Thinking of buying Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience? Make sure to read this first. You’ll kick yourself later if you don’t. Updated for 2023 full review and $4,781 $9,475 (Updated April 23, 2023 at 1:35pm ET) in bonuses below.
So…the big question…what’s up with Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience course? This full review updated for 2023 will answer many questions you have and some you didn’t even think to ask.
First off, a full disclaimer: I am an affiliate for Stu’s course and I consider Stu a friend. But to be clear, that does not affect what I share below in any way. It does mean, that if you purchase Stu’s course through my affiliate link I’ll get a small commission (gotta love capitalism, right?). It also means that if you purchase through any link in this review, you will earn access to my exclusive bonuses, worth $4,781 $9,475 (Updated May 6, 2020 at 1:35pm ET). <<Skip to the bonuses>>
Ok, now that we’ve got the boring disclaimers out of the way, onto the fun stuff…here’s my full review of Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience. You can either watch the video or read the review below.
Who is Stu McLaren, and What’s So Good About The Membership Experience Course?
Stu McLaren is the real deal
His resume speaks for itself. The guy is a near legend in the internet marketing space.
As a matter of fact, he’s one of the guys that I’ve looked up to for several years when it comes to entrepreneurship and internet marketing.
His client list reads like a red carpet event for internet marketers — Michael Hyatt, Ruth Soukup, Donald Miller, Jeff Walker, and many more.
All of that is to say, Stu has put out an incredible product. And you can bet that it is top-notch…as a matter of fact, if I wasn’t 100% convinced, I probably wouldn’t be writing this review!
Unparalleled Research
The Membership Experience is a completely tested and proven system. The course is based on the best practices of over 70,000 membership sites and online communities (yes, you read that right — seven-zero-zero-zero-zero — 70,000!!).
If you weren’t aware, Stu McLaren created WishList Member, which is one of the most successful membership plugins ever…so yes, Stu knows just a little bit about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to creating a successful and profitable membership site.
Oh yeah, and he also helped Michael Hyatt grow his membership site, Platform University to over 6,000 members in just a few years. I’ve been a member of PU for more than six years now!
Stu has HUGE amounts of research and backing that goes into the system that he teaches in this course.
It is proven to a point that I don’t think any other course has EVER been proven!
Unmatched Support
I love how dedicated Stu and his team are in making sure that those who buy The Membership Experience are supported every step of the way.
Just look at the support they provide just for the free videos Stu offers.
Seriously…that level of support isn’t available inside many paid courses…let alone for the FREE resources before you purchase a course!
And inside the course, you get access to Stu and his team with weekly calls and Q&As.
Here’s some of the other support that you’ll receive within The Membership Experience:
- Search feature that allows you to find a specific topic across modules, support topics and other resources (seriously, this is cool!)
- The Membership Experience Progress Coaching so you can get your questions answers as you are working through the course by a real member of Stu’s team!
- FAQ Vault. I don’t know about you, but when I hear “vault” I get the impression that they’ve spent a lot of time compiling a TON of questions and answering them to help you get the most out of the course! That’s exactly what they’ve done.
- Community. You will have access to The Membership Experience Community, where you can ask questions, get feedback and support other course owners — and, of course, Stu and his team will pop in there as well! This is one of the most active communities I’ve ever seen.
What’s NOT So Good About The Membership Experience?
1. Still a Somewhat New Course
The course has only been around for about five years. In internet world, that might seem like a long time, but compared to some courses, it is a bit newer.
This means that there aren’t tens of thousands of people who have gone through the course. But, there have been many-many-thousands of successful students who’ve taken their side business and turned it into a full-time income.
Stu has taught and implemented the techniques he teaches in this course in his own businesses as well as with his personal consulting clients with great success (see above…).
You’ll find testimonials from people he has worked with readily accessible on his site.
So yeah, this is technically a “downfall”…but not really when you consider the framework he teaches he learned from studying (literally) tens of thousands of membership sites.
2. There’s Almost Too Much Good Stuff
This isn’t a “not so good” part of the course necessarily.
But, the overwhelming amount of research that has gone into what Stu teaches, as well as his experiences with his coaching and consulting clients can be too much if you’re afraid of taking Stu’s advice step-by-step.
3. I Haven’t Personally Reviewed All The Material
This is an honest review, so it is important for me to tell you that I have not looked through all the course content and bonus material myself.
There’s a ton of material and my team and I have watched the portions of the training that relate directly to the projects we’re working on.
Though I haven’t reviewed it all personally, I have been watching Stu for a long time and I can tell you that he never does anything halfway, so have no doubt that The Membership Experience is awesome…in fact, my team and I are currently going through it again to double-down on our membership course.
4. You’ve Got to Put in the Work
Just in case you thought this was a “membership-site-in-a-box” course, it is not.
While it will definitely take a lot of the stress and effort out, you still have to put in the work. Just making sure you KNOW that.
I honestly can’t find any other “bad” things about The Membership Experience — and believe me, I tried.
But Stu has left nothing to chance…it really does come down to whether this course is right for you or not…if it’s right for you, then it’s awesome.
If it’s not right for you, then, well, it’s not right for you and you shouldn’t buy it!
Who is The Membership Experience For (and who is it NOT for?)
I hear you asking…is Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience right for me and my business?
Who The Membership Experience is For?
The Membership Experience is for anyone who currently has an audience and business or who is looking to start a business and wants to build it in a way that allows them to leverage their expertise without having to be married to their business.
This includes:
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Coaches
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Speakers
- Authors
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Designers
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Bloggers
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Podcasters
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Consultants
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Experts
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Influencers
- …anyone else wanting to add a recurring revenue stream to their business
In short, if you are looking for a way to stabilize your business with reliable, recurring income, then The Membership Experience is probably for you!
Who is The Membership Experience NOT For?
As with many of the products I review, many of the reasons this course would NOT be for you revolve around YOU and YOUR choices.
This course is NOT for you if one or more of the following are true:
- You’re unwilling to invest the time necessary (5 modules with multiple lessons in each)
- You’re unwilling to make the monetary investment in the course (as of this writing, The Membership Experience costs $1,997).
- You think this is a “get rich quick” plan that will magically cause money to appear in your bank account.
- You don’t want to grow your business by adding recurring revenue to your model.
- You are already a pro at setting up and running profitable membership sites.
In short, if you aren’t willing to jump in with a desire to learn from Stu and put the work to developing your own membership site, then I would strongly recommend that you NOT purchase Stu’s course.
What is Inside The Membership Experience?
Stu and his team have upgraded this year’s The Membership Experience…experience…yet again.
They conducted the largest membership survey in history to learn what’s working in the changing market.
The Membership Experience includes:
- All 7 training modules ($1,997 value)
- The exclusive The Membership Experience Facebook Community ($497 value)
- The Membership Experience Live Ticket ($997 value)
- #10in10s (priceless) – brand new this year to answer your questions every weekday of the course
- and over $2,488 in bonuses.
Let’s put it this way…they want the absolute best experience and results for you, and they’re not holding back.
Module #1 – Introduction
This module forms the basis for the entire course.
It’s a deep dive into Stu’s philosophy:
- about membership sites,
- the two main types of membership sites,
- the perfect membership
- and his trademarked Membership Success Path
Module #2 – Your Foundation Strategy
The Membership Experience‘s first core module will help you discover who you are going to serve, how to serve them and how to determine exactly what type of membership site to create to meet their needs.
You’ll also learn:
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The four reasons someone joins any membership site
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The two must-have pieces of research you need to know about your market
- The six membership models and how to pick the one that’s right for you
- The “less stress” membership philosophy
- “The Circle of Awesomeness”
As the name implies, this module helps you lay the foundation for a successful membership site!
Module #3 – Your Content Strategy
A membership site wouldn’t be much of a membership site without good content.
In this module of The Membership Experience, Stu teaches you:
- how to create a year’s worth of content in less than a week
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the two types of must-have content every membership needs
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the #1 reason people cancel their membership and how to overcome that.
Just those first and third bullet points are worth the price of the course!
Modules #4 & 5 – Marketing Strategy & Tactics
The best membership site in the world is pretty useless unless you get paying members “in the door.” That’s what this module will teach you to do, including,
- Open vs. Closed marketing plans (which is better…)
- 7 pricing strategies
- A proven 5 phase launch process
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How to position your membership as a “must-have” resource
- Evergreen campaigns
- Waitlist promotions
These modules cover the same tactics Stu used to 6x the size of Michael Hyatt’s membership site as well as other awesome tactics!
Module #6 – Your Retention Strategy
This is one of the BIGGEST challenges I’ve seen with membership sites…how to retain the members your marketing strategy brings in!
In this module of The Membership Experience, Stu teaches you,
- the real reasons people stay
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how to increase the lifetime value of your members
- the 7 actions you want every member to take to ensure their happiness
- membership guidelines and rules
- how to use gamification to increase engagement (more on his gamification bonus later)
There is a TON more in this module, and it’s one that I’m particularly excited to go through!
Module #7 – Your Growth Strategy
If you’re not going forward, you’re going backward. In this module, Stu will show you how to have a plan in place to ensure that you’re moving forward and growing!
You’ll learn,
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The 4 growth stages of your membership
- The philosophy behind growing your membership and the critical numbers you need to know to scale
- How to attract highly engaged volunteers
- The roles you should look to hire for — and when to hire them
This module is all about sustainability and making sure that your membership site doesn’t rule your life — after all, you’re interested in The Membership Experience and membership sites to scale your business, not handcuff yourself to it!
Ticket to The Membership Experience Live
Last year, people enrolled in The Membership Experience just for this bonus – it’s that good.
Here’s the scoop…
When you join The Membership Experience, you’ll also get a ticket to The Membership Experience Live. This is an event exclusively for The Membership Experience community.
It’s their annual gathering of membership site owners from around the world. This event is THE go-to event for anyone launching or growing a membership site…
Stu leads the conference by diving into the core concepts of growing a membership – which is all based on your feedback BTW.
The best part is, the event will feature The Membership Experience members who will be sharing the “behind the scenes” of the incredible results they got in the last few months with their membership sites.
Those who attend come away with a deeper understanding of the concepts taught in The Membership Experience… and you will too because you’ll see and hear examples of applications in so many markets.
It’s the creme de la creme of the membership world – all sharing what they did to launch, grow and scale their membership sites in a wide variety of different markets.
Imagine the ideas you’ll get.
Think about the potential of hearing ideas from someone in a completely different market and then being able to brainstorm with them on how to adapt it for your market.
It’s mind-blowing and incredibly inspiring.
In fact, last year, Anna Saucier was so inspired by what she was hearing on stage that she decided to launch her membership right there at the event.
She didn’t have any launch videos or webinars. She didn’t even have a sales page or order page.
She just used the “founding member script” that was mentioned on stage and in 24 hours she generated $5,024 with her tiny audience of just 326 people.
Amazing right?
PLUS all Stu’s Amazing Bonuses
Bonus #1 – Gamification Super Guide ($497 value)
The long-term health of your membership depends on your ability to keep people happy month after month. If they are consuming your content and making progress, they WILL stay.
So how do you increase consumption of your content?
That’s what this entire mini-course is all about. Stu flew in one of the world’s top experts who has been working with companies around the world crafting customer experiences that dramatically boost engagement while creating raving fans.
And in this exclusive bonus, they dive deep into the framework for crafting a world-class experience for your members.
In fact, after they filmed this bonus, Stu’s team was so inspired that they went back to the drawing board to incorporate a bunch of ideas for you! So you’ll experience a number of the ideas shared in this bonus from the client side.
Bonus #2 – Instant Audience ($497 value)
If you are in the early stages of growing your business, you’re probably hungry to gain momentum as quickly as possible – am I right?
But the thing that’s holding you back is that you may not currently have an audience that you feel can support a membership.
Hopefully you’ve seen through the many examples we’ve shared, it doesn’t take a massive audience to begin generating a healthy amount of recurring revenue from your membership.
In fact, Stu’s team commonly see The Membership Experience members launching successfully with just a few hundred people in their audience.
And in this bonus, they show you exactly how to build massive momentum from a standing start.
And if you have an existing audience, you’re going to be able to leverage this same strategy to biggie size your audience in record time.
Bonus #3 – 7-Figure, Fill in the Blank Launch Script Templates ($997 value)
These are the EXACT templates Stu uses to craft world-class, 7-figure promotions.
The worst thing that can happen from a marketing standpoint is you have this amazing membership but you don’t know what to say when it comes to sharing it with the world.
When you join The Membership Experience, you’ll get access to these tremendously valuable scripts that he uses over and over to craft winning, 7-figure launches.
And they’ve set this up with their custom tool to make it ultra-easy for you so that you literally answer a few questions and when you’re finished, you have proven scripts.
You’ll know exactly what to say to position your membership so people will naturally be drawn into joining your membership.
Bonus #4 – Simple Profits Mini-Series ($497 value)
In this bonus, Stu teaches you the Simplest Way To Get Paying Members In As Little As 24 Hours Flat.
He literally shares the proven copy-and-paste templates that will get your membership off the ground and earn money in less time than it takes to get your Amazon Prime order!
<<Skip Ahead to My Exclusive Bonuses>>
What Risk is There?
This is one of the biggest questions people ask themselves when investing in courses…and probably at least partially why you are reading this review now.
What risk is there in purchasing Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience?
To be honest, next to none.
Seriously.
If you take a look at Stu’s track record – first building WishList Member, then consulting with people like Michael Hyatt, Jeff Walker and many more, there is really no question as to his ability to build a successful membership site that is both profitable and sustainable.
Really, the only variable is whether you are going to be teachable and put in the work necessary!
But, still the same, Stu offers a 14 Day Money Back Guarantee.
All he asks is that you send him your work, showing that you have gone through the exercises included in the course…and if you still didn’t get the results you were hoping for, Stu will happily refund your money.
(But with all the research and preparation that went into this course, I highly doubt you will go through the course and NOT experience great results!)
How I Used The Membership Experience to Launch My Membership
In October 2019 we launched our first membership program using the model Stu teaches in The Membership Experience: Affiliate Insider Monthly.
Once we decided to create a membership, the promo began by reaching out to our current audience and asking them to optin for more information about an awesome membership opportunity we had coming up.
We hinted at a special founder’s and lifetime pricing.
Using what Stu teaches in The Membership Experience, we determined the exact type of content to serve our audience best.
We needed something that would provide the most value while at the same time being simple to produce long-term and on a regular consistent schedule.
Here’s what we came up with:
- Monthly Affiliate Trends Report
- Monthly Backstage Passes
- Monthly Insider Profiles
- Monthly Fireside Chats
- A Private Community
The Trends Report allows us to help the community stay on top of what is changing in the affiliate industry. It’s a chance to deep-dive into specific strategies and tactics that are working right now.
Our Backstage Passes are a chance to share what’s going on behind the curtain of my business. We share about the promos we’re running, what’s working for us, what we’ve failed at, and what we are testing to move the industry forward.
Insider profiles allow us to interview the top performers in affiliate marketing and share what they are doing to be successful.
Fireside Chats are basic Q&A sessions where we take member questions live and throughout the month and answer them for the whole community.
Content creation consists of jumping on live calls (which we’d probably be doing anyway) and then sharing them with our community. Super simple and easy to do consistently.
It’s a chance to feature members of our community and make them the hero.
And what’s better, is that content is always relevant to what our audience needs at any given time.
Beyond content, Stu and The Membership Experience Course helped us identify pricing, bonuses, evergreen launch strategies, and an engaged community of our top supporters.
Adding a membership to the business has helped us generate a steady source of income in a way where we don’t have to create a ton of content up-front.
My Exclusive Bonuses When You Join The Membership Experience
Bonus #1 – Destroying Your Limiting Beliefs Workbook ($399)
It takes a certain mindset to build a large, profitable membership site — and sustain it! That’s why I’ll give you the Limiting Beliefs Self-Coaching Guide. There are four types of limiting beliefs that you will need to overcome and I teach you how to do so in this self-coaching plan.
Until recently, this workbook was only available to my private coaching clients, but I know how critical it is to conquer your limiting beliefs to do something awesome (and daunting) as creating a killer membership site.
Bonus #2 – Access to the Replay of my Networking With Purpose LIVE Event ($197)
If you go through my link to purchase The Membership Experience, you’ll get access to the replay of my Networking With Purpose LIVE event that I hosted with relationship rockstar John Corcoran and Mark Sieverkropp.
Getting your membership site in front of a large number of potential members requires the right connections. That’s why I’m GIVING you access to the replay of my Networking with Purpose Live event.
This live online event replay will show you how to build, grow, and nurture your network to help you launch your membership site.
I share my own experiences, techniques, and connection-building strategies PLUS I invited some of my connections that are networking experts to come and share their techniques and strategies with you as well.
The cheapest ticket was $197 and that was with a hidden, secret promo code. But it is yours when you join The Membership Experience through my link.
Bonus #3 – List Launch Challenge ($497)
If you are going to start a membership site, you need a list.
Yes, Stu shows you how to succeed with a small list, but you still need someone to sell to…and the larger your list, the more members you will have.
The List Launch Challenge shows you how to start, build, and grow your email list from the ground up.
It’s a proven system with amazing results. It is currently unavailable to the public (we only open enrollment once a year) and normally sells for $497, but it is yours free when you enroll in The Membership Experience through my link.
Bonus #4 – Turn Your List Into Cash ($997)
As you grow your list and your membership, you’ll want to continue to monetize in new ways.
Each subscriber on your list should generate an average of $3.00-$8.00/month in revenue.
This bonus will give you the secrets to monetizing your greatest business asset – your email list!
And this is yours when you join The Membership Experience through my link.
Bonus #5 – $10k In 10 Weeks ($197)
In this in-depth video training, you’ll learn exactly how I set up and monetize my Recources Page (that generates $10k+ per month) and WHY I organize it that way – so you can copy exactly what I do and add one to your membership!
You’ll get over 90 minutes of me going through resource pages that my students created, giving feedback and suggestions, as well as what I like about each one, to give you more ideas for your own page.
While there are certainly best practices for your resources page, there are many ways to apply them. I’ve curated 12 great examples of a good resources page so you can quickly take a look at each one to get formatting and design ideas (and maybe some ideas for products you might want to promote).
Learn exactly how to add a resource page to your membership site when you join The Membership Experience.
Bonus #6 – The Affiliate Code Unlocked ($997)
How could you grow your membership if you had an army of affiliates working for you?
Recently, I revealed nearly all of my secrets from over a decade as an affiliate manager to a small group of people…And the response was UNBELIEVABLE!
The strategies I share helped me build a $12.6 million dollar affiliate program in 18 months and run multiple 6 and 7 figure affiliate programs.
This is nearly five hours spilling ALL of my affiliate management secrets and strategies!
It is overflowing with tips and strategies you can implement right away.
You could literally take what I teach in this event and build a massively successful affiliate program for your membership.
Get access to all my top insider affiliate strategies when you join The Membership Experience through my link.
Bonus #7 – 7-Figure Affiliate Launch Course ($1997)
In order to grow your membership site, you will need to enlist the help of others. There is no better way to expand your influence and reach more people than by harnessing the power of affiliates.
In this training which I normally sell for $1997, I will teach you how to find affiliates to share your message with the people that they know. The tools and techniques I share in this training have allowed me to recruit thousands of affiliates in several different industries and have made my clients millions of dollars. Clients such as Michael Hyatt, Zig Ziglar, Kevin Harrington, Rich Schefren, Ray Edwards, Jeff Goins, Lewis Howes, Brian Tracy, and more.
And if you purchase Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience course through my link, you will get this $1997 course absolutely free.
Bonus # 8 – Email Copywriting Workshop ($997)
People in memberships stay for the results.
So how do you ensure they get the results for your membership while you continue to grow your email list? Through your email copy
In this training, you’ll learn from several of the best copywriters in the world. They will teach you how to write effective email copy so your audience takes the actions you want them to take and achieve the results they’re paying you to achieve.
Usually, this training is only available with our paid courses, but it’s your’s free when you join The Membership Experience through my link.
Bonus #9 – 2,000 Subscribers in 2 Weeks ($697)
How many lives could you change with your membership if you had the top experts in your field teaching the material?
In this bonus, you’ll discover how hosting a virtual summit can explode your list, massively build your reputation, and ignite your membership…from someone who has generated more than 200,000 subscribers using this method.
This training typically costs $697, but is your’s free when you join The Membership Experience.
EXCLUSIVE BONUS WITH STU MCLAREN
Next Level Membership Growth
($2,500)
I teamed up with the man himself…Stu McLaren.
In this exclusive 2-hour replay training event, we dug into the next-level strategies to find partners for your next membership launch and 2X, 3X, or even 10X your results.
Stu has an extensive background in managing affiliates, and I’ve been rated as one of the top affiliate marketers in the world recruiting thousands of affiliates in several different industries and making my clients millions of dollars. Clients such as Michael Hyatt, Zig Ziglar, Kevin Harrington, Rich Schefren, Ray Edwards, Jeff Goins, Lewis Howes, Brian Tracy, and more.
This bonus is only available to those who join The Membership Experience through my link.
TOTAL BONUSES VALUE: $4,781 $9,475 (Updated April 13, 2023 at 1:35pm ET)
So now that you’ve read to this point, there is really only one question…
What are you waiting for?
Click Here to purchase The Membership Experience from Stu McLaren and get ready to create reliable, recurring income in your business!
Final Thoughts on Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience? Would I Buy It Again?
The short answer…ABSOLUTELY!
This is the premier course on building and sustainable business using a membership.
To my knowledge, no other course out there has the depth and practical training you’ll find in The Membership Experience.
If you’re looking for a way to add a sustainable revenue source to your business then click the button below to enroll in The Membership Experience and get my $4,781 $9,475 bonus package.
Questions?
Text me at (260) 217-4619
(I’ll do my best to answer, but if I miss your call, leave a message and a good time to call you back…can’t wait to talk!)