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News and insight

What we're working on and what we're learning.

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Illustrative membership charts: joiners and lapses over two years, and retention by membership grade over ten years

Membership strategy

Where your membership growth comes from

Total membership growth shows direction. Acquisition, retention and segmentation show why.

RetentionWhat's the Difference Between Retention and Renewal Rates?20 Oct 2026NewsLayercake partners with CIEHF to turn strategy into action2 Sept 2026NewsWelcoming Sara Rasheed to Layercake18 Mar 2026NewsProud to be a partner of the Memcom Conference 20269 Mar 2026NewsWorkshop highlights: Build a Next-Level Membership Growth Strategy26 Feb 2026NewsIntroducing Dave Campbell: strengthening our membership expertise14 Jan 2026NewsWelcome Di!12 Jan 2026NewsWelcome to our new associate, Ellie Denney17 Dec 2025NewsLayercake working with the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI)6 Nov 2025Membership strategyHow can association leaders use membership data to improve renewal?30 Oct 2025NewsLayercake selects ReadyIntelligence to power data-driven member experiences28 Oct 2025NewsIoIC and Layercake shortlisted for Best Collaborative Partnership at Memcom Awards 202523 Jul 2025NewsWhat's top of mind for membership leaders? Insights from Memcom's Leadership Skills Forum19 Jul 2025NewsBig conversations, bright ideas: highlights from the Memcom Summer Party16 Jul 2025NewsFrom first-time attendees to speakers: Layercake returns to Memcom with a message on intentional leadership4 Jul 2025NewsMembership growth strategies demystified: a hands-on data workshop19 Jun 2025Membership strategySpot the "leaky bucket" and target sustainable membership growth17 Apr 2025NewsNew talent, new impact: Tracy Gravesande joins as Learning & Strategy Consultant20 Mar 2025NewsEmpowering trade associations with data-driven insight: now proud members of TAF3 Mar 2025NewsWeb analytics that work: welcoming Tom Fox25 Feb 2025NewsFrom data overload to data-driven success13 Feb 2025

What we publish

News covers our own announcements: new partnerships and clients, people joining the team, and events such as Memcom, where we attend and speak. Blog posts are longer pieces on membership growth, engagement and financial performance, drawn from the analysis we do with associations. The filters above switch between the two.

A good place to start is the article on how association leaders can use membership data to improve renewal. If you want to check a number of your own, the free membership calculators cover growth, retention, renewal, lapse, acquisition and returning-member rates.

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