12/21/2023

The Power of Personalization in Onboarding New Members

How to personally connect them to the community

When members join an association, they pay their dues by clicking a few buttons and presto, they’re officially a new member. But after making their only payment, there are no balloons and streamers, and no one to give them a smiley handshake and offer a tour. Instead, they’re left with the “proud member” tag, facing the front page of a website with an overwhelming number of menu options and rabbit holes to go down, but no clear path.

In 2022, at the CSO Center, a membership group within ASIS International, we realized that new members were not feeling a part of the organization quickly enough. They knew they were a member but didn’t experience the belonging for which we strive.

We discovered this, anecdotally, when we asked members why they were not renewing. We found that for those that were members for less than two to three years, they didn’t find a connection with the organization and had a difficult time understanding and accessing membership benefits. To address these concerns, we created two programs that not only educate new members about benefits, products and services but also personally connect them to the community.

Volunteer Ambassador Program

Within the first two weeks of joining, new members are welcomed by a volunteer new member ambassador. The ambassador welcomes new members into the community and gets them acclimated to CSO Center benefits. We recruit volunteers throughout the year, and volunteers can sign up more than once, or have more than one new member to welcome at a time.

We try to match volunteers with new members by finding commonalities, often connecting them by industry, geographic location or language spoken. We try to match individuals that don’t necessarily know each other, in order to broaden their network.

The ambassadors receive a toolkit, which includes draft messages and a timeline of which messages to send and when. Over a six-week period, new members receive at least three messages to help them become familiar with the organization and key features and benefits of their membership.

We also encourage ambassadors to personalize their outreach to make this an individual conversation. It’s a great opportunity for new members to learn the ropes from those experienced with our offerings, something no automated email from staff can match.

New Member Open House

In addition to the ambassador program, new members are invited to attend a quarterly member open house by their volunteer ambassador.

The CSO Center uses a core presentation for its open houses but customizes and regularly updates it. To optimize their effectiveness, open houses are held in advance of major meetings and programs or product launches or just after peak membership-recruitment periods.

The presentation provides both structure to the conversation and a helpful prompt to spark questions and open a dialogue about membership with members and staff. The core presentation includes basics such as leadership of the organization, a brief history of the organization, a high level overview of benefits, links and descriptions of the main member benefit page and online community, learning events and online resources and staff contact information.

For each session, we update the presentation with timely information including upcoming conferences, new products and services, or other items that are new or updated. This provides current information for members and makes each session unique.

The Open House is available to any interested member—those who are new, who want to learn about what’s new with the CSO Center, or longstanding members that may want to engage in a new way. The live session provides an opportunity to ask questions, connect with other members and oftentimes provide suggestions or feedback.

Sessions are staff-led but at least two board members also attend to represent leadership and to provide a member perspective to the information. They often will give context about how certain benefits have been helpful to them, why they are passionate about the CSO Center, and to help the leadership be more approachable to members.

This program provides members with live interaction, personal attention and community. New members can interact with one another and start forming connections with their peers and the organization. The experience also helps members get more comfortable with staff by asking questions, connecting names to faces and learning new information about the association.

By considering creative and personal ways to make our newest members feel welcomed and connected to the organization and each other, we can provide a pathway for a satisfied and engaged member who will, hopefully, in turn, become a champion for the organization.

^{About the author: 
Carla Lochiatto, CAE, IOM, is director of the CSO Center for Leadership and Development at ASIS International. The article originally appeared on ASAE’s Center for Association Leadership. OSAP appreciates the support ASAE gives the association management community.}