What's the best way to onboard new members into a community?

What's the best way to onboard new members into a community?

Sara Hom

Member

Updated: Apr 2, 2025

Views: 307
Can someone share what’s the best way to onboard new members into a community so that they feel welcomed, know what to do next and actually stick around?
We are building a customer community. Some of our members have expressed interest in joining the community; but they go silent after joining.
Some of the things I’ve tried so far:
1. Sending welcome email with links to documentation on our marketing website
2. Creating a “start here” welcome message for members.
3. Occasionally inviting them for 1:1 conversation over Zoom.
Some of this has helped; but I’d like to set-up a process that can scale. Our community is growing but there seems to be a disconnect between what we intend to do and what our users want. I’m unable to figure it out.
I’d love to learn from fellow community managers about their onboarding flows, rituals that have worked. Looking forward to learning from your experiences.
3

Replies

Howdy guest!

Dear guest, you must be logged-in to participate on Jatra Community. We would love to have you as a member of our community. Consider creating an account or login.

Replies

Kaustubh Katdare

Community Administrator • 4d

Here's a simple, yet effective strategy to onboard new members into your community. This works always when your community is new.

-> Send a personalised DM to each new member and strike conversation

You really don't need a fancy, automated onboarding for new members, when your community is new. Simply DM or send an email to them. It could be as simple as a welcome message and letting them know that they can reach out to you directly for any help they need with the community.

-> Follow-up

Your new members will not respond to your message right away. So, follow up! I can't stress how important this is to build some activity on your forum and get people talking.

People need to know that you are actually putting-in efforts to welcome them. Do this for the first 200 - 500 members. It works all the time.

I'd employ an automated onboarding after the community has gained some momentum.

Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
Cancel
Rohit Kapoor

Member • 15h

The best way to onboard new members is to initiate a personal conversation with them. I know it's not scalable, but you know what? It just works! No one likes to be left out and when you, the community owner, invites them personally; they feel special.

It's a basic human need to be acknowledged and appreciated.

Simply start a personal conversation with them and ask them how did they find the community, what was the motivation to join and as Kaustubh said - follow up!

Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
Cancel