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The Customer team for Customer Happiness and Customer Service are often asked about how to market to new members, but rarely do we hear members asking for the most effective method to welcome newly acquired members. This sets a great precedent in attracting and welcoming new members to your organization, and sets a great first impression. Here are four key points we've identified that will ensure that your new members feel comfortable and at home right from the start.

1. Welcome email and redirect page

A significant number of the poor onboarding experiences I've seen with customers is due to insufficient instruction or lack of communication around what the member must do first following signing up.

I always tell my customers to think that members who are new do not know how to navigate the program they've bought. The way we deal with this is two different ways by:

Creating a memorable redirect page, which either outlines clearly defined next steps, or asks members who are new to the site to open their mailer for an email welcoming them to join the club that is designed to address any questions a prospective member could have. (This may seem like a trivial thing, but most customers do not spend the time required to create this.)

Notifying members when new content is available along with reminding them of how to access that content.

My experience has shown that the majority of instances where members disable auto-renew right after 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 out previews of members' contents and other benefits before they're available. The members have something they're excited about and  to 'wait for'.

It is possible to do this by sending messages that are targeted at the most recent members who have signed up within the past few months (that the customer can specify).

3. Social engagement

I've advised some of my customers to give shoutouts to their new members via social media. It's been effective the new members receive recognition and future members perceive it as social proof. It's a win-win.

A simple way to accomplish this is to request visitors to answer the Welcome email with your Instagram handle , or even Facebook username to be eligible for an acknowledgement. Some of our clients utilize a social proof application called FOMO which integrates with Stripe and displays pop-ups on their websites.

4. Help new members build equity

Inquiring new members about the type(s) of content they want to see will immediately let them feel as having something to contribute to the group. If membership managers ask members for input from members and make the effort to reply with to that feedback, it can help to build confidence immediately. All of this could be accomplished via email by soliciting members to answer with a welcome email.

Conclusion

However the things that customers is able to do to create an immediate personal connection with their members is always an important factor in retention and provides a way of growing future revenue. It makes it more likely that the member will accept the idea of an upsell, to offer even more worth later on.