After putting in the effort to acquire new members, are they heading back out the door after only a few months? If so, your new member engagement strategy likely needs an upgrade.

The first 30 days of membership are essential to capturing new members’ attention and turning them into long-term pillars of your community. Your welcome process will set the tone for the rest of their membership, so ensure it makes new members feel welcome and encourages continued engagement.

To help you make the most of this short window of time, we’ll review three key touchpoints to interact with members in their first 30 days with your association.

1. Send a Welcome Email

Once a new member signs up, they should immediately receive a welcome email. This email is your chance to officially introduce your association, and it should provide all the essential details new members need to start engaging with your content and community. In these emails, include:

• A short introduction. Keep your introduction concise and to the point. If you plan to send an email welcome series, you can share your association’s history later. At this point, stick to a personalized greeting and a basic overview of your organization.
• Directions for how to access benefits. Members should understand how to engage with their benefits as quickly as possible. Share links to key pages like your course catalog and invite them to complete their member profile.
• Highlights of engaging content. If there’s an exciting event coming up or you recently published an insightful study about your industry, highlight it in your welcome letter. If possible, personalize this content based on new members’ interests.

2. Invite Them to Join Your Community

Your association’s community is one of your biggest assets, and you should invite new members to join it as soon as possible. To help new members connect with the rest of your association:

• Maintain an online community. If you don’t already have a community platform, consider investing in one. These platforms create private online spaces for members to network, share content, discuss industry news, and socialize.
• Host welcome events. Welcome events serve two purposes: encouraging new members to get to know your community and showing off activities they can expect to participate in at your association.
• Introduce them to other members. To directly jump-start member engagement, you might arrange formal introductions between new members. For example, if you have a mentorship program, you might ask mentors to email their mentees sometime during their first week at your association.

3. Confirmed Engagement With Benefits

If new members never engage with your benefits, chances are they won’t be members for long. Avoid this scenario by ensuring they use your benefits at least once during their first 30 days of membership.

Higher Logic’s guide to online engagement suggests a few strategies for getting members to participate in your association’s community:

• Casual chat threads. For some members, it may be easier to break the ice by discussing their hobbies, interests, and day-to-day life rather than jumping straight into professional networking. On your community platform, create a recurring weekly thread specifically for casual conversation.
• “Ask me anything” (AMA) sessions. Invite leaders in your field to talk shop and share their knowledge with your community through online AMA sessions. These limited-time activities show off your membership’s value and can encourage even shy members to speak up.
• Tip Tuesdays. Sometimes, new members don’t participate in your community because they don’t know how. Tip Tuesdays provide instructional content that explains the basics of how to engage in your community, such as how to create a member group chat or reply to a thread.

Look for new members chiming in on these community posts, as well as more obvious signs of engagement like signing up for a workshop, joining a virtual event, or enrolling in a course.

Get Feedback and Give Additional Support

The first 30 days are essential for forging connections with new members. These touchpoints should help members understand the value of their membership, integrate with your community, and learn about future engagement opportunities.

On the 30th day, check in with new members to ask about their experiences so far and ensure they have everything they need to become part of your association long-term.