At The Club at Olde Cypress in Naples, Florida, membership demand runs high and expectations run higher. With 550 single family homes, three membership categories, and a full golf initiation fee currently set at $125,000, Melissa Hansen, Director of Membership and Marketing, has spent 14 years shaping how the club builds relationships with future members. Her challenge was not just attracting prospects. It was keeping them engaged long after that first inquiry, even after the club moved to a waitlist.
The Challenge: Staying Top of Mind, Waitlist or Not
Olde Cypress began working with MembersFirst to build gated content campaigns that would generate leads and nurture prospective members over time. But once the club moved to a waitlist, the assumption might have been that lead generation could slow down. Hansen saw it differently.
I think it’s super important to remain top of mind. I think that if you are not continuing to get your brand and your club out there, that the other club will, and you won’t be at the top of that prospective member’s mind anymore.
The Solution: Gated Content, a Renovation Page, and CRM-Backed Follow-Up
The club tested several gated content formats through its partnership with MembersFirst, starting with a preview of its associate membership category designed to give prospects a taste of a mid-level option before exploring other tiers. From there, the team layered in a lifestyle piece and a membership brochure, with more in development.
I think partnering with MembersFirst and working together to build our gated content campaign has been crucial to our success
When the club began planning a major renovation, the marketing team recognized that prospective members deserved the same visibility as current ones. Rather than limiting updates to member emails, Olde Cypress built a dedicated website page focused on the upcoming renovation, giving prospects a clear view of what the club was building toward.
It’s been a game changer for us. We’ve absolutely been able to dive into the analytics and see how long these prospects are spending, taking all this information from this page. It’s been incredible.
The Impact: Visibility Today, Automation Tomorrow
The renovation page gave Hansen’s team something they didn’t have before: real visibility into how prospects engage before ever picking up the phone. That data now informs how the team refines campaigns and prioritizes follow-up.
Looking ahead, Hansen is focused on bringing more automation into the onboarding process. With support from CRM and email marketing tools, the goal is to build a structured, automated path that welcomes new members from their first inquiry through their first year.
We’re really working to use this, especially when it comes to onboarding our new members, in really creating just an automated, streamlined, focused way to integrate that new member seamlessly into the club. Because at the end of the day, retention is the most important thing when it comes to bringing in these new members.
Get Started
Ready to keep your prospects engaged, even on a waitlist? Learn more about MembersFirst and how gated content and website analytics can strengthen your membership pipeline.
Book a 1-1 consultation: See a demo and get a tailored recommendation for your club at jonasclub.com/schedule-a-demo
