Amazon has 22 benefits - they introduce you to a few at a time through weekly or monthly emails. I'm a member and I've personally experienced these onboarding emails. That's how I learned about e-books, prime music, etc.
I recently attended a session led by Larry Guthrie and Leslie Whittet, both from the Association for Corporate Growth where they talked about how to market the benefits of your organization a little bit at a time with your members.
If you're an Amazon customer you're familiar with their monthly email that talks about a specific benefit or two. What they are doing is putting their benefits in bite size messages.
They spent a good amount of time discussing the difference of onboarding versus an orientation?
Onboarding improves retention rates - period! An orientation is just the beginning of a true onboarding process. The onboarding process could be the first 90 day period of your new members interaction with you.
This is where drip marketing comes into play. You communicate with them on a regular basis over this 90 day period by introducing the different benefits of your organization. You might want to communicate on a biweekly basis.
The value proposition is a major part of your onboarding process. Advocacy, education, networking are benefits that you are providing your members, are you doing a good job of communicating those benefits? Your communications should always be member focused not chamber focused.
Maybe your onboarding (90-days) communications might be:
- Welcome kit
- Communication on an advocacy effort you're working on with a link with more information
- Communication on how to participate in your next networking event
- Communication on a couple of benefits that they might not be aware of
Your goal is to have your members "learn it and use it!"
Drip marketing is showcasing your member benefits in your communications in a strategically planned out process.
I also think it's important that in these communications you are not asking for more money. Remember, they just paid you a sum of money to join.
Think of drip marketing as a guided tour of your chamber. You're breaking up your value proposition into small digestible bites of information. Make your communications clean and concise.
Biweekly emails focusing on a different set of benefits is a plan worth considering.
Once you've finished your 90-day onboarding with new members you might want to check in with them at the 6-month interval. Remember, at the 9-month interval you'll be sending your first auto-invoice. That three-month window before an invoice is sent will be a great time to fix any problems from the information you might get at that 6 month check-up.
Good luck!
