Module 5: Managing Your Membership
Build an effective onboarding process
To help your customers get the most of your membership, it’s helpful to have a thoughtfully designed onboarding process that orients new customers to your product — both all it has to offer, and (most importantly!) where to start.
Without an onboarding process, new members may enter your membership without direction, potentially disoriented and confused. And, confused or overwhelmed members are more likely to cancel.
Onboarding is one of the most important stages in the member lifecycle, so it’s important to dedicate effort to designing (as well as continuously improving) this process.
✨ Don’t worry if you’ve already launched your first product without a dedicated onboarding process. It’s a finishing touch you can work on adding in now!
Let’s take a look at how you can build an onboarding process that will show your new members the ropes and increase the benefit they get from your membership.
Choose your type of onboarding process
The first step to a successful membership onboarding process is to choose an onboarding method. There are various ways you can onboard your new members. Many people use email, but you can also use interactive site tours, videos, explanation pages, or a combination thereof!
Onboarding emails
Email onboarding is a common way to onboard new members. Its popularity may stem from it being relatively simple to set up. You can use an email marketing service like MailChimp or ConvertKit to set up an automated email series. Once a new member is added, they will immediately begin receiving your onboarding emails.
If you use a membership platform like MemberSpace to run your membership business, you can automatically add new members to your onboarding flow after they sign up for your membership. Using Zapier, MemberSpace makes it possible to seamlessly add members to email lists in tools like Mailchimp and ConvertKit without adding any additional steps to your workload.
One advantage to email onboarding is that it gives you the ability to space out (or “drip”) emails. This delay can help members digest the onboarding process slowly, which can save you from overwhelming them with too much information.
However, email onboarding alone isn’t without disadvantages. If members want to get started right away, waiting around for the next email in the series may be limiting. And, inboxes are busy, which means members may miss or disregard your emails, and miss out on important information.
Because of this, it’s often a good idea to combine onboarding methods. The email series can offer tidbits of onboarding information and reminders, while another onboarding method, like a video or an explanation page, allows new members to jump right in.
Onboarding pages
You can also utilize a “welcome” or onboarding page as part of your onboarding process.
An onboarding page is just a webpage that holds all of the onboarding material. Think of it as a list of resources or tutorials to help the user navigate your offering. It’s a great option to pair with the email onboarding method. Plus, existing members can also refer back to this page for information.
Your onboarding page will typically be a protected page within your membership. For example, this course’s onboarding page is memberspace.com/courses/membershipmax/welcome.
Once someone joins your membership, you can have them automatically redirected to your onboarding page so there isn’t any confusion about what to do next.
And, with MemberSpace, your onboarding page can be different from your login page — so new members are shown the onboarding page after signup, but returning members are shown another page after login.
Onboarding videos
Videos are an excellent way to introduce new customers to your membership offering. While email and page onboarding methods can make use of screenshots, videos can show members where and how to navigate your site.
Videos are also less overwhelming than an entire page of text, so they can be a great alternative to the onboarding page. However, video creation processes can be time-consuming, so be prepared to sink some time into it.
Interactive onboarding
Interactive onboarding is an effective method for teaching users how to use your offering. However, it requires more technical set-up and know-how, so is a more advanced option you may consider down the road.
Interactive onboarding forces the new member to complete certain steps around your site before allowing them to explore. This is usually done with site overlays that can point out important aspects of your website and give quick snippets of information.
This method is useful because it physically shows the member where everything is. It also forces members to pay attention to it (if they want the freedom to explore your site). These interactive overlays are prone to using small callouts, so the written text is often easy-to-digest snippets, which can help keep members from being overwhelmed.
Onboarding content
Once you’ve chosen your onboarding method(s), you’ll need to determine what essential content you should include. Ask yourself: What information might a new customer need if they are entirely new to this membership and don’t know where to begin?
We’ve added some common elements to highlight during the onboarding process below. While not an exhaustive list, these items are commonly included.
Account information
Make sure you show your new members how to set up their membership profile and where to go to access their account settings, billing details, etc.
Clarify the transformation
Be very clear upfront about the transformation you’re helping customers achieve and the steps they’ll need to take to get there.
Content
You should also direct your members to your content, ideally an introductory piece or one of your most popular pieces. You want to get them involved and interested in the content right away so that they keep coming back for more.
Membership features
If you have any essential membership features, make sure you point them out. This can be anything from your membership community to a feedback survey. If there is anything you would like members to know about or investigate, point it out — especially features that might not be immediately obvious.
Best practices for a great member onboarding process
So, you now have an onboarding method and some items you want to include. Great! Now, how do you put together these elements without falling into common pitfalls, like information overload or confusion?
Troubleshoot
This might be a no-brainer, but make sure you test and troubleshoot your onboarding process before sending new customers through it.
MemberSpace makes it easy to test your member experience. By creating a free plan or using a 100% off coupon, you can sign up for your own membership and walk through the exact process your members will take when joining.
Make things clear
Make things absolutely, sparkling clear to your members. Confusion breeds discontent and, ultimately, cancelations. So you want to make sure customers know what is going on (and what is needed from them) at all times.
But this is easier said than done. So where do you start?
Consider your audience
Communication can be tricky, especially since customers can come from all walks of life and have different experiences with technology. Some people may be able to figure out how to utilize your membership site quickly, while others may not know where to begin.
We recommend you consider the understanding level of your average user. For example, if you have a membership that targets grade school teachers, you may want to include more hand-holding than you would if for an audience of software engineers.
Choose your words
When clarity is critical, make sure that you choose your words carefully. This especially holds true if you are using an onboarding method that relies heavily on written word.
It’s easy to write something. It’s harder to write something that everyone will understand.
After you have written some content, a good practice is to leave it for a period of time and focus on something unrelated. After a few hours or days, return and reread it. Bonus points if you read it out loud. By rereading, you’ll be able to pick out problem passages and potentially confusing portions you may not have noticed before.
While not a fun process, it can significantly increase the clarity of your work, which will help your new members in the long run.
Get members involved
During your onboarding process, ask for member feedback! This is one surefire way to get members’ unabashed opinions while the process is still fresh in their minds.
While it can be terrifying (and even a little demoralizing) to get feedback from your members, trust us — it’s worth the pain. Armed with real customer feedback, you will be able to tackle any problem spots in your onboarding process and turn it into the onboarding experience your members want and need.
Now, keep in mind that not every piece of feedback will be a gem. You may even receive conflicting requests. When this happens, use your best judgment. When not sure, get a second opinion or wait for more feedback. It’s not a cure-all to onboarding problems, but it can definitely help give you ideas for improvement.
Establish your membership’s value
People like to feel good about their purchases, so the onboarding process is an excellent opportunity to make people feel like they are getting a terrific return for their investment.
You can do this by highlighting all the things they are getting, and how those features will help them achieve their transformational goal. It doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out process either. It can be a simple checklist that makes it look like they just got a bargain. Only X a month for all this content? What a great deal!
After it’s built
Building an effective member onboarding process doesn’t stop after it’s been created. You should keep an eye on it as your membership grows. If you add new features or make site changes, be sure to check back and make sure it’s up to date.
If you implemented a feedback feature in the process, check the feedback occasionally, and look for trends. If you have received a lot of complaints about a specific portion of the process, you may want to think about updating it.
Investing in the work to create a stellar onboarding experience for your members can save you time (and members!) in the long run.