6 tips to enhance the new member onboarding experience.

When professionals join your membership organization or start a new job, the onboarding process plays a critical role in keeping them engaged right from the beginning. It’s an opportunity for you to highlight what you offer new members, enabling them to be successful in their professions. This gets them excited, and, hopefully, inspires them to take an active role in your organization.

A great onboarding process goes beyond the traditional aspects on what needs to be covered during this stage of your member’s journey. Not only should you welcome new members to your organization, you should start providing them value, so they know their time and money aren’t going to waste.

Here are 6 best practices to include in your onboarding process for new association members.

1. Use email nurturing campaigns.If you know who has visited your association’s sign-up page, but hasn’t yet signed up, create an email nurturing campaign to address common questions potential new members might have or offer sign-up incentives to grab their attention.

2. Send a great “welcome” email to new members.Put yourself in a new member’s shoes—what information about your association is beneficial to know? Keep it simple, and just include the important stuff.

3. Create a “welcome” email series that explains your association and its benefits.Instead of including every possible bit of information in your new member welcome email, create multiple emails your new members will incrementally receive after they sign up. These emails can include information about your association, explanations of benefits, helpful tips or recent blogs—anything that adds value for your new members.

4. Use personalization as much as possible.Whether it’s in emails or on your website, personalization is a great way for your new members to feel connected to the community. This will set them up for greater engagement in the future.

5. Celebrate new members in your email newsletter. Celebrate your new members for joining. It’s a great way to welcome them into your community.

6. Help new members acclimate with tools or how-to videos.Again, put yourself in your new member’s shoes. What tools do they need to become familiar with? What pages on your website will be helpful to them? Make sure new members know where these resources are, so they can get the most out of their membership.

Remember, your onboarding process sets the tone for how you want your organization to be perceived by new members. And, once the onboarding process has happened, that doesn’t mean you should stop engaging with them. Keep up the momentum and come up with other innovative ways to keep them connected and make them feel valued.

But, don’t leave here empty-handed. There are plenty more ways to attract and retain your members. Download our ebook, “50 Ways to Boost Association Membership,” to get more tips!