Onboarding New Members

The following post is based on a recent webinar I attended sponsored by NXUnite.

The session focused on sharing ideas for your new member onboarding process, based on seven questions they asked.

There are lots of great ideas listed below that you could implement into your onboarding process, in addition to what you're already doing.

1.  How have onboarding best practices changed over the past 5 years?
 

• More individual interactions.

• Elevating engagement – get feedback and be more intentional on finding out why the member joined.

• The process has been digitalized – hybrid, accommodate to meet your members where they are.

• Members have a voice in the organization and let them know that.

• Use the platforms your members are on to connect.

 
2.  What advice do you have for building an onboarding strategy?
 

• Membership and marketing departments should be part of the conversation on the new member experience.

• Be consistent with your messaging.

• Think about the user experience – make it easy for them to interact with you.  Again, make it easy!

• What are your value propositions?  Deliver that message with your communications plan.

• Don’t overload with too many messages/emails.  Maybe a 5 for 5 strategy?  5 emails with 5 messages in 5 weeks or months.

• Be consistent with your messaging from all parts of the organization.

• Don’t make assumptions, use data to find out what your members want and need.

 
3.  What to do when you want to update your strategy?
 

• Ask your colleagues what they are doing, you don’t have to have all the answers.

• Have you thought about having an onboarding committee?

• Ask your most active members how they became active.

• Think about the first experience your member has with your organization.

• One size does not fit all.

• Are you doing quarterly webinars for onboarding your new members?  Have some of your most active members be your speakers.

 
4.  What onboarding mistakes are people making?
 

• Not having a formal onboarding process.

• Not asking for feedback from your onboarding process.

• Don’t just talk to them but have a two-way conversation to engage your new members.

• Overloading your new members with too much information too fast.  And, not doing enough.  You need to find the right balance.

• Not having your board, staff and members make calls.

 
5.  What small changes can you do to make a big change in your onboarding process?
 

• Create an email series campaign that officially welcomes your new members.

• Ask the new members questions that you can use later for engagement.

• Describe the onboarding process to your new members and then deliver on that promise.

• Acknowledgements, let them know you appreciate them.

 
6.  People are busy, how to onboard successfully without taking up too much of their time?
 

• Make your onboarding process self-service.  Use different platforms that they can access with your messaging.

• Are you texting with your new members as a welcoming touch point?

• Be creative!

 
7.  What is the future of onboarding?
 

• Automation of the onboarding process and AI.

• Using online communities to engage with your new members.

• Make sure you are continuing to invest in resources to make the onboarding process productive – think retention!

 
Final thought - don’t be afraid to review your onboarding process.  There is no need to blow up your current processes, but you can add or delete new ideas and track how your new members are responding, on a regular basis, to get better results.
 
For more resources on onboarding go HERE.

Onboarding to Activation: Hook New Members Early, Reel Them in for a Lifetime

What a great discussion from the speakers, as well as the participants, who all deal in membership activities for their organizations.  The following comments are my notes from the session. 

Onboarding – while I’m sure you’re already doing many of these, I thought I’d put a list of what they suggested from a trade or professional association perspective.

Do’s

• Send them your new member kit via mail or email.
• Welcome call from the CEO, staff member of volunteer (one of your membership ambassadors).
• Ask why they’re joining in your application process or you could do a quick survey after they’ve joined to get to their motivation.
• When onboarding, focus on everything you have to offer that responds to the what, where and how they want to engage with you.
• Do a new member orientation every month for the new members.
• At the end of the day, make messages/communications personal (make a connection).
• Personal introductions to key staff members, outside your CEO, within your organization (i.e., policy experts, etc.). 

Don’ts

• Feel as if you have to do everything in-person when onboarding your new members.
• Communicate with all new members as if they’re all the same (i.e., segment them) and focus on their individual needs.

Activation – finding the right hook

• What is the number one member benefit they are interested in?
• Survey them at their six-month anniversary to deepen your ties.  It’s important to do this before the renewal cycle.
• They talked about serving the different staff levels of your members, many may want different things and you need to find out what that is (i.e., advocacy for CEO and education/networking for others)?

Onboarding to Activation

• During the Pandemic they talked about moving everything to digital communications, quarterly webinars, etc.
• It’s important to keep your members engaged during these times and sending mail was not the best option, at least at this time.
• Try some more informal meetings throughout the year for different segments of your membership (i.e., networking for those individuals).
• Moving forward they feel as if events will be a combination of hybrid options of in-person and online programs.

A main theme that came out for me is don’t give them too much all at once (think drinking water from a firehose).  You should have a three-month, six-month or nine-month campaign where you are communicating with them on their membership benefits (drinking water through a garden hose).  Obviously, they’ll be getting all your regular communications throughout the year on other membership activities and programs.

It’s important to be consistent in your onboarding process communications.  A first Monday of the month communication for your three, six or nine-month strategy should be tight, focused and based on features of membership.

Another thought was don’t ask for them to volunteer in these communications or don’t do a direct marketing campaign to sell them something else.  Give them time to engage with the free features of membership.  BTW, money is tight right now!

Some even have a rule of don’t sell them anything for the first six-months of their membership (i.e. a solicitation for a PAC contribution or Foundation donation if you have either).

Having a CMS or marketing tool that automates this process is key. For a resource on auto marketing from Hubspot go HERE.