conversion - Cultivating Community2024-03-29T08:15:58Zhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/feed/tag/conversionOptimizing the New Member Experience: Q&A with Videohttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/optimizing-the-new-member-experience-q-a-with-video2013-04-30T21:10:00.000Z2013-04-30T21:10:00.000ZAllison Leahyhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/allisonleahy<div><p><span class="font-size-3"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/65113518?byline=0&portrait=0&color=75af42" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members" target="_self">Converting newcomers</a> into active, longtime members of your community doesn't happen overnight. Less than 9% of new unique visitors will ever register for your community, and just a tiny portion of those newcomers will sign-up and stay awhile. BUT, if you get in the habit of measuring and tracking the newcomer journey from day one through day 180, you will gather the insights you need to divert would-be lurkers into core contributors. In this Q&A session, Richard Millington, founder of <a href="http://www.feverbee.com/" target="_blank">FeverBee</a> and author of Buzzing Communities, answers a dozen crowdsourced questions on how to craft a new member strategy with <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-ultimate-welcome-for-your-online-community-s-newcomers" target="_self">warm, welcoming content</a> that will help you captivate and cultivate the best members for your community. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Imagine the conversion process as a sales funnel.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">From the top down, you have your first time visitors, returning visitors, registered members, first time contributors, regular contributors, and longtime contributors who are still participating six months later. Now, imagine that people are dropping out all along. You can use data to look at where people are dropping out, and test different interventions to improve the ratio.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">The thing about converting newcomers into regular members is that if it's not going well, it's a problem that you don't see. Unless you're measuring your data. Unless you're looking at where members are dropping out. This could be something that's happening in your community as well. You could have a lot of members that are visiting your community's home page, and a lot of members that are dropping out along the way.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">We looked at a variety of different data points and what we discovered was that for every 1000 members that visited the landing page or home page of the community, only one of them was a regular member six months later.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">One of the easiest and quickest ways you can improve your conversion ratio -- and build a much bigger online community than you have right now -- is by identifying and inviting the people who are already talking about your topic. Seek them out on Twitter and LinkedIn, point them to an interesting discussion that's going on in your community and invite them to join.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281684?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281684?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-center"></a>The conversion process doesn't stop at registration.</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">It's not enough to simply promote your community. When you're trying to grow your community, you have to give yourself more time to convert these newcomers into regulars. "For every one minute you spend recruiting someone to join, you're going to need an extra three minutes to convert them into a regular member," says Richard. "It's a rough, but probably fairly accurate ratio." The point being, newcomers need your time and they need your personal attention. BUT, not every member is worthy of a personal introduction. <span>Data shows that i</span>t's best to hold off until a member has made her first contribution. Engaging with and amplifying a first post will go a lot further than a quick 'hello.'</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Design your home page to encourage engagement. </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Latest activity should always be at the top of the homepage -- the first thing a visitor sees. Many organizations bury the important stuff beneath the fold -- the point where you need to scroll down to see what happens. Bold images and logos may look attractive, but they push critical information too far down the page. If the exciting things that are happening within the community are always visible, newcomers will be more inclined to participate right away. It's also a good idea to tweak the positioning of featured discussions, modify the layout, and change the call to action. Over time, if you're measuring your data, you will learn what works and what doesn't.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Be specific.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Make sure the welcome email highlights something within the community. Don't give new members ten things to look at, focus on one specific thing that you want them to do next. That initial post will get her caught up in the notification cycle where she will be more likely to continue participation. Community managers should redirect their energy on getting newcomers to make that first contribution right away. After that first post, it will be easier to build interest, engagement, and connections within the community.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Slow, steady growth is key.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">You don't want an explosion of growth or one major promotional push. It can destroy the sense of community that already exists. Imagine if you visited your favorite community tomorrow and no longer recognized any of the contributors? Worse yet, they're all re-posting on topics that were talked through in previous months. If members are introduced to the community on a rolling basis, it is much easier to bring them up to speed and socialize them with existing model members. Facilitating these types of interactions early on will cement the foundation for the types of collaboration that make the community thrive. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Don't promote the community.</strong> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Promote something that happens within the community. That way, visitors are primed to participate in something straight away. You have a relatively small window of time to encourage participation. If the engagement doesn't happen within the first few hours or days, it's far more likely for a new member to become a lurker and far more difficult to provoke future contributions.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>The six month mark.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">You want newcomers to be participating in your community six months later. Six months is the standard amount of time someone has to participate in a community before they can be categorized as a regular.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">You can improve these metrics quickly by measuring a newcomer's journey. The important thing is that you analyze new member behavior regularly and use those insights to calculate your next intervention. For more insights, watch Richard's webinar on <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members" target="_self">Converting Newcomers into Active Community Members</a>. And, stay tuned for an overview of how to use Google Analytics and member data to track member activity from registration through the first six months.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281731?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" style="padding: 9px;" class="align-right"></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For more community management best practices, </span><a href="http://www.feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">download</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> half of </span><em style="font-size: 12pt;">Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities</em><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for free, then thank </span><a href="http://twitter.com/richmillington" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">@RichMillington</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">!</span></p>
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<p>Optimizing The New Member Experience: Q&A is the sixth in a series of <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/community-management-talks" target="_self">Community Management Talks</a> with <a href="http://feverbee.com" target="_blank">FeverBee</a> founder Richard Millington, who has already shared strategies for generating activity, managing growth, facilitating member engagement, <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members" target="_self">converting newcomers into active members</a>, and the science behind it all. </p>
<p>To be alerted of upcoming Community Management Talks, <a href="mailto:ningsocial@glam.com" target="_blank">email Allison</a> with the subject line "Add me."</p></div>Converting Newcomers Into Active Community Members [Video]https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members2013-04-22T20:54:47.000Z2013-04-22T20:54:47.000ZAllison Leahyhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/allisonleahy<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208149?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><div class="description_wrapper">
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<p class="first"><span class="font-size-3">Some community managers wait for visitors to stumble upon their community, then throw the kitchen sink at them to keep them active. This approach seems like it might be helpful, but it can actually overwhelm newcomers and scare activity away. According to a <a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jaime/ArguelloCHI06.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> on the foundation for successful online communities, 68% of members will post just one message. Research also shows that many prospective members will sign up for a community just to gain access to the information there. They don't even anticipate involving themselves in the conversation -- the social and emotional aspects of the community. As community managers, our challenge is to help newcomers overcome any social fear of participation. We must motivate them to contribute by engaging</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> them from the start, then continuing to encourage collaboration and its related affinities. There are plenty of tools and techniques to help us dial it in.</span></p>
<p class="first"><span class="font-size-3">In the following webinar, FeverBee's <a href="http://www.feverbee.com" target="_blank">Richard Millington</a> reviews key elements of the conversion process and shares a data-based approach for crafting the ideal new member experience. Watch this presentation to learn how to optimize a new member's journey from registration through the first major milestones and how to combine social and technological processes to boost conversion rates. (The Q&A is available <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/optimizing-the-new-member-experience-q-a-with-video?context=category-community+management+talks" target="_self">here</a>.)</span><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IhHjS8BolvQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Not for the faint of heart, this lesson requires you to roll up your sleeves and dive into community data using stratified sampling techniques to better understand your current conversion ratios. You will be tasked with using Google Analytics and community metrics to:</span></p>
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<li><span class="font-size-3">Find the number of unique, new IP address (visitors) and compare that with how many new members registered for your community within the previous 30 days. (Hint: 9% is average for new communities that do not apply any of these optimization techniques.)</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Calculate the number of newly registered members that convert into active participants within the first 30 days.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Generate a systematic sampling of 100 registered members within the past month and find out whether those members made contributions and/or where they dropped out.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Identify when and where members drop out, so you can pinpoint when and where you should intervene in order to keep members on target to hit milestones that will help them through their first three months -- the point at which newbies transition from participants into regular, long-term members of the community.</span></li>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Now that you have an idea of how many (or few) members stick with you to create and comment on a few posts, it's time to make some changes! There are many tools at our disposal, and we can plan a variety of interventions to increase initial participation. We can...</span></p>
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<li><span class="font-size-3">Tinker with the notification system by modifying its subject line, altering the content, adjusting the number of messages or the time they are delivered,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and changing who the notes come from.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Increase community response time, so that anyone who posts a comment or new discussion will receive a response within 12 hours.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Modify the characteristics of each response to align with that particular member's journey.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Create more robust new member guidelines and include more pointers on how to participate, and information on the culture and history of the community.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Get creative and iterate.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font-size-3">What kinds of programs do you have in place to make your new member journey <span>that prepares newcomers to participate and motivates them to remain active?</span></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281731?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" style="padding: 9px;" class="align-right"></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For more community management best practices, </span><a href="http://www.feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">download</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> half of </span><em style="font-size: 12pt;">Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities</em><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for free, then thank </span><a href="http://twitter.com/richmillington" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">@RichMillington</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">!</span></p>
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<p>Converting Newcomers Into Active Community Members is the fifth in a series of Community Management Talks with <a href="http://feverbee.com" target="_blank">FeverBee</a> founder Richard Millington, who has already shared strategies for generating activity, managing growth, <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/content-and-community-webinar-recording-with-richard-millington" target="_self">creating content</a>, facilitating member engagement, and the science behind it all. Richard has spent the last 10 years mastering a range of social sciences, refining key community management skills, learning how to use and apply data, collaborating with over a hundred different organizations, and amassing a collection of case studies to tackle every situation. </p>
<p>To be alerted of upcoming Community Management Talks, <a href="mailto:ningsocial@glam.com" target="_blank">email Allison</a> with the subject line "Add me."</p>
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