Terms

It's common to discuss acquisition as an essential element of every business plan. But Michael Gillespie, who leads Customer Success here at , has noticed there's a critically neglected aspect of the membership business, which happens immediately after acquisition: uponboarding.

"A large portion of members focus on the sale of the membership. However, after the sale has been made then the difficult phase commences!" says Michael. Initial interactions with a new customer are more crucial in membership because it requires an aspect of interaction with a human that you aren't likely to see in other industries.

What is it that you mean by be able to successfully board someone? "Onboarding may be specific to the membership you have. This could be a factor that triggers an event, for example a welcome email - and certain members may stop at that point," Michael explains. However, he feels that onboarding is meant to set expectations: it let the new member understand the benefits they will gain by joining your community - not only immediately, but also in the following months.

"Onboarding is typically delivered as an inactive experience, which fails to provide a clear path for the members" Michael adds. The best way to approach it is by assuming that when you first contact with your community, your member knows nothing regarding what they should do. Lack of knowledge creates obstacles that hinder the new member from engaging members in the manner they want to.

Common onboarding sequences

"In an average membership, I register someone as a member, I send that person an invitation email, they receive up to five or three hyperlinks to the content I would like users to be engaged with then I'm done" Michael says. "Members find themselves overwhelmed or unserved."

If members don't get an onboarding guideline will not be engaged and will often turn. However members who understand the actions to make will remain engaged. "It's essential to build the impression of a commitment from new members," Michael says. "Tell the new members where you're taking them on the journey of joining."

"If you're a producer Do you wish for someone to engage with one particular show? Are you hoping to get users to interact with another form of content? If you're not able to explain to the members what you're doing and, more importantly, why you're taking them, they're going to be making an effort to navigate through the members in a vacuum," he explains.

For those who are producer Your onboarding could inspire people to listen to the particular episode

This is the single event that causes the most churn in the early stages of membership. "You've got a window of possibility of up to one day. Is there an action you would like your customer to do? Determine what you want to get out of the process and how you engineer a process so that you provide an enjoyable experience to every participant," he adds.

Remove barriers to ensure the perfect onboarding experience

When designing your onboarding process first, you must consider what you want to achieve. "Do you wish for a new member to upgrade to a tier with more advantages? Or maybe you have onboarded as a monthly customer, but you're looking to change into a yearly membership?" Michael asks.

It could include completing a class or to read an article. "Most individuals in the process of starting their journey, don't lay out intended outputs," he adds. "Make an outline of 3 and 1 intended outputs. Think about 'What are the barriers that may hinder the realization of these outputs?' there are always barriers to people engaging with your membership."

Barriers could include cost, time, or a combination of the three. "Folks only have a limited quantity of time. We're busy people; we have many distractions" Michael explains. "Is there a price barrier for upgrades? Or, if there's an equivalent product available in the market, what's making this member choose the membership instead of the other?"

Even knowledge could be a barrier. "Members don't often get informed about where they are supposed to be' as part of the organization. What's the purpose? Where do they want to be after one year?" Michael asks. "The faster members can grasp the benefits, the faster they'll buy into the process and help you achieve the results that you'd like to see." Engagement early on could be helpful: an option for onboarding is asking members to reply to a welcome email, including information about any challenges they're facing.

Transparency: inform the members what you expect from the onboarding process - and what benefits they will receive if they choose to participate. "Don't feel bad about letting members be aware of what you are trying to accomplish. People who are in high awareness of your intent are the ones who will act when you need them to. They will remain for the longest time," Michael smiles.

Welcome videos

Welcome emails are simple and powerful onboarding tools. the majority of new members expect the email to arrive shortly when they sign up. But at we think you can go one better: "You have a small chance to wow that customer," says Michael. "Memberships which include an introduction video during their initial onboarding experience have a 50% reduced churn rate during the initial two months of membership."

Welcome videos can enhance your membership. "One of the greatest possibilities in the current state of the world of membership is interaction with humans," says Michael. "Automation and AI-generated content is fantastic, but membership offers the added benefit of having a personal aspect that is unique to it. If there is an inconsistency between what members believe they're lacking today in membership products, it's human contact."

Jay Klaus from Creator Science provides a wonderful video on how to get started "In his welcome email it includes a short video that will be welcoming you. He gives you the reason he's doing what he's doing, and he lays out what you can expect during the next six months," Michael explains.

Jay Klaus from Creator Science has a great introduction video

This is a great way to ignite engagement during the first stages of initial onboarding. For video, the percentage of clicks with video content is seventeen times greater than text hyperlinks. "Put your message in the forefront, whatever your intent is and be sure to humanize the message you're sending to your target audience. Build it once, deliver it many times over," he adds.

Roadmaps

The onboarding email must include a plan. Create expectations about how users access their benefits? Is there a cadence for those benefits, perhaps each week? How do they access those benefits? Do they have to check their email? Do they have to sign into their account?

"This is an easily ignored aspect of membership but informing your members exactly what's being offered is crucial to limit the rate of churn during the initial 2 month," Michael explains. "Members shouldn't be left to figure anything out on their own."

There have been plenty of instances lately. "The welcome email contains the links to tons of wonderful material, but the members become lost. In the event of this you'll end up having an unengaged member, or you end up with a member who's confused and isn't willing to put in an effort to check out your site to find out more about the subject," the author continues.

It's not possible to put too much details in front of a member in the form of the roadmap. It's common to believe that your users are aware of how they can consume your material, however it's more secure to think a member knows nothing. "Explicitly provide everything to your users as you'll notice a lower churn rate," Michael adds.

Upsells

Many people do not think of upselling immediately after signing up an new client. If done properly, it can be a significant part of onboarding and you can lock in significantly higher revenues.

Michael has observed that new members are most likely to be receptive to sales within the first 24 hours to one week after they've purchased a membership. "It's simpler to convert a member within the first couple of days since they have all the required background information regarding the membership. They're already 'one foot in'," He states.

Offers for upsells within onboarding are given an entirely different position than the ones on your website. Most of the time, these deals don't display on your website as they're only available exclusively for during onboarding. "Once an individual is enrolled an active member you feel like they're part of an organization. It's a good idea to offer upsells to provide them with a better satisfaction by offering additional benefits," He adds.

"Let's say you have the option of a paid monthly newsletter, which costs $ 6 per month. You offer a subscriber the chance to upgrade to a year-long option which offers of value at an incrementally smaller price for a month-long basis. Members that are educated enough at onboarding will be more likely to purchase an upsell on a yearly membership. There are typically conversion rates that range from 30-40 percent for these deals," Michael reports.

Additionally, they get all year to use your contents. For members who take advantage of these kinds of deals their lifetime value for those members is approximately four to five times more than a member who didn't respond to the offer.

"Think about enhancing your membership experience. It could be with additional benefits that you can develop a special plan," Michael adds. "Every membership includes a section of customers who are active, and they will be more likely to buy an offer in the initial days. You must however, present the offer in front of the members."

The message in the welcome email you receive could read something like: 'This week only, we're making an offer to new members to purchase a VIP membership. The offer includes three personal membership coaching calls per month throughout the year. There are two features to this deal that are: it's limited and has a clear date of the day it will expire; It also comes with a huge saving.

The possibility of upselling reduces the likelihood of short-term churn. "Members who secure such a 60% off the cost of an annual membership in the first week after joining are eighty percent more likely to remain a member two years from now," Michael reports. "The increase in price only needs to incrementally increase in price. However, statistically speaking, those who sign up for the upgrade are long-term customers, which will mean more income for your company."

The conversion rates of upsells in the onboarding series are seven to 10 times higher than those for purchases made on the first occasion. "If you have a 3 percent conversion rate for your current membership, when you've enrolled these members into the program, you may expect a 30% conversion rate," Michael explains. When you offer upsells at onboarding, members will generate five times more money for your membership on average than someone who does not convert on the upsell.

Pricing

From a pricing standpoint We would suggest not exceeding 50% when it comes to the difference in increments.

"For example, I'm currently a year-round member. I've joined for $50 a year. I'm greeted with an offer to upsell that gives me access to four or five different products for $75 per year. This is a jump of 50% however, it's a 50% increase in money you've earned already from the customer during the first year," Michael explains. Within the next couple of years of membership, this member is going to generate five to seven times more income.

"Think about the ways you can tack on to existing benefits to provide a more satisfying experience. Effective upsells can bring in huge amounts of money that would otherwise go on the table. You will have members in your organization who need for more experiences." Michael concludes.

One of the advantages of upsells is that they allow the user to instantly locate those individuals at the appropriate date and take that benefit. You'll get to maintain those gains over the coming years and months if the customer decides to make the switch.

We hope that this will help in your strategies for onboarding. Feel free to reach out to us on social media should you have any questions. Good luck!