I get this question all the time:

“How does my membership stack up against others?”

Operators often want reassurance that their metrics are on par. They want to ensure their churn isn’t too high or if they should have had more paying members by now.

But here’s what I’ve learned after seeing hundreds of membership businesses up close:

None of them are remotely the same.

Not in structure. Not in intent. Not in audience behavior. Not in what success actually means to the people inside them.

But still, the pressure to compare is real.

Why?

Because we’re wired for benchmarks. For averages. For a sense of where we stand.

But here’s the truth: When it comes to membership, benchmarking is often just a clever way to lose your direction.

Let’s dive in.

After years of working with some of the best memberships on the internet, I’ve changed my mind about benchmarks.

You see, your membership didn’t emerge from a template. It wasn’t born in a spreadsheet.

It came from your history, your perspective, your intuition about what your audience needed - and how you could serve them.

Consider this perspective: The reality of where you find yourself right now is the result of thousands of seemingly insignificant decisions that came together to create the current circumstances of your membership program.

Maybe you launched it after years of client work.

Maybe it grew from a newsletter, a course, or a podcast.

Maybe it started as something small and scrappy and grew into something with surprising gravity.

That origin story matters. It shaped your pricing, your positioning, your delivery model and your promises.

Now add in your audience size. Their needs. Their tolerance for frequency. Their relationship to you. Their schedule. Their economic context.

All of that is your membership DNA.

And no one else has it.

So when you compare your churn rate to someone else’s?

You’re not getting insight. You’re distorting your view. You’re asking apples to explain oranges.

Alright Michael, so are you telling me that benchmarks are completely useless?

Of course not.

But I am telling you that when you open up your metrics and see a higher churn rate than you’d like or fewer signups last month, it’s not up to someone else’s membership to determine if that’s good or bad for you.

As an operator, you cannot use someone else’s map to navigate your own terrain.

Often, memberships spin out of control because they try to implement what worked over there without understanding the differences underneath.

Someone else runs daily live calls. So you try it.

Someone else moved to annual pricing. So you do too.

Someone else gamified everything. So you spend two months building it.

And suddenly…nothing feels right. Your members are confused. You’re stretched thin. The vibe is off, and the results are flat.

Because what you copied was the outcome - not the foundation.

If your membership is deeply rooted in community and presence, trying to scale content may fracture it.

If your strength is in expert depth, gamifying the experience might water it down.

If your members rely on clarity and routine, introducing surprise and spontaneity might feel like chaos.

You see, there’s no universal roadmap - only deeply personal terrain.

Here’s how you can leverage this insight to strengthen your offering today:

Start with this question:

What do I know to be true about my membership based on real behavior, not borrowed advice?

Map your membership’s DNA:
Determine the origin of your membership.

Identify 3 Non-negotiables:
What elements of your membership feel essential to its spirit (i.e. trust, simplicity, intimacy, speed, structure)?

These are the things you protect when the next wave of comparison pressure hits.

Run any new idea through this lens:
“Does this move me deeper into my truth or work to replicate someone else’s success?”

The operators I work closely with at Memberful find the most success when they steer clear of copying what worked for someone else and commit to what fits for them.

Your edge isn’t found in chasing someone else’s metrics. It’s found in owning the complexities of your own.

When you build around your membership’s true DNA, something changes:

You stop reacting to trends. You stop over-analyzing your metrics. And you start building for the people who are actually in front of you.

The operators who succeed long-term don’t just collect tactics.

They trust what’s true and double down on it.

So I’ll leave you with this:

Are you building a membership that reflects your truth or one that attempts to replicate someone else’s success?

Think about it.

Tell me: How can I help you with your membership? Respond to this email and let me know (I always read every reply).

Share: I want Operator to be the most valuable thing that comes across your inbox each Tuesday. If I’m hitting that mark, share this newsletter with your staff, a team member or friend (just copy and share this URL).

See you next Tuesday.

-Michael