Coworking spaces are for startups and entrepreneurs. There are varieties of ways that space owners make to maintain the memberships of their members. However, there are some inevitable cases that members would quit at the coworking space. Losing members might be fine for some coworking spaces that are growing steadily since there’s always an influx of members. Yet, it will be bad for a starting coworking space or still gaining a good reputation in the community. It may be inevitable, but some situations can be avoided to happen to reduce the number of members from quitting. In this article, we will be sharing common mistakes that coworking spaces make that causes members to quit.
Space owners have their preferences on how to arrange and design their coworking spaces. But, the first thing to know, your members are not you. They might not like what you like. A coworking space has a base set of needs that should satisfy the members: productivity, comfort, professional and social connectivity, inspiration, and flexibility. Every single amenity that you provide must cater to one of these needs or else it should not exist. The fundamental issue here would be a misallocation of resources. Members would take notice if the resources are not well allocated to their needs. Some will talk to you about this and others will not, but instead, they will share it among others. Imagine how fast the word-of-mouth goes? Listed below are the common mistakes coworking spaces would make:
Productivity vs Comfort
These two go hand in hand as the most important factors in a coworking space. You can host a lot of events, quality working desks, a highly secured entrance, but if members cannot work comfortably, none of it would matter. Common amenities that reinforce these include fast and reliable internet, soundproof phone booths, conference rooms, private offices, and comfortable furniture. Many spaces would claim that they do well on these, but members would experience the slow internet connection, non-soundproof booths, or only one conference room. Coworking spaces should not invest cheaply on this specific area since these are essentials to the needs of the members. If their needs are not met by the basic amenities, then they would quit without second thoughts. There should be a proper balance to apply in both productivity and comfort. Preferences of the members must be catered well instead of personal preference.
Less Social Connectivity
If the main focus is only productivity, then it would lose the community factor that many members are looking for in a coworking space. This community factor is the social connections members make from regular interactions as well as new business opportunities that they can’t find elsewhere. Common amenities that reinforce these include, quality community member events, planned introductions, detailed and constantly updated member database, and a community manager. Social connectivity is one of the needs that is commonly forgotten or have invested a little only since it requires physical and emotional labor. One way to gain an asset over this is to hire an experienced community manager who gets stuff done and loves people.
Lack of Inspiration
Inspiration has to do with your space design, the events you produce, and the stories you tell that inspires your members to stay long term. Most space owners lack the connections to pull off these things. Regarding the physical aspect of the space, they often value in maximizing the revenue by ditching lounges and nooks for more “productive” areas, which makes the space less appealing for inspiration to work. Space owners must invest in building relationships early and also with the key thought leaders before building the space. In this way, you will not find a hard time to leverage these relationships for some events and cross-promotion.
Improper Balance of Flexibility
A coworking space is designed to be flexible. Though, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have rules. Most spaces are either too loose like they have no rules or they have but they don’t reinforce it. On the other hand, they might be too strict, such as not allowing easy access to non-members or asking for deposits on flexible space membership. Keep open space memberships on a month to month basis with a monthly cancellation date and no deposit. Allow your members to have guests as long as they are not causing any issues. Through this, it increases conversion from tours and retention of members.
Final Thoughts
Members come and go and some would stay for long. The goal is to build strong relationships with your members whom you can collaborate in promoting your space. One way to maintain your members is to properly allocate the usage of your amenities and resources since these are the things members look into as they tour inside a coworking space. Nobody would want to lose a member. That is why, if there are cases that can be improved then better act on it. How does this article help you? If you have any insights related to the topic, feel free to comment it below.