New Member Onboarding Campaign Guide

New Member Onboarding campaigns help associations engage with new (or even renewing!) members all year round. While research shows that the 3-3-6 method is the best approach (three emails the first week, once weekly for the next three weeks, and then monthly for six more months), you can make the campaign cadence your own.

We encourage you to mix up the check-in questions to get to know your members and engage them dynamically. Always keep the member in the forefront of your mind: what are they getting out of engaging with your check-in. Once you find out the needs or interests of that member, you can carry that knowledge into all of your interactions whenever possible by keeping their interests and goals tracked in your AMS and broadcast email system.

Check out this New Member Engagement Study, created by Kaiser Insights LLC and Dynamic Benchmarking for more ideas on engaging your new members!

When a new member joins your association you strive to make them feel welcomed with open arms. What better way to do that than to get to know them with PropFuel check-ins. This campaign type is used to learn more about your new members and help you build a genuine connection that makes them feel wanted.

Most other welcome campaigns may talk "at" the new member, telling them about all the great things you offer and you hope that something will grab their attention to keep them engaged. PropFuel flips that on its head to merge your programs and benefits with getting to know the individual member in order to cater directly to their needs. New Member Onboarding campaigns set the stage for continued engagement. These campaigns receive higher responses and click-throughs because new members are eager to have their experience tailored to them.

During this campaign, you want to learn more about your new members, why they joined, and what drives them to continue with their membership.

Your first check-in can be a welcome or introduction where you ask them a variation of why they joined or what their goals are in joining the membership. Learning the intent behind joining can become invaluable. You can use this to tailor future communications and also call back to it in a year to see if they achieved the goal.

Your subsequent check-ins don't necessarily need to be in a particular order based off of sample campaigns you may see. Use these "interactions" as ways to get to know your new member while also leveraging benefits you currently offer.

The campaign length can range from a few check-ins to a complete 9-month campaign. This campaign can also roll into a Renewal campaign.

Typically this campaign type is a Sequence (or Drip) campaign type, however associations on an annual dues cycle may find it easier to manage as a Scheduled campaign. This allows more control over when check-ins are sent and everyone in the campaign receives the same check-in at the same time. Neither is better than the other, it's truly up to what's best for you and your team.

Why did you join the association? or What are you hoping to get out of your membership?
​This is a great initial question to new members to find out more regarding why they joined.

How would you describe where you are in your career? or How would you describe your professional peer group?

​Learning if your new members is an associate level or c-suite can help you cater to their needs better. Some may need exposure to mentorship opportunities, whereas others would benefit from leadership training resources.

What's most important to you as you manage your career this year? or What's your #1 goal this year?

​Is it networking? Earning CEC/CPEs? Expanding knowledge on a certain topics? Now is a great time to find out!

How would you prefer to connect with industry peers?

​This is a great way to introduce your new member to any online communities, chapters, or sections you have within your association.

How do you prefer to learn?

​This is a great way to find out how your new member will want to be engaged, and help you curate educational marketing.

Did you know that we offer discounted (or free) CPE credits? or Would you like to earn free CPE credits?

​Usually new members have no clue about your special offerings. Let's get them acquainted!

Which of these challenges keeps you up at night? or What topic is top of mind right now? or What industry-related topic is of most interest to you right now?

​This is a great way to show programs and resources you offer that can help solve problems keeping them up at night. 

What type of support do you need at this stage of your career?

​Finding out if your new members needs help on obtaining a promotion, learning more about the industry, or early continuing education credits will allow you to show off the programs and resources you offer that can help them through the next stage of their career.

Do you have any employment updates to share?

​This is a great question to ask several months into a new member's journey with your association. You can also show off your career center if someone tells you they don't have any updates to share but are looking for new opportunities.

Would you like to share an alternate email address?

​Asking this question, especially of students, will help you continue to communicate to those who move on in their education or careers.

Which is your primary job function?

​Finding out primary functions can help you market events/programs you offer that cater to those functions.

Would you like to get involved in our [fill in the blank] program?

​This is a nice way to let your new members know about programs you offer and finding out if the program is a good fit for them.

Is there a topic in which you have expertise that you can share with others? 

​This question allows you to find out experts in certain topic areas and can help build your speaker pool.

Have you joined a chapter (or section) yet?

​Helping new members get involved with their community is just a small way to help them feel more connected. Sometimes new members aren't even aware of chapters or sections that are available. If they have joined a chapter/section, ask them what they think of it!

Are you interested in volunteering?
​This is a great way to help build your committees or find volunteers for in-person events. Not everyone has the same amount of time to offer, so think about giving options such as "Yes, I have a few hours a week to spare!" or "Maybe, I have a few hours a month to spare, what did you have in mind?"

To what degree are we giving you what you need?

​In this rating question, you will find out if you are meeting the member's needs. If you receive a low rating, you will want to find out why. If they give you a high rating, seek a testimonial from them.

Looking back on the last year, have your personal or business objectives changed?

​You want to be able to grow with your member, so learning how they've changed will help you offer services to meet them where they are.

What benefit/resource have you found most valuable this year?

​Finding out what member benefit has been most useful to your members is key in creating future benefits and/or programming. You can also show off other benefits/resources you have available that they may not be aware of.

Use this campaign as a way to introduce new members to your staff! Have the check-in emails come from different staff members and include headshots.

This campaign could potentially lead into a Renewal campaign where after 9-months of check-ins, you ask the member their intent on renewing and nurture their response.

Some associations on an Annual dues cycle might find that they prefer to create a 2 check-in Sequence campaign for New Member Onboarding that then rolls into a Scheduled NMO campaign. This allows the new member to receive those initial check-ins no matter when they join, while allowing the staff more control over when future check-ins are sent in the Sequence campaign.

This goal of this campaign is to meet the needs of your members, not to survey them. You achieve this by providing the member with resources related to their interest and "remembering" their interest for future communications.

In this new member onboarding campaign example, International Society for Technology in Education began with engaging members who has joined over the previous couple of months and adding new members as they join. Renewing members are enrolled in a similar, but different, version of this campaign. This campaign consists of 11 check-ins over an 8-month period.

• What are you most hoping to get out of your ISTE membership this year?

• What's your preferred way to learn?

• How would you describe where you are in your career journey?

• Have you checked out ISTE Connect yet?

• What’s the easiest way for you to share a bit about yourself?

• What topic is top-of-mind right now?

• How do you prefer to network and meet fellow edtech professionals?

• What do you think about our Expert Webinars Series?

• Do you have any employment updates to share with us?

• How likely would you be to recommend ISTE membership to a friend or colleague? (10 = extremely likely)

• Is there at least one member of our staff you feel comfortable reaching out to if you need assistance?

Out of the 12,777 enrolled contacts, 2,054 (16%) engaged with this campaign.

National Groundwater Association created 6 new member onboarding campaigns to engage with primary and non-primary members. Response options were customized depending on the segmented group. These campaigns cover an 11-month period.

• What is most important to you as you manage your career and business this year?

• Can you spare 15 minutes to speak with me so I can learn more about what you do and how NGWA can help?

• What is your preferred way to learn about industry trends and developments?

• How do you prefer to connect with industry peers and contacts?

• What industry problem keeps you up at night?

• What resource from NGWA have you found most valuable so far?

• Would you like to update your NGWA member profile?

• On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how likely would you be to recommend NGWA membership to a colleague in the industry?

Of all 891 members across 6 campaigns, 282 (31.6%) members engaged with the campaign.

Air & Space Forces Association has segmented, 3-month new member onboarding campaigns for individual members.

• What is your main reason for joining AFA?

• Are you interested in getting involved with your local AFA Chapter?

• How do you prefer to stay updated on Air Force and Space Force issues?

• How likely are you to recommend AFA to others?

For the general new member onboarding campaign with 3,275 members, 481 (14.6%) engaged with the campaign.