We all focus on member retention - as we should. It's one of the key metrics we follow. We track member engagement, try to identify at-risk members and do what we can to retain them. Sound familiar?

Long-term retention should start on the member's first day at the club. An effective onboarding program can increase the member's overall engagement and positively impact their long-term retention. Studies show that a compelling onboarding experience can increase member rentention rates by as much as 23%! (https://blog.mobilefit.com/onboarding-member-retention-case-study/)

A typical onboarding program consists of 3 areas:

Most clubs do a good job with the first two areas. New Member Mixers are a nice way for members to be welcomed to the club. Managers, Membership Directors and Pro Staff are great at introducing new members to the amenities, facilities and events that are available. But there's a large aspect of club life that is missing from most onboarding experiences - getting new members integrated into the various member-run groups that are the lifeblood of the club.

There are two types of member-run groups at clubs - private groups and public groups. Some groups might not want to add new members, and that's ok. But that's typically a small minority of groups. Generally, groups are happy to bring new members in, so long as it doesn't increase the amount of work for the group captain (by the way, we help with this too). Think of the following groups - book clubs, golf groups, tennis groups, paddle, pickleball, bridge, canasta, mah jongg, birding, knitting... These types of groups typically love adding new members and can create ripple effects for the club (https://www.pipeline.agency/membership-committee-blog-posts//new-member-onboarding-create-a-ripple-effect)

So how does a new member find out about these groups and join them? Often, the Membership Director handles this task. But there's a significant amount of legwork that goes into knowing all the groups that exist. And new groups form all the time. It can take a lot of time for someone to keep track of all the available groups, when they meet, who belongs to them and then to introduce someone new.

What if you could direct the new member to a page on your club's website that listed ALL of the available public groups? And now imagine if the new member could join any of those groups by simply clicking a button on that page. And best of all, what if that page was automatically updated with new groups and displayed a list of all the current group members? This page on your website would be the go-to place for new members (and for existing members who want to see what else is available). Effective Onboarding Accomplished!

GroupValet provides this page, which is seamlessly added to your club's existing website. We help drive traffic to your website and provide a valuable service that will help new members become assimilated into your club faster than ever before. If you want to learn more, visit groupvalet.com or contact me at jtomberg@groupvalet.com.