Coworking Space Benefits Management: Add More Value to Workspace Membership

Coworking business today has changed its values, priorities and marketing strategies. You can't just offer a desk and a computer and expect that customers will stand in a line to book it. You need much more these days to grab people's attention. Proper management of the coworking space benefits can work as one of the attractions.

It goes without saying that furniture and hardware available at your coworking space must match the highest tech and comfort standards. But this is just a tip of an iceberg. Modern coworking spaces are sooner business & social centers than workspaces. You can find everything an entrepreneur might need there, including accountant services, legal consulting, business training, and even fitness classes.

People consider price, location, interior, and technology of your meeting rooms and workplaces. Yet one of the reasons why people go to the coworking space is its special atmosphere, friendly supportive community and of course membership perks.

If you want your guests to come back to your center every now and again, you need to demonstrate that being a member is beneficial. You can easily do it featuring cool things they could receive.

Build a solid coworking space membership benefit catalog to get more members and build a robust partner network. Read on to learn how to do it, what kind of benefits exist, how to organize them, allow members to gain access and other useful tips associated with coworking space membership benefits.

 

What Are Coworking Space Membership Benefits

What kind of members' perks do you use to attract customers to your coworking space? And what is the benefit of membership from your standpoint?

Traditionally, benefits for members of the coworking space are discounts, promo codes, or special offers that your members get exclusively from a third party partner. For example, an accounting company could offer a 20% service discount for members of one coworking space. Impact Hub, Your Alley, WeWork, andothercoworkinggiants — all provide exclusive benefits. Ultimately, benefits are intangible advantages of your coworking space that make members happier.

 

What Types of Coworking Space Membership Benefits Exist

We have already mentioned above that current coworking hubs are aimed at supporting the professional growth of their members. They are striving to create perfect conditions for that and provide multiple additional services to facilitate development.

"Transforming a traditional working man’s club into a vibrant community workspace is our story." — Stephen Carrick-Davies, the founder of Hatcham House project.

It will be natural to focus some coworking membership benefits on helping to achieve company goals. However, some of them may be just for fun, such as movie tickets or a free day at a yoga club.

 

Typically coworking space membership benefits fall in one of the following categories:

• Technology (AWS Activate, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, software outsourcing, dev tools).
• Growth (marketing service offers, sales tools, CRM, calling apps, SEO tools).
• Management (accounting service discounts, legal consultancy).
• Lifestyle (restaurant discounts, sports club perks, car rental, movie tickets, or just a free beer at a local pub).

These benefits are similar to fringe benefits offered by employers.

Sometimes, coworking spaces surprise their members with unexpected uncommon benefits, which surely plays to their favor.

Favorite Flowers

I’m used to coworking spaces offering unlimited coffee or tea but flowers were an unusual thing for me. I recently switched to another coworking space and one of the things you fill out in the application form is your favorite type of flowers.

It sounded peculiar for me being asked that at first but on my first day at the new coworking space, I did receive a white rose flower as I had indicated earlier. I thought it would be a one-off thing but it turns out that for each day that I go to the coworking space, upon booking two hours earlier, I receive my favorite flowers to kickstart my day. — Harriet Chan, the co-founder, and marketing director of CocoFinder.

Uncommon Interior

On a recent trip to Houston, I had the chance to try out a coworking space built inside a renovated church. To my mind most coworking spaces are the same—free coffee and tea, a hotdesk or rented space to work, blazing fast internet, and friendly (if busy) people around you.

Yet the interior of this coworking space gave me pause. Something about how different it looked from the pleasant corporate environment of other spaces made my day there feel different. I can't say that I got more done because of it, but I certainly wasn't so distracted that I did less than usual. For me, a coworking space is a change of pace and scenery from working from home or from one's regular office. Having such a unique premise to build a space inside definitely counts as a boon. — Nate Tsang, Founder & CEO at WallStreetZen

Unusual Functionalities

I'd like to tell you that the coworking space I use has some unusual functionalities past the usual free tea and coffee…

The coworking area also has a workshop, meaning you can book a slot to use a 3D printer or try your hand at laser cutting, which is not something I expected when I signed up! There are also weekly free workshops where you can try your hand at all things electronic or computer building. — Mark Hemming, Libra Translation

Meditation Rooms and Classes

When I first saw a meditation room at one of the coworking spaces that I have been to, it came as a surprise. The room had paintings of Buddha, scintillating candles, and fragrant flowers. I was amazed to see how coworking spaces have started understanding one of the most basic requirements of employees which is to have a peaceful mind. Although it is the basic responsibility of employers to focus on the mental health of their employees, coworking spaces have started putting their efforts in this direction too. They have also started offering meditation classes to help employees maintain the best of their mental health and exhibit maximum productivity at work.

Noise Canceling Headphones

Coworking spaces are meant to work. There it is mostly silent as people maintain the professional decorum. But, still, some coworking spaces offer noise-canceling headphones to help you experience absolute silence while working. This was surprising too as it gave me a glimpse of how much coworking spaces think about the comfort of their clients. It seemed as though organizations should learn employee retention lessons from coworking spaces.

Magazine Library

If you are like me, this is one of the best benefits that you can enjoy at a coworking space. I was so delighted when I found a magazine library at one of the coworking spaces. Believe me, the first thing that I did upon entering the coworking space was to ask the location of the library. What added to the surprise was the immensity of the library. This is the best benefit a voracious reader like me can get from a coworking space.

Women Community

Make Lemonade is a coworking space in Toronto, Canada. This is one of those coworking spaces that have surprised me the most. The mission of this coworking space is to empower women. This mission itself came as a surprise to me. Additionally, after an exhausting day at work, you can indulge in a relaxing lounge to relax and unwind. — Jessica Robinson from SpeakingNerd

Podcast & Meditation Rooms

I work in a co-working space for a health tech company in HUB Australia, here’s what they offer:

• Podcast media room: fully equipped room for photoshoot and podcast recording. Top-notch equipment and support. It was perfect for entrepreneurs or businesses that want to do high-level media with low cost and high professionalism. I was surprised because of the full set of backdrop, lighting, tents, microphones...
• Meditation room: it was a private room for meditation. I was expecting something like a pod or cocoon but a whole room to yourself was quite privileged and private.
• Wellness and Wine/food events: fortnightly wellness and wine/food events. I didn't expect that they serve us a cheese platter and different selections of good wine for free! — Claire Wu, Global Wellness Initiative

 

How to Build up Coworking Space Membership Benefits

Now, when you know what are coworking space membership benefits and what types of perks exist, you probably want to know how can you build up those member benefits. This isn't too hard. Just reach out to local businesses and ask if they offer any discounts for the new customers. Since you are giving them a free stream of consumers, they should be interested. Higher value benefits like AWS or HubSpot CRM could require more effort to qualify.

 

How to Organize Coworking Space Membership Benefits & Present Them to Members

When you have a killing list of workspace membership perks for your members, it's time to organize and present it.

Here are three points to consider if you want your members to take the most out of their status:

1. You need to place all benefits in a simple catalog that members can quickly discover.
2. To develop a way for members to request or send an application for the benefit of interest.
3. Think out a method of collecting applicants' information and forwarding it to benefit provider.

Luckily, you don't have to do all that manually. andcards has a dedicated coworking space membership benefits section that automates the whole process (see the pic above⬆️).

It allows you to compile all available membership benefits in a dedicated Benefits section of andcards:

You can assign any categories to your benefits. Members can search for benefits they are interested in using a full-text search, which is very convenient. Additionally, they can apply for a benefit with a link that opens a fun application form (Google Form, Type Form, etc.), which makes the process more engaging. Besides, you can customize CTA (call-to-action) button label and use the text that works better for your particular customers (e.g. "Apply," "Click," "Buy," "Get," whatever.)

The Benefits Catalog is very dynamic. When you add new items, they automatically go on top of the list. So, every time a member opens your curated catalog on their smartphone, they see the updated page with fresh featured offerings.

 

Additional Info Required to Create a Benefit

When creating a benefit on andcards coworking space app, you need to provide the following information:

• Title — a name of the benefit.
• Subtitle that appears below the title in the list.
• Description of the benefit, along with the application process.

• Category to which the benefit belongs.
• Language of email confirmation messages.
• Link to a website where members can learn more about the benefit.
• Visibility of a benefit to members or guests.
• Branches in which the benefit will be visible.
• Application allowance (once or unlimited).
• Application type (by email, or no application necessary).
• Provider email to send applicant information.
• Manager email to let your team responsible for benefits know who applied.
• Email confirmation message — an instruction for the applicant to be included in the confirmation email. Could contain the promo code, other guidance on how to take advantage of the benefit, or just "We'll get in touch." message.

 

How Members Can Apply for Benefits

When members open the benefit details page on their andcards mobile coworking application, they will see a big blue button to apply. In the application form, members indicate their contact phone number, email, as well as any comments. The phone number and email are auto-filled from a member's profile. If a member didn't type a phone number or email on their profile, they could manually type it on the benefits application form.

Upon successful application, a member, a benefit provider as well as a person in charge will receive an email confirmation. What's especially great is that it works with a white label. If your andcards white-label app is customized with your coworking space brand, all application emails will contain your logotype. Bingo!

As most of your customers are active smartphone users, the whole process works perfectly well via andcards mobile apps. So, it's safe to say that your coworking space members will always have benefits at their fingertips.

 

Analyze Coworking Space Membership Benefits and Give Them What They Want

One of the biggest advantages of an organized coworking space benefit application process is the ability to gather insights into which benefits people use the most. Use andcards Analytics solution with its interactive charts to view a detailed report on benefit applications. Analyze the report and get a deeper understanding of community members' aspirations. See the frequency at which this or that membership benefit is used. Know which categories are the most popular. Give members exactly what they want and need the most.

 

Over to You

The takeaway from everything said above is that coworking membership benefits can become a weighty argument during the process of sign up. Those corporate goodies don't cost you a cent, yet give you a vantage over the competitors and contribute to the best member experience at your space.

Would you like to try our coworking software with the possibility to build members' benefits catalog? Schedule a demo call where our expert will guide you through the process.