometimes years, and are still on your database.

These former members are not strangers. They chose you once, and many of them left because they got busy, changed jobs or stopped using what they paid for, not because they were unhappy. That makes them some of the warmest contacts you have, as long as you do not treat them like current members who forgot to pay.

Split them by how long they have been gone

One message to every former member rarely works. Someone who lapsed two months ago and someone who left three years ago need different things.

Association Now reported a respiratory care association in the US that split its lapsed list in two. People who had lapsed three to six months earlier were invited to rejoin and sign up for a course. People who had lapsed seven to 24 months earlier were invited to rediscover membership through its new benefits. Higher Logic, also from the US, suggests segmenting by reason for leaving, membership type and time lapsed as well.

For a small Australian association, two groups is plenty to start with: recently lapsed, up to about six months, and longer lapsed, roughly seven months to two years.

Ask why they left, briefly

Your first email to each group should include one quick way to tell you why they did not renew. Association Now suggests keeping the survey to no more than two minutes. One question with four or five options and an other box is enough.

Read the answers before you write the second email. If most people say they stopped using the member resources, a list of benefits will not bring them back, but a short note about one thing that has genuinely changed might.

Make coming back take one step

If rejoining means filling in a new application, finding referees or paying a joining fee again, many people will not bother. Check your constitution or rules for how your association treats lapsed members, then make the path as short as they allow.

The Geological Society of Australia, for example, tells lapsed members they do not need to apply to join again or provide endorsements from sponsors. They email the secretariat with their details and receive a renewal invoice. If your rules allow something similar, say so in the first line of the email.

The sequence, step by step

1. Pull a list of former members whose membership ended in the last two years, and remove anyone who asked not to be contacted or has unsubscribed.
2. Remove anyone you do not have consent to email for marketing (see the Australian notes below).
3. Split the list into recently lapsed and longer lapsed.
4. Send email one to each group: what you want to say to that group, a one-click rejoin link and the two-minute question.
5. Wait about a month. Association Now suggests a slower pace for former members, around one message a month.
6. Send email two to anyone who has not rejoined, shaped by what the survey answers told you.
7. Stop there. Higher Logic advises no more than two messages, because former members know how to find you. Anyone who rejoins moves straight into a short welcome back email instead.
8. Pick a handful of long-standing members and give them a phone call from the president or a board member instead of a third email.

Hi [first name],

Your [Association] membership ended in [month], and we've missed having you with us.

If you'd like to come back, you don't need to reapply. Just use this link and you'll be a member again straight away: [rejoin link].

Coming up for members this [season]: [one specific upcoming event, course or resource].

And if membership wasn't working for you, we'd really like to know why. It's one question and takes under a minute: [survey link].

[Name]
[Role], [Association]

Hi [first name],

It's been a while since you were a member of [Association], so we wanted to let you know what's new.

Since you left, we've [one or two genuine changes, for example: started a monthly online session for members outside the capital cities].

If that sounds useful, you can rejoin here in a couple of minutes: [rejoin link].

If not, we'd still value one minute of your time to tell us why membership didn't suit you: [survey link]. It helps us do better for the people still with us.

[Name]
[Role], [Association]

If you'd prefer not to hear from us again, unsubscribe here: [unsubscribe link].