Optimizing Your Dental Practice’s Membership Plan Renewal Rate
Dental membership plans are built on a promising foundation — members commit to care, generate recurring revenue, and are significantly more profitable than uninsured patients. But here’s the reality: achieving those benefits depends on one critical factor — renewals.
When renewal processes are cumbersome or ineffective, the very model designed to grow your practice can stall. That's why optimizing your membership plan renewal strategy isn’t just important — it’s essential for long-term success.
What is a dental membership plan renewal?
Like any other subscription business, members pay a recurring fee in exchange for access to dental services. A renewal is the process each member goes through when continuing their subscription into the next year.
The difference between automatic and manual dental membership plan renewals
Manual renewal processes quickly add up to a significant time investment for dental teams. To cut back on the degree of administration, many growing practices and DSOs choose to automate their renewal processes. However, some still opt for manual renewals, often due to the unique needs of their self-administrated in-house dental plan.
Why members fail to renew
Involuntary churn can sneak up on any practice when the membership plan renewal process is manual.
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Unaware their membership has expired: Some members may not realize their plan has expired due to missed or ineffective renewal reminders, leaving them unintentionally without access to their care plan.
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Low usage of plan services and benefits: Members who haven’t fully utilized their plan may not see its value, leading to a lack of motivation to renew.
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Payment friction or forgetfulness: Members may forget to renew due to the lack of automated processes, or they might encounter issues with manual payment methods, such as expired cards or cumbersome in-office payments.
Four integrity-driven ways to increase your membership plan renewal rate
1. Prevent involuntary churn and reclaim lost revenue
For dental practices offering membership plans, failed payments can be a significant source of involuntary churn. Practices can recover a portion of this lost revenue through manual efforts — like reattempting failed credit card charges or sending personalized payment request emails.
However, as your membership grows, managing payment failures manually can become inefficient, time-consuming, and costly. That’s where automated solutions come into play. Implementing an automated payment failure process can recapture lost revenue, reduce churn, and streamline operations. In this context, your solution might include,
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Automated emails or text messages informing members of the failed payment.
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Retry schedules to reprocess declined payments.
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Alerts prompting members to update expired credit card information through an online portal.
2. Be empathetic regarding failed payments
When payments fail, rather than immediately suspending access, practices can set up workflows to notify members and provide solutions, such as updating payment information online or setting up alternative payment methods. Proactively reaching out helps build trust and encourages members to stay enrolled.
3. Make cancellations easy, but report on your learnings
While it might seem counterintuitive, offering an easy cancellation process can enhance your practice's reputation and encourage former members to return in the future. When members do choose to cancel, take the opportunity to collect feedback. Are they leaving due to cost, lack of perceived value, or an experience issue? Use this data to identify trends and make adjustments.
Additionally, be mindful of FTC guidelines regarding rules that govern subscription cancellations. Transparency is key, and ensuring that members have clear and simple pathways to cancel aligns with regulatory expectations.
4. Choose the right membership plan partner from the start
When implementing a dental membership plan, it can be tempting to focus on getting the program launched quickly, often overlooking the importance of selecting a partner that supports your long-term goals. Practices and DSOs that opt for basic or patchwork systems often face challenges such as inconsistent renewals, inefficient payment tracking, and the inability to scale effectively.
A self-administered in-house solution may work in the short term, but it can lead to headaches as your practice grows. To avoid costly migrations or frustrated team members, it’s critical to choose a partner that’s built for scalability, automation, and seamless member experiences from the outset.
Here are the key components every strong membership plan partner should provide:
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Payments infrastructure: Integrated systems to manage and process monthly and annual payments securely and reliably, reducing friction for both your team and patients.
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Payment failure management: Solutions to address failed payments with automated retries and reminders, minimizing involuntary churn.
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Automated renewals: Tools that handle annual renewals effortlessly, ensuring continuity of care for patients and recurring revenue for your practice.
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Member management features: A user-friendly interface to track member data, manage plans, and communicate with patients effectively.
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Analytics and reporting: Insights into member retention, plan utilization, and revenue performance to help you optimize your program over time.
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Practice management software integration: Automatically post subscription payments and balance transactions in your PMS, auto-fill patient information during enrollment, track membership plan benefits used and remaining, and streamline marketing efforts to patient populations within your database.
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Compliance support: Features designed to keep your plan in good standing, covering DMPO, HIPAA, PCI, and FTC guidelines, so you can focus on growth — not regulations.
How Kleer and Membersy make renewals the easiest part of your teams day
Kleer and Membersy allow you to automate the renewal process, reducing the risk of errors and saving time for front desk teams. By default, memberships automatically renew unless patients opt out, minimizing the need for administrative intervention and boosting retention rates.
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Members will receive automated compliant email reminders before renewal to ensure they keep their plan in good standing for the following year.
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Cash payments will need to be completed in your office ahead of the member’s renewal date.
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On average, failed payments occur in about 1% of transactions. When this happens, our platform will automatically retry the payment method, ensuring minimal disruption to the renewal process.
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Members will be notified of a payment failure, and can update their payment method and resolve payment issues directly in their member portal.
Why renewals matter
Renewals are the cornerstone of a thriving membership plan, ensuring consistent care for patients and financial stability for your practice. Instead of wrestling with the limitations of your current system, consider tools like Kleer and Membersy that simplify renewals and automates key processes to empower your team.
Whether you’re looking to boost renewals and maximize the impact of your current membership plan, or are new to the concept, our experts are here to help. Schedule a consultation today!
About the author
Lynnea is a Demand Generation Analyst at Kleer and Membersy, specializing in the B2B SaaS industry. With a prior background in content marketing, Lynnea works to create strategic content for dental teams designed to improve business outcomes.
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