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Acquisition is often discussed as a crucial part of any business strategy. However, Michael Gillespie, who leads Customer Success here at , has noticed there's a critically neglected aspect of the Membership business that occurs immediately after acquisition: onboarding.

"A majority of people concentrate on selling the membership. But when the sale is completed it's the time when the tough phase begins!" says Michael. Those first interactions with new customers is more important in the membership since it involves an aspect of interaction with a human that you might not see in other fields.

What does it mean to onboard someone successfully? "Onboarding could be different to the membership you have. It could be something that triggers an event, for example an email to welcome members - or others may simply stop there," Michael explains. However, he feels that onboarding is meant to set the expectation. It lets members be aware of the benefits gained from joining the community, not only immediately, but also in the coming months.

"Onboarding is usually delivered as a passive experience that fails to establish a path to members," Michael adds. The best way to approach it is by assuming that at the first contact with your community, your member knows nothing about what to do. Insufficient information can create obstacles that hinder new members from connecting with your membership in the way you would like them to.

The typical onboarding process

"In an average membership I sign someone up and then send them a welcome email and they get between three and five hyperlinks to the content I would like users to be engaged with then I'm done" Michael says. "Members are overwhelmed or feel unserved."

If members don't get an onboarding plan will seldom engage and often churn. On the other hand those who are aware of the actions to make will remain engaged. "It's crucial to establish the impression of a commitment from newly joined members" Michael says. "Tell them where you are leading them through the journey to membership."

"If you're a podcaster, do you want anyone to be a part of the particular podcast? Do you want them to engage with another type of media? If you're not explaining to your members the direction you're taking them as well as the reason you're taking them, they're going to be making their way through your membership without any intention," he explains.

CVX7fG7wFAWbYtUj6dIn For those who are creator of podcasts and your onboarding may motivate people to participate in an episode in particular

This is the only event that drives the majority of members to leave in the beginning stage of membership. "You've been given an possibility of up to 24 hours. Is there an action you want your member to take? Work out what you need from onboarding, and then how you engineer a process so that you provide an optimal experience to each participant," he adds.

Removing barriers for the ideal journey

When designing your onboarding process, the key consideration is the desired outcome. "Do you wish for a new member to move up to a higher tier with additional benefits? Maybe you've already joined as a monthly customer, but you want to change them to a yearly member?" Michael asks.

This output could also be to complete a course or read a particular article. "Most folks aren't sure what they want to accomplish when onboarding, have not laid out intended outputs," he adds. "Make an outline of 3 and 1 intended outputs. Think about 'What might be the obstacles that be preventing you from achieving these outputs?' there will always be barriers for members engaging with your organization."

Obstacles can be based on time, price, competition, or a combination of each of the three. "Folks only have a limited amount of time. People are busy and have countless distractions," Michael explains. "Is there a cost barrier when it comes to upgrading your membership? Or, if you have a comparable product on the marketplace, what makes the customer choose to keep the membership instead of the other?"

Knowledge isn't the only barrier. "Members don't often get informed about where they are supposed to be' within the organization. What's the purpose? Where would they like to be after a calendar year?" Michael asks. "The faster members can grasp the benefits, the faster they'll buy into the process and drive the output that you'd like to see." Early engagement can help. One option for onboarding is for members to be asked to respond to a welcome email, including information about any challenges they're facing.

Make sure you are clear: explain to your the members what you expect to get out of the onboarding process and the benefits they can receive if they choose to participate. "Don't be afraid to let members be aware of what you are trying to accomplish. People who are in good understanding of your intentions are the ones who will act at the time you're asking them to. They will be around for the longest time." Michael smiles.

Welcome videos

The welcome emails are easy and efficient onboarding tools. many new members are expecting the email to arrive shortly after signing up. We think that you could go one step further: "You have a small window of opportunity to really impress your person who is a member," says Michael. "Memberships that include an introduction video during their introduction have a 50 percent reduction in churn rates during the first two months of joining."

A welcome video humanizes your membership. "One of the most exciting potentials in today's joining is the human element," says Michael. "Automation and AI-generated content are fantastic, but membership offers the added benefit of having a personal aspect to it. If there is a gap in what consumers think they're lacking in today's membership products, it's humans who interact."

Jay Klaus from Creator Science has a great video on how to get started "In the welcome email he sends to new employees it includes a short video that welcomes you. He gives you the reason you should do what he's done and then lays out what's to come in the coming six months," Michael explains.

Jay Klaus from Creator Science has a great video of the onboarding process.

This can be a fantastic opportunity to spark engagement in the initial stages of the onboarding process. For video, the click rate inside an email on video content is 17 times more than the text of hyperlinks. "Put on the front page whatever you're trying to accomplish and make it more human to the message you're sending to appeal to the people you're trying to reach. Build it once, deliver it over and over again," he adds.

Roadmaps

A welcome email should include a plan. Establish expectations: how do users access their benefits? Is there a cadence that these benefits are available, for instance every week? How do they access those benefits - do they need to open their email inbox? Do they have to sign into their account?

"This is a frequently ignored aspect of membership but informing your members the exact details of what you're offering is essential in capping churn rate during the initial 2 weeks," Michael explains. "Members aren't supposed to figure anything out on their own."

We've seen a lot of them recently. "The welcome email contains links to lots of great material, but the members become lost. When that happens you'll end up having members who aren't engaged and you're left with someone who's lost and doesn't want to make an effort to visit your site to find out more about the subject," he continues.

It's not possible to put too much details in front of a member in the form of the roadmap. It's tempting to think that members know how to consume the content, but it's better to think a member knows nothing. "Explicitly provide everything to your customers as you'll notice a lower churn rate," Michael adds.

Upsells

Most people don't think about the possibility of selling right after registering a new member. If done properly, it can be a significant element of onboarding. It are able to secure significantly more profits.

Michael has noted that newly-enrolled members are the most likely to respond to upsells within the first 24 hours up to one week after purchasing the membership. "It's much easier to convert members within the first couple of days since they already have the necessary context around the membership. Already, they're 'one foot in'," he states.

Onboarding offers that are upsells have distinct positioning from those found on your website. Most of the time, these deals don't appear on your site - they're only available exclusively for the onboarding process. "Once an individual is enrolled an active member, they feel a part of something. Upsells are a great way to provide them with a better experience through additional benefits," he states.

"Let's imagine you've got a paid newsletter that's $6 per month, and you give someone the opportunity to upgrade to a year-long option that gets them lots of value at the same price, but for a month-long basis. Members that are educated enough upon onboarding are more likely to purchase an upsell on a yearly membership. The typical conversion rate is between 30 and 40% for these offers," Michael reports.

Additionally, they get the entire year to enjoy your content. For members who take advantage of these types of offers The lifetime value of the members will be anywhere about four or five times more than those who did not respond to the offer.

"Think about deepening your experience as a member. It could be with additional benefits that you can make an exclusive membership plan," Michael adds. "Every member has a portion of members that are extremely involved, and these members will be more likely to be converted by an upsell in the early days. However, you must put your offer in front of the members."

The message in your welcome mail could read"This week, only, we're offering the opportunity to all new members to buy a VIP membership. The offer includes three personal monthly membership coaching calls all year. There are two aspects to the offer: it's limited, with a clear date of when it expires; as well as it comes with a substantial discount.

The possibility of upselling reduces the likelihood of churn in the near future. "Members who sign up for the 60 percent savings off of the cost of a year's membership in the first week after joining will be 80% more likely to be an active member in two years' time from now," Michael reports. "The upsell only has to be incrementally higher in price. The majority of members who upgrade will remain long-term members, and that will mean more income for your business."

The conversion rates of upsells within the onboarding series can be between seven and 10 times greater than those for purchases made on the first occasion. "If you're able to achieve a three percentage conversion rate on the regular membership, after you've enrolled these members into the program, you may expect a 30% conversion rate," Michael explains. With upsells during onboarding, members will generate five times more revenue for your membership as compared to those who do not convert on the upsell.

Pricing

In terms of pricing from a pricing perspective, we recommend that you do not exceed 50% in relation to the difference in increments.

"For example, I'm a annual membership. I've signed up for $50 per year. I'm presented with an offer to upsell that gives me access to five or four different items for just $75 per year. This is a jump of 50% however, it's a 50% increase in money you've earned already from that customer in the first year," Michael explains. In the coming years of membership, this customer will generate five to seven times more revenues.

"Think about what you can tack on to existing benefits to create a deeper experience. Upsells that convert well will generate amazing amounts of revenue that are otherwise money left on the table. You will have members in your membership that have a longing for more," Michael concludes.

The best part about selling upsells is that it allows the user to instantly locate those folks at the opportune date and take that benefit. You'll get to maintain that value over the coming months and years if that person decides to switch.

We hope that this will help with your onboarding strategies. Feel free to reach out via social media channels if there are any issues. Good luck!