Terms

The common discussion is about acquisition as a crucial part of every strategy for business. But Michael Gillespie, who leads Customer Success here at , has observed an important but overlooked element of membership business, which happens immediately after acquisition: onboarding.

"A large portion of members concentrate on selling the membership. But once the sale happens then the difficult part begins!" says Michael. Those first interactions with a new customer are more crucial in membership because it requires an element of human interaction you might not see in other industries.

What is it that you mean by be able to successfully board someone? "Onboarding is a term that may pertain to your membership. This could be a factor that triggers an step, like the sending of a welcome message - but certain members may stop at that point," Michael explains. He believes that the purpose of onboarding is to establish expectations: it let members know what they gain from joining your group - not just immediately but in the months to come.

"Onboarding is typically delivered as a passive experience that fails to provide a clear path for the members" Michael adds. It's better to assume that when you first touchpoint with your community, your member knows nothing regarding what they should do. A lack of information creates barriers that prevent new members from engaging with your community in the manner you would like them to.

Typical onboarding sequences

"In the average member, I enroll someone by sending them a welcome email, they receive up to five or three links to content I want users to be engaged with then I'm done" Michael says. "Members are overwhelmed or feel unserved."

Members who don't receive an onboarding roadmap will rarely engage and often churn. On the other hand, members who know what actions to make will remain engaged. "It's important to create the impression of a commitment from newly joined members" Michael says. "Tell your new members about the direction you're leading them through the membership journey."

"If you're a podcaster Do you wish for anyone to be a part of the particular podcast? Would you like them to engage with another kind of content? If you're not explaining to the members what you're doing as well as the reason you're taking them, they'll make their way through the membership in a vacuum," he explains.

For those who are creator of podcasts and your onboarding may motivate people to participate in a specific episode

This is the only event that causes the most turnover in the initial phases of joining. "You've got a window of time of just 24 hours. Is there an action you would like your customer to perform? Find out what you require from onboarding, and then how you engineer a process so that you provide an enjoyable experience to every member," he adds.

Eliminating barriers to provide the best journey

In the process of establishing your onboarding procedure first, you must consider what you want to achieve. "Do you desire a customer to move up to a higher tier that offers more advantages? Maybe you've already joined a monthly member, and you want to change them to a yearly member?" Michael asks.

This output could also be completed in completing a course or to read an article. "Most individuals, when it comes to starting their journey, don't lay out their intended outputs," he adds. "Make the list with between 3 and 1 desired outputs. Think about 'What might be the obstacles that be preventing you from achieving those outputs?' - there will always be barriers for those who are interested in your members."

Obstacles can be based on cost, time, or a combination of each of the three. "Folks do not have an unlimited amount of time. We're busy people; we are constantly distracted," Michael explains. "Is there a limit on price when it comes to upgrades? Or, if you have a comparable product on the marketplace, what makes the customer choose to keep your membership over other?"

The lack of knowledge can be a barrier. "Members do not usually get educated on 'where they need to be' within the membership. What's the objective? Where would they like to be after a year?" Michael asks. "The more quickly members grasp the upside, the quicker they'll be able to buy in and drive the output you're looking for." Engagement early on can help. One of the onboarding activities could be to ask members to respond to a welcome email, providing details about the issues they're experiencing.

Make sure you are clear: explain to your them what you would like during the process of onboarding - and what benefits they will see if they take action. "Don't be afraid to let your members know what your intent is. The members who have a high awareness of your intent are the ones who will act at the time you're asking them to. These members are going to stay around for the longest amount of time," Michael smiles.

Welcome videos

Emails to welcome members are straightforward and powerful onboarding tools. most new members will expect an email immediately following their registration. We think that you could go one step further: "You have a small window of opportunity to really surprise your new person who is a member," says Michael. "Memberships with a welcome video in their initial onboarding experience have a 50% reduced churn rate during the initial two months of the membership."

The welcome video will make you feel more human in your membership. "One of the biggest possibilities in the current state of joining is the human element," says Michael. "Automation and AI-generated content are excellent, however membership comes with an element of personalization of it. There is an inconsistency between what members think they're lacking in today's membership products, it's humans who interact."

Jay Klaus from Creator Science provides a wonderful onboarding video "In his email to welcome you the company includes a video that greets you. He tells you why you should do what he's done, and he lays out what you can expect during the next six months," Michael explains.

Jay Klaus from Creator Science provides a wonderful introduction video

This can be a fantastic method to get people engaged in the first stages of initial beginning the process of onboarding. For video, the engagement rate in an email for video content is 17 times greater than text hyperlinks. "Put on the front page whatever your intent is and be sure to humanize the message you're sending for your audience. Create it once, then deliver it a million times," he adds.

Roadmaps

An onboarding email needs to include a plan. Create expectations about how users access their benefits? Are there any specific times of these benefits, maybe every week? Where do they find those benefits - do they need to open their email inbox? Do they have to sign into their account?

"This is a frequently overlooked part of membership, but letting your member know precisely what you're delivering is essential in capping churn rates within the first two month," Michael explains. "Members should not be left to come up with a solution on their own."

We've seen a lot of them in recent times. "The onboarding email includes links to lots of great material, but the members become confused. If that's the case you'll end up having a member who's not engaged or with someone who's lost and isn't willing to put in an effort to check out your site to find out more about the subject," he continues.

It's not possible to put too much details in front of the user when it comes to an outline. It's easy to assume people know how to use your content but it's safer to think a member knows nothing. "Explicitly lay out everything for your members to see less frequent churning rate," Michael adds.

Upsells

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

Michael has noticed that new members are most likely to be receptive to sales within the first 24hrs to one week after they've purchased a membership. "It's easier to convert members within the first few days as they have all the required background information regarding the membership. Already, they're 'one foot in'," the author states.

Onboarding offers that are upsells have an entirely different position than the ones on your website. Most of the time, these deals don't show on your website - they're reserved for during onboarding. "Once an individual is enrolled part of your program, they feel a part of some kind of. Upsells are a great way to provide them with a better satisfaction by offering additional benefits," he says.

"Let's suppose you run an e-newsletter that costs $6 monthly, and you offer a subscriber the chance upgrade to a annual option that gets them lots more value for an progressively lower cost per month. People who have been educated at onboarding will be more likely to purchase an upsell on a yearly membership. We typically see conversion rates between 30 and 40% for these offers," Michael reports.

Furthermore, these members get all year to enjoy the content you provide. When members avail of these kinds of deals, the lifetime value of the members will be anywhere between four and five times higher than the member who wasn't responsive to the upsell.

"Think about enhancing your membership experience. You could do this by adding additional benefits that you can create an exclusive plan for," Michael adds. "Every member has a portion of members that are extremely active, and they will be more likely to be converted by an upsell during the first morning hours. However, you must put the offer in front of these members."

The text in the welcome email you receive could read"This week, only, we're offering an offer to new members to purchase an exclusive pass. You'll receive three personalized monthly membership coaching calls all year. There are two aspects to the offer It's limited in duration, and comes with an exact date when it expires; It also comes with a huge savings.

Increased sales reduce the chance of short-term churn. "Members who sign up for the 60 percent savings off of the cost of a year's membership in the first week of membership will be 80% more likely to be members two years after now," Michael reports. "The upsell only has to incrementally increase in price. However, statistically speaking, those who sign up for the upgrade are loyal members for a long time, which means more revenue for your business."

The upsell conversion rates in the onboarding series are between seven and 10 times greater than for first-time purchases. "If you're able to achieve a three percentage conversion rate on the regular membership, after you get these folks into your membership, you could anticipate a 30% per cent conversion," Michael explains. When you offer upsells at the onboarding process, your members can earn five times the revenue from your membership on average over those who don't convert on the upsell.

Pricing

In terms of pricing We would suggest that you do not exceed 50% with regard to the increment.

"For example, I'm currently a annual participant. I've signed up at $50 per year. I'm presented with an upsell offer that includes access to four or five different items for just $75 per year. That's a 50% jump but it's also 50% more income you've already earned from this customer within the beginning," Michael explains. Within the next couple of years of membership, this customer will generate five to seven times more revenues.

"Think about what you can add to the existing benefits to create a deeper experience. Upsells that convert well will result in a huge amount of income that are otherwise money left on the table. There will always be members within your organization who need for more experiences." Michael concludes.

One of the advantages of upsells is that they allow you to immediately find those folks at the opportune moment and then extract the value. It will be possible to keep that value over the coming months and years if that customer decides to make the switch.

We hope this helps you to improve your approach to onboarding. Please feel free to contact us on social media if you have any concerns. Best of luck!