New Member Onboarding (Part 2)
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by Deirdre Reid
How’s your first-year member retention rate? Not that great? You’re not alone. First year retention is a challenge for most associations, maybe because they spend much more money on acquiring new members than on guiding them into the association. Last week I suggested several onboarding ideas, beginning with the application and welcome touches. The next touch: orientation.
New approaches to orientation
Many associations still run orientations the way the Pennsylvania School Boards Association used to: “We talked at new members — the ‘It’s all about us’ approach.”
Turn the focus around and make the new member reception (more appealing than ‘orientation’) about them. Hold it before an event to encourage participation. Allow plenty of discussion time. Ask veteran members to learn more about the new members, answer questions, show them around the website and advise them on membership paths.
Invite new vendor members to a marketing workshop where a veteran member panel explains how to market and develop business within the association. Send tips on association networking and relationship-building to all new vendor members.
Other orientation approaches:
Dedicate a webpage to new member resources that’s easy to find and doesn’t require logging in.
Include:
The idea of adding a newsletter to your workload may seem daunting, but with a good editorial calendar and cooperation from others, it might be feasible. Do four or six issues a year. Use regular features that can be updated and repeated year after year:
A few weeks after the first welcome touch, arrange for a volunteer to contact the new member again to answer questions; walk them through the website so they know where to find information about volunteering (ad-hoc and committee service), events, knowledge resources and staff contacts; and suggest a few ad-hoc volunteer opportunities based on their interests and commitment preference. As Jeffrey Cufaude suggests, start expecting 100% of your members to volunteer and maybe they will.
Every three months, arrange for a volunteer to make another call or send a personalized email to check in with the new member.
Provide a first-year member badge at events – a conversation icebreaker. Ask volunteers to spend 20 minutes at the registration table to greet new members and introduce them around. If you have an online community, arrange for a photographer to take free headshots for first-year members.
What does it take?
Calls, emails, membership and marketing coaches, event greeters – you’ll need lots of ad-hoc volunteers to pull this off — members who commit an hour, maybe two, a month. Match them with peers: vendor with vendor, senior management with senior management, young professional with young professional.
Your AMS is a powerful retention tool as long as everyone follows business rules. Automate and integrate it as much as possible to keep track of application and welcome survey information, onboarding touches, event attendance and volunteering participation. At-risk reports will show which new members haven’t participated or been touched; don’t let six months go by before doing something about that!
You also need staff buy-in, especially those on the front lines. Make sure they understand the impact and importance of following business rules and handling first-year members with TLC.
Just like members, staff will develop new membership habits – scouting for upcoming ad-hoc volunteer opportunities and repurposing content for the new member webpage or newsletter. These habits take time, but the pay-off is worth it: higher first-year member retention rates, bigger volunteer corps and satisfied engaged members who spread the word about your association.
How does your association onboard new members?
Deirdre Reid, CAE is a freelance writer who wishes all associations offered more ad-hoc volunteering opportunities.
New approaches to orientation
Many associations still run orientations the way the Pennsylvania School Boards Association used to: “We talked at new members — the ‘It’s all about us’ approach.”
Turn the focus around and make the new member reception (more appealing than ‘orientation’) about them. Hold it before an event to encourage participation. Allow plenty of discussion time. Ask veteran members to learn more about the new members, answer questions, show them around the website and advise them on membership paths.
Invite new vendor members to a marketing workshop where a veteran member panel explains how to market and develop business within the association. Send tips on association networking and relationship-building to all new vendor members.
Other orientation approaches:
- Online orientation videos
- Monthly orientation webinars with archives on-demand
- Google Plus Hangouts
- Video or web chats
Dedicate a webpage to new member resources that’s easy to find and doesn’t require logging in.
Include:
- Frequently asked questions
- Upcoming ad-hoc volunteer opportunities
- Upcoming events
- Orientation video or webinar
- Instructions on how to subscribe/unsubscribe to publications
- Social media links with basic how-to information
- Glossary – demystify association lingo and abbreviations, explain what each of the committees and departments do
The idea of adding a newsletter to your workload may seem daunting, but with a good editorial calendar and cooperation from others, it might be feasible. Do four or six issues a year. Use regular features that can be updated and repeated year after year:
- A “hot” legislative or regulatory issue and how they can help
- Upcoming ad-hoc volunteer opportunities
- Featured member benefit
- Introduction to a governance group — show how the association operates and ways to get more involved
- Recap of a past conference or educational presentation
- Upcoming events
- Snippets of a lively online community discussion or Twitter chat
- A section of your association glossary, for example, everything beginning with the letters A, B and C
- Introduction to a social media tool
- Answers to recent new member questions
- A promo code for an upcoming event or store purchase
A few weeks after the first welcome touch, arrange for a volunteer to contact the new member again to answer questions; walk them through the website so they know where to find information about volunteering (ad-hoc and committee service), events, knowledge resources and staff contacts; and suggest a few ad-hoc volunteer opportunities based on their interests and commitment preference. As Jeffrey Cufaude suggests, start expecting 100% of your members to volunteer and maybe they will.
Every three months, arrange for a volunteer to make another call or send a personalized email to check in with the new member.
Provide a first-year member badge at events – a conversation icebreaker. Ask volunteers to spend 20 minutes at the registration table to greet new members and introduce them around. If you have an online community, arrange for a photographer to take free headshots for first-year members.
What does it take?
Calls, emails, membership and marketing coaches, event greeters – you’ll need lots of ad-hoc volunteers to pull this off — members who commit an hour, maybe two, a month. Match them with peers: vendor with vendor, senior management with senior management, young professional with young professional.
Your AMS is a powerful retention tool as long as everyone follows business rules. Automate and integrate it as much as possible to keep track of application and welcome survey information, onboarding touches, event attendance and volunteering participation. At-risk reports will show which new members haven’t participated or been touched; don’t let six months go by before doing something about that!
You also need staff buy-in, especially those on the front lines. Make sure they understand the impact and importance of following business rules and handling first-year members with TLC.
Just like members, staff will develop new membership habits – scouting for upcoming ad-hoc volunteer opportunities and repurposing content for the new member webpage or newsletter. These habits take time, but the pay-off is worth it: higher first-year member retention rates, bigger volunteer corps and satisfied engaged members who spread the word about your association.
How does your association onboard new members?
Deirdre Reid, CAE is a freelance writer who wishes all associations offered more ad-hoc volunteering opportunities.
Comments for New Member Onboarding (Part 2)
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Deirdre Reid
Deirdre is a freelance writer, blogger and copywriter. The association community remains her professional home after spending ten years at national and state associations overseeing membership, vendor programs, marketing, publications, chapter relations and more. Away from her laptop, you can find her hiking, doing yoga, cooking new recipes, volunteering at the history museum, or relaxing in a comfy chair with a good book and glass of wine or craft beer.
Comments (2)
Bren Cueni
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I am new staff person & put in charge of new member onboarding. I like your idea of a new member landing page!
Great article!!
Reply
Deirdre Reid
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I’m glad it helps. Onboarding is so critical and often forgotten after the recruitment push.
Reply