Why 90% of Membership Programs Fail (And How to Build One That Doesn't) | Interstellar ft.Anuj Rathi

Membership and loyalty programs are one of the most powerful growth levers in consumer businesses, yet 90-95% of them fail. Most companies treat them as a feature bolted on top of the product. The ones that survive treat them as a strategic operating system built into the core of the business.In this episode of Interstellar, Rahul Chowdhri speaks with Anuj Rathi,  Founder, Profound Club. Over a career spanning Flipkart, Walmart, Swiggy and Cleartrip, Anuj has been at the centre of some of India's most defining consumer product moments, from early e-commerce to quick commerce, and from growth-at-all-costs to the harder, more nuanced work of retention.In this conversation, they go deep on what it actually takes to build a membership program that works; the right benefits, the right cohorts, the right payback horizon, and the strategic clarity that separates programs that scale from ones that quietly die.

Coming up in this episode-

00:00 - Coming Up

01:25 - Intro

03:05 - Why do 90-95% of membership programs fail?

06:56 - Types of Membership/Loyalty Program

13:40 - Inception of Swiggy Super

20:31 - How to define program pricing?

26:20 - Acquisition vs. Retention

30:18 - Structuring your program

33:04 - Annual Vs. Monthly Programs

36:42 - How should founders approach membership/loyalty programs?

42:30 - Anuj’s favourite program