It’s a new spot that just opened up around the corner. I’m sitting here with a normal size (8oz) Cappuccino, watching people walk in for the first time. You can tell who’s been here before and who hasn’t.

Some are greeted right away, shown where to order, and feel at ease. Others stand there for a few seconds, confused about where the line starts. You can see it on their faces, that “am I doing this right?” moment.

That little moment is exactly what onboarding feels like in a membership business.

Why onboarding matters more than marketing

Your marketing might convince someone to sign up, but onboarding is what convinces them to stay.

It’s where members decide if they made the right choice, if they trust you, and if what you offer will actually help them.

Good onboarding builds confidence. Bad onboarding builds doubt.

And the truth is, most of us underestimate how much this stage matters.

According to Cloud Coach, 75% of users abandon a product within the first week if they struggle during onboarding.

That’s how quickly people decide whether something is worth their time. If they hit friction early, they rarely come back.

What great onboarding actually looks like

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but every good onboarding flow includes three things:

1. Clarity: People should instantly know what to do first.
   • Use a simple checklist or short welcome video.
   • Spell out the first three steps they should take after signing up. 
2. Momentum: Guide them toward their first quick win.
   • What action shows that a member is “activated”?
   • For a course creator, maybe it’s watching the first lesson.
   • For a community, maybe it’s introducing themselves or commenting. 
3. Connection: Make it personal.
   • Send a short welcome email from a real person.
   • Or, do what Jay Clouse from Creator Science did early on: he met every new member for a 30-minute call.
   • Those calls helped him spot friction points and learn what success looked like for each person.

If you understand those first three moments, you can keep improving the path until more people reach that “aha” moment where they see value.

How to track your aha moment

Every business has one. The trick is figuring out what it is and then making sure every new member gets there as fast as possible.

Ask yourself:

• What action separates casual signups from paying members?
• How can I help people take that action faster?

Use tools like Mixpanel, Google Analytics, or even a simple spreadsheet to track when members complete that step. Then look at the patterns. Where are people dropping off? What small change could move them forward sooner?

Once you know that, you can improve the entire experience with data instead of guessing.

What we learned at MemberSpace

We recently simplified our own onboarding. We took out extra steps, reduced clutter, and focused on what actually matters, installing our little snippet of code on your website.

Our “aha moment” is very clear to us, it’s when you see the MemberSpace button live on your website. That’s when it clicks. You see how your content, pricing, and members connect in one place.

So we redesigned everything to help people get to that moment faster. And you can see the results after our first live week are huge. We’re seeing an 11.2-point increase in the percentage of new signups who install our JavaScript, representing a 29% relative increase in new signups who reach our “aha” moment. 🎉