Members often join for a single reason – perhaps it is a
conference, or signing up for a course or certification, or wanting to join a
local component. Whatever the reason may
be, this single point of entry is the typical ‘organization perspective’ they
have when they come through the door. Of
course, our organizations offer much more than just one point of value – we
strive to create many opportunities for further development, networking, growth
and professional success all leading to the greater success of the field. Yet, what do we do most of the time? After the member joins they are automatically
added into the marketing stream and receive email after email with further
upsell, treating them as a customer first and a member second. If we want to see a rise in membership
engagement, in awareness of everything that is available to a member we must
reverse this prioritization. This starts
with how we welcome members.
Negotiation:
For the welcome stream to be effective, it is important to
prioritize what communications members receive shortly after joining. This is a unique time when they haven’t yet
start to receive the range of communications that the organization emails and when
there is a higher likelihood of getting their attention. It is often beneficial to have a strategic
discussion with the marketing arm of the organization on the possibility of
implementing a marketing ‘freeze’ for the first XX weeks after a member joins
(XX determined by how long your introduction period is – probably at least 4
weeks, and not more than 8). Exceptions
should be factored in such as:
1. Regular newsletters/e-journals/e-publications
that are member benefits and not sales.
2.
Hubs of member activity – such as an annual
conference. Limited marketing for these
events that are the not-to-miss programs of the year may still be worthwhile.
Lining Up the
Players:
As you open your spreadsheet, or draw your welcome calendar
with open slots, there are a number of questions to answer before you slot
anything in:
1.
What are
the key areas of value for your organization?
2.
How can you provide a taste/example of that
value for someone who has never experienced it before – that is more than just
descriptive copy?
3.
Are any of these pieces more foundational, and
as such should come earlier in a welcome stream rather than later?
Once you have the answers to these questions, it then drives
down to slotting them into a logical stream.
Here are some generic examples of what may be included:
-
Welcome
Letter w/ Membership Card – The first touch, identifying their new status
upgrade from customer to an investor in your organization, and as such, in
their career – a member.
o
Call to Action: Login, fill out the rest of your
demographic information so we can tailor the association opportunities to your
path
o
+1 idea: Can they access their membership card
at any time on your site, to print it out?
While the importance of having a ‘paper’ card continues to be debated,
having this as a simple, .pdf option is no cost to the organization once it is
initially created and allows the member to remember that they ‘belong’ at any
time
-
Personal
Greeting from CEO/President – A letter in a personal tone from an
organizational leader. This is a good
opportunity to do a brief
history/vision/state of the union of the organization in a narrative form.
o
Call to Action: Have a strategy summary page
where members can take a quick glance at current organization initiatives,
linking to the full strategic plan for those that are interested. This is a great chance to connect those that
are interested to where the organization is going and why!
o
+1 idea: Feedback link/email. If the leader who signs the greeting is
willing, include a link or email where any questions or feedback can be sent
from the new member. While replies may
not always come from the CEO/President, proactively seeking inquiries and
thoughts from day 1 of membership can help with long term retention and overall
process improvement.
-
Journal/Publication
– Is a key benefit of belonging exclusive access to a journal or
publication? If so create a directed invitation to
experience this live.
o
Call to Action: Have a ‘highlights from the
current issue’ communication that has an embedded link where the member can go
read any of the articles.
o
+1 idea: Do your members also have access to
past editions of the publication? Why
not prompt them to explore that valuable resource with some
content-curation. Share excerpts with
your top 5 most-read articles from the previous year, with links where to find
the full content. This gives new members
an easy taste of the best-of-the-best.
-
Website
Orientation - If you were a new member, would you be able to easily
navigate your website to find the high value points? Do you have 3-5 specific places which you
would like to showcase to new members? Run a live tour of your website for new
members.
o
Call to Action: Run a monthly ‘webinar’ where
you can screen share and walk new members through your website with high impact
points for them to remember.
o
+1 idea: Record a top run through of the
presentation and offer it as recorded content for those who can not attend the
live version
o
+2 idea: Invite a different member of your Board
of Directors to participate on each monthly call and let them welcome new
members and take a few questions. This
personal touch and connection to the organization’s leadership can quickly
build relationship bridges with the new member.
-
Learning
Opportunities – Do you house your learning opportunities in an online
learning platform? This time of orientation is your opportunity
to both demonstrate the wealth of value for members contained in that platform
as well as some quick tips on how to navigate its inner workings.
o
Call to action: A summary of what is on your
online learning platform with a link on how to get started. Quick steps to getting started can be helpful
here.
o
+1 idea: If you have free pieces of learning you
can offer, whether as a .pdf or interactive module, this will invite the new
member to experience a taste of your content, that type of learning you offer
and the pathway to discover more learning opportunities
-
Community
Connection – If you have smaller communities that connect professionals by
geography, specific industry affiliation, topical interest, etc (also known as
components), then you are faced with the opportunity of more targeted value for
your members and the challenge of getting them to ‘join’ additional
mini-societies.
o
Call to action: Have a letter of welcome go out
to new members from the Chair of one of your communities, keeping the
introductory copy similar but rotating the ‘sender.’ Within the letter have a link to a piece of
recorded content that a community has produced and/or a sample website for one
of your geographic communities to show the ‘why’ of getting involved.
o
+1 idea: If segmentation is not too difficult,
include a specific invitation to the next chapter/virtual event targeted
specifically to where the new member resides/demographic information.
-
Conference/Meeting
– For many organizations, their annual meeting is a central hub of learning,
networking and member growth. Often the
value is in the live experience – something that is only gained by
attending. Therefore, an introduction to
that meeting has to give an impression of that experience.
o
Call to action: Compile a brief ‘highlight
video’ of what happens at the conference.
Send a testimonial from a first time attendee on the impression they
had, and link to the video.
o
+1 idea: As a bonus, link to a piece of recorded
content (i.e. a keynote, general session, etc.) so that the new member also
gets a taste of the learning that they will find.
-
Career
Resources - Whether your professional is currently in the job hunt or is
simply looking to explore their personal career path, an introduction to how
you can help them with the next step, and the steps after that too is key.
o
Call to action: What are the top visited
resources your members view/use? Connect
your new member with that resource as an example of what they can find in the
career section of your site.
o
+1 idea: Has your job board directly helped your
members get that next position? Capture
a few of those stories, and weave that narrative into the introduction to your
career center.
There are of course other organization hubs that you can
build out here – certification focus, research, volunteering, etc. What you include in the welcome stream should
reflect the engagement priorities of the organization, and ideally should be
tied to those points of greatest value.
While the decision to join is often made because of a single
point of value entry (attending the conference, taking a class, a
certification, etc), the decision to renew is usually based on the value the
member finds in belonging in that first year.
A robust, vibrant welcome stream is one of the strongest investments an
organization can make in keeping its members.
