You want to create a thriving membership base for your association, and there’s no better time to encourage involvement than in members’ first year.

Beyond your initial welcome, the first year is your opportunity to invite new members to engage fully in your association. Creating a seamless experience can get new members invested for the long haul.

Understand Current Pain Points

Before setting new strategies and processes, understand what the first year of membership currently looks like. Gathering data regarding how members engage right now will help you identify what’s working and where there’s room for improvement. A few data points to explore include:

• Retention after the first year
• Event attendance by early members
• Adoption of platforms (e.g., downloading your association’s mobile app)
• Email open rates
• Onboarding survey feedback
• Satisfaction survey feedback

Once you’ve gathered this data, do a deep dive to uncover trends you can apply to iron out wrinkles in members’ current experiences. The first data point listed, retention after the first year, deserves special attention. This is the guiding star for crafting members’ first-year experience. Renewal should be an easy and enthusiastic “yes!” This reflects the value and belonging members find in their first 12 months with your association.

Create Personas

The data you collect, particularly qualitative survey feedback, is like gold for the next stage in the process: creating first-year member personas.

Personas help you get inside your members’ heads, giving you insights into what they want and need from your organization. Create hypothetical personas for common types of members (e.g., young professionals, seasoned leaders, etc.). Then, define each persona’s typical demographics, preferred communication channels, and professional roles, as well as less quantifiable data like beliefs, personalities, and desires.

As an example, one persona you might create for first-year members is “George the Graduate.” George is a male in his 20s who has recently earned his undergraduate degree and joined your association to build his professional network. He’s excited to connect with prospective mentors and responds best to text messaging.

Every persona you create (and it’s best to start small with just one or two) will help you develop a tailored plan for engagement and communication.

Map the First-Year Journey

iMIS defines a member journey map as “a visual diagram that traces a member’s experience with your organization—from their initial awareness of you to joining to renewal.”

You can create a member journey map that only charts the first year. In it, break the timeline down into four phases that capture the member’s needs, actions, and emotions during specific periods.

Validate: Days 1-14

During the onboarding period, focus on welcoming the new member and affirming that they’ve made the right choice in joining your association.

For our “George the Graduate” persona, a few touchpoints in the validation phase might be:

• A welcome email, with a personalized congratulations on his recent graduation or new job
• A welcome packet, including information on how to access member benefits
• A contact preferences survey, which you immediately incorporate into George’s communication cadence

Demonstrate: Days 14-90

In the first 90 days, you want to lead with demonstrations of value. Since one of George’s motivations is finding a mentor, encouraging him to explore your mentor portal will be a great way to deliver value.

In the welcome packet, you might have included a list of all member benefits. Now is the time to follow up on that. Send specific messages highlighting relevant benefits and clear next steps, like downloading your association’s app to message other members directly.

Celebrate: Months 3-9

After the initial 90 days, the next six months of membership are all about engaging the member further. Offering incentives for benefits, like discounts on training courses in your LMS, can encourage adoption. Incorporating personal outreach, a phone call, or email from a member of your staff to check in or recommend a mentor can help them feel connected with your organization.

Reiterate: Months 9-12

The final three months of the first year will come around faster than you expect, but with all the touchpoints you’ve planned up to that point, you’ll be prepared. In the final stretch, start sending personalized renewal offers, potentially with early renewal discounts, and continue personal outreach to support a great experience.

By planning for different new member personas and creating personalized first-year member journey maps, you’ll retain new members and move the dial on the engagement metrics that matter to your organization. But don’t stop at the first year! Building member journey maps for your entire membership lifecycle will support your engagement goals and a positive member experience long term.