When onboarding puts members off - Researchbods
Friction causes frustration. And onboarding members onto your Insight Community can easily do that. Smooth onboarding is one of many hurdles that must be overcome in order to reap the benefits of your Insight Community.
This is a challenge because it requires you to balance two contradictory needs:
The need for a consumer to feel welcomed and valued, with an easy, engaging process.
The need for you to collect as much useful data as possible, as quickly as possible.
This is a delicate balancing act! If your onboarding is too hard you risk low participant numbers and engagement, while making it too easy impacts on the usefulness of the data you will ultimately receive. As the old saying goes: you only get one chance to make a first impression. When it comes to Insight Communities a bad first impression may mean incomplete sign-ups, not to mention failure to properly engage once a sign-up is complete.
Enriching data encourages sign-up
It’s good practice to enrich data as thoroughly as possible, as early as possible. Not only does this potentially make the sign-up process easier for members, it also helps you to tailor the onboarding experience. So while the initial ‘tour’ and explanation of how a new member navigates the platform may remain the same, having enriched data available enables you to segment participants quickly. Segmenting participants as early as possible helps you to make data meaningful at the outset and means you can direct them to relevant and engaging tasks and activities immediately.
If you get the balance right at the onboarding stage, you’re well on your way to having the steady supply of up-to-the-minute insights you need to inform your decision-making in the long run.
With ten years under our belts, its safe to say that the team here at Researchbods knows a thing or two about Insight Communities! We can hold your hand through every stage to creating and maintaining a thriving insight community.