The Membership Exists Entirely Inside Email and Nowhere Else

Every membership program built on Shopify Plus has an email strategy. Most of them also have an Instagram presence, a TikTok account, a presence on at least one paid social platform, and depending on the brand, a podcast, a YouTube channel, or a physical retail presence. The membership is marketed across some of those channels at launch and then retreats almost entirely into email for the duration of the member relationship.

The problem with this is not that email is ineffective. Automated membership emails consistently outperform general campaigns, as Klaviyo's 2026 benchmarks show, with automated flows generating 41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends. The problem is that email is one channel in a multi-channel relationship, and the membership program has decided that the one channel it was easiest to build on is the only channel the program uses to maintain the member relationship.

A member who primarily uses Instagram to engage with brands sees the membership mentioned occasionally in a feed post and then almost never again. A member who primarily engages via SMS receives promotional texts from the brand but nothing membership-specific. The relationship those members have with the program is mediated entirely by whether they open the monthly email, which places the entire weight of the membership relationship on a single delivery mechanism.

Channel Diversification for Membership Communications Follows the Member

Most membership teams choose their communication channels based on what the team already knows how to use rather than where the members are spending their attention. The result is a membership that lives in email because the team built its email infrastructure first.

A more effective approach uses the behavioral data already available in the membership platform to understand where members engage most. Members who consistently open emails are well-served by the email strategy. Members who have low email engagement but high social engagement, visible through ad platform data or UTM tracking, are not well-served by a single-channel email approach.

Research from Brevo's 2026 Marketing Orchestration Benchmark, covering over 175,000 active brands, found that retail and ecommerce sit below average on email open rates at 15.5%, reflecting the highly competitive inbox environment brands compete in for reader attention. A membership program that relies entirely on email to maintain member engagement is relying on a channel where the average open rate means nearly 85% of emails go unread.

Social Channels Can Carry Membership Content That Email Cannot

Instagram Stories, short-form video, and community-specific platforms can carry membership content in formats that email cannot. A member who follows the brand on Instagram and sees a Story specifically for members, behind-the-scenes access, a first look at an upcoming product, or a member-exclusive discount code dropped in the Stories bar, receives membership value through a channel they are already using without needing to open an email.

None of that requires building new infrastructure. It requires the team that manages the social channels to include a membership-specific content block in the weekly social calendar, something most social calendars currently do not include because membership and social are managed by different people with different briefs.

Research on community and brand loyalty found that consumer participation in online communities influences brand loyalty, and that customers who engage more with brands and community members on social media feel a stronger connection to the brand over time. A membership program that shows up in the social channels where members already engage is building that connection through the medium where it forms most naturally.

SMS Is Already Underused for Membership and Sits in a Different Channel Entirely

Research from Omnisend's 2026 SMS benchmarks shows automated SMS flows dramatically outperforming campaign sends, with 90 to 98% open rates and 80% of messages read within five minutes. For time-sensitive membership moments, expiring credit, renewal notices, and failed payment alerts, SMS delivers in a channel where open rates are categorically different from email.

Subscribfy's own merchant data shows the retention outcomes that come from members who maintain an active, engaged relationship with the program. That engagement depends on the program showing up in the channels the member uses, not just the channel the team finds easiest to operate.

If your membership program's entire member relationship runs through email and nothing else, the members who engage primarily through other channels are experiencing a membership that exists only in a folder they may not open this week.

Subscribfy helps Shopify Plus brands extend their membership communication strategy across the channels where members actually spend their attention, not just the one the team was already equipped to use. See how at subscribfy.ai.