Ep 29: The Key Onboarding Step You're Missing

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The Key Onboarding Step You're Missing 

If you have an online course, membership, or coaching program, you know how important it is to have a solid onboarding process for your new customers. It's the key to their success in your program, and ultimately, it can affect the success of your business. What you might not know is that there are two groups that many people overlook in their onboarding process, and it can significantly impact the long-term success of your members.

While I was reviewing some old training videos of mine, I came across this concept and thought, why have I not shared this? So, today we will explore these often-forgotten steps and why it's so critical for the success of your online program. This should not only be the first step in your onboarding process, but it is essential, especially if you use a launch model for your program. 

By the end,  you'll have a better understanding of why these two groups should be onboarded for the success of your online program and how you can implement it in your onboarding process. So, let's discover the missing pieces of your onboarding. 

Onboarding your Team 

One important step in your onboarding process is to onboard your team. After a launch, it's common for everyone to disappear, but who will onboard your new members? It can't just be your community manager or customer support team. Your entire team needs to be committed to the onboarding process. This is especially important if you have a launch model, where you'll be onboarding a large group of people at once.

Enrolling your team in the onboarding process is similar to onboarding your new members. You want them to leave with the same thoughts: "I'm in the right place," "this is possible for me," and "I know my next step." You need to connect the dots between your onboarding process and the overall business objectives. Everyone on your team needs to understand the value of onboarding to the long-term health of the business.

Onboarding your Team in a Launch Model 

During a launch, everyone goes all in for a few weeks to sell as much as possible. But what happens when the cart closes? People start disappearing, leaving the onboarding process for new members up in the air. Your community manager alone can't onboard every new member and deliver the "wow" experience you promised.

It's not just about enrolling your team; it's about making them understand their role in the onboarding process. Even those who aren't in customer support or community management need to be prepared to step in when necessary. If your team is not part of the onboarding process, you risk losing new members due to system failures or poor communication.

That's why it's crucial to make sure your entire team is committed to being part of the onboarding process and is prepared to do so. The launch doesn't stop when the cart closes. Every member of your team, from customer support to technical staff, needs to be all in for the two weeks after the cart closes to ensure a seamless onboarding experience.

4 Ways to Prepare Your Team for Onboarding New Members

Connect Onboarding to Business Objectives

The first step in onboarding your team is to connect the dots between the onboarding process and the business objectives. You need to ensure that every team member understands the value of onboarding to the long-term health of the business, including retention, reduction in refunds, ascension into other products, and customer satisfaction. You can explain to them how effective onboarding can make their job easier, such as reducing customer support tickets and creating more success stories that your marketing team can leverage to get more sales.

Understand the Impact on Your Customers

Your team should also understand how onboarding impacts the people you serve. If you want to fulfill the promise of actually getting people the results they've purchased, then you need to start with the onboarding process. Your team needs to understand the connection between delivering results and helping people get the transformation they want, and how to do that in the onboarding process.

Get Your Team Involved

The next step is to equip your team to support the onboarding process effectively. Every team member needs to know what to do and how to do it. You need to give them specific roles that they're able to do without stretching them too far out of their comfort zone. For example, they can be involved with helping on the customer support ticket side, auditing the members' area, adding to the frequently asked questions, or moderating the community platform.

Set Expectations

You need to have a culture of making sure that your team shows up well for the people who have just purchased your program. You want to ensure that your team doesn't shut down and disappear once the cart closes, as that's where the real work begins for the next launch. If you don't get people results, you won't have the stories to share that get you the sales in upcoming launches.

Onboarding your Existing Community 

The second group we need to onboard is our existing community members. When we talk about onboarding new members, we often forget to involve our existing community of buyers and members. However, involving your existing community in the onboarding process can not only be a missed opportunity but can also harm your business in the long run. It's important to prepare your existing community for welcoming new people into your community during a launch.

Adding a whole bunch of new people into a community can sometimes feel overwhelming for people who have been there for a while. It can disrupt your culture if these newbies don't understand the nuances of how the community operates. It can also make it hard for people to find the questions that are meaningful to them if they've been there for a while. Onboarding your existing community into the idea of welcoming new people can help lessen or combat the storming phase that often occurs when you onboard a bunch of new people.

How to Prepare Your Community for Onboarding New Members

Preparing your existing community for onboarding new members can be an important step in creating a successful launch or program. It's important to involve your current community of buyers and members because adding a whole bunch of new people into a community can sometimes feel overwhelming for people that have been there for a while. This can disrupt the culture and create challenges for both new and existing members.

Let Existing Community Members Know

One way to involve your current community is by letting them know that you will be welcoming new people into the community. For example, you could send an email or make a social media post to announce the upcoming launch and the onboarding process. Make sure to let your existing community know what's in it for them. Explain the benefits of welcoming new members, such as new connections or friendships, new opportunities to mentor others, and new knowledge and wisdom that can be shared.

Elevate Existing Community Members

Another way to involve your existing community is by inviting them to offer support. You can do this by asking them to think back to when they were new and how they would have wanted to be supported. You can then invite them to show up for new members in that way. Ask your alumni members or existing community to keep an eye on the welcome post and say hello to new people. This can help new members feel welcomed and included, and can also help your existing community members feel like they are contributing to the success of the community.

Provide a Clear Call to Action

Finally, it's important to give your existing community members a clear call to action on how they can support new members. This can be as simple as asking them to check in on the welcome post and find a lonely post where nobody has been greeted yet, and be the person to welcome them in. It’s important to respond to basic questions that get asked in the group and encourage existing community members to respond to them. By doing this, you are creating a culture of support and inclusivity that can help both new and existing members feel like they belong and are a part of something bigger.

Create a Supportive and Welcoming Onboarding Process

Onboarding new members to your community is a critical process that sets the tone for their entire experience with your brand. Your team is critical in providing support for new members, especially in terms of customer service and technical support. They also play a key role in managing the workload of the community manager and ensuring a smooth onboarding process.

Meanwhile, your existing community members can offer invaluable support and guidance to new members, helping them feel welcomed and supported from the very beginning. By involving them in the onboarding process and encouraging them to show support for new members, you can strengthen the bonds between community members and ensure that new members feel welcomed and valued.

Overall, the key to a successful onboarding process is to create a supportive and welcoming environment for new members, and this starts with involving your team and existing community members. By doing so, you can set your community up for long-term success and growth.

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