calendar

At Customer Happiness and Customer Success teams are often asked about how to promote new members. However, very rarely are we asked by clients asking us about the best method to welcome newly acquired members. It sets an important precedent for engaging and welcoming newcomers to your group and creates a positive first impression. There are four main areas we have identified to ensure that the new members feel welcome and at home right from the start.

1. Welcome email, redirection page and a link

The majority of poor onboarding experiences I've seen for customers stems from the lack of instructions or information regarding what the customer must do first upon the initial sign-up.

I tell my clients to think that members who are new know nothing about how to navigate the program they've bought. We deal with this in a couple of diverse ways.

Designing a memorable redirect page which can either provide clear next steps or instructs a new member to check their inbox for a Welcome email that will answer any query a new member may need to know. (This sounds trivial, but most customers do not invest the time needed to do this.)

Notifying members when new content is made available, as well as reminders on how they can access that content.

In my experience, most situations where people stop auto-renewing immediately upon joining are caused by insufficient onboarding and the lack of guidance.

2. The preview of future content and benefits

Another strategy that's effective is sending previews of member content and other perks before they're released. The members have something to look forward to and  keep an eye on.

It is possible to do this by sending emails that target the newest members who have signed up within a recent timeframe (that the client can define).

3. Social engagement

I've advised one of my clients to give shoutouts to their newly joined members on social media. This has been impactful as new members are recognized and potential members see the social proof as being a positive thing. The result is win-win.

One way to achieve this is to ask new members to respond to the welcome email by providing their Instagram handle or Facebook URL to receive an acknowledgement. Some of our clients make use of a social proof tool named FOMO which is integrated with Stripe and creates pop-ups on their sites.

4. Help new members build equity

Inquiring new members about the type(s) of content they'd like to see instantly make them feel that they are an interest in the members. When members are asked for such input and then make the effort to reply with to that feedback, it can help to build confidence immediately. Again, this can all be handled over email by asking members to respond to the welcome email.

Conclusion

All that being said that, anything a client does to build an immediate personal connection with their members is always a driving factor for retention and opens the way to expanding future revenue. It makes it more likely that a member will be receptive to the concept of an upsell that will provide even greater worth later on.