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When someone lands on your community for the first time, their decision to stay or leave happens in seconds. A confusing layout, long registration form or silent homepage can drive them away. To keep them around, provide an engaging first impression with clear next steps and a sense of progress.

This guide will provide the tools and guidance community managers need to build a smooth onboarding experience for their community.

🛠️ Your onboarding tools

• Social & Enterprise SSO - One‑click registration with Google, Apple, and enterprise SSO protocols.

• Alert System - Send must‑acknowledge messages (welcome notes, rules updates) to individuals or groups.

• Profile Completion - Request additional profile details after a simple registration; supports mandatory/optional steps and quick registration.

• Achievements & Quests - Gamify onboarding with badges, points and quests; define rules for events like posting or completing profiles.

• Featured Content & Tags - Highlight standout content and aggregated content members can follow.

• Clubs - Sub‑communities with their own forums, galleries and calendars; support various membership models.

• Community Experts - Automatically identify and badge members who provide solutions and helpful content.

• Leaderboard - Highlight top members and content over different periods and award daily badges.

Make a great first impression

People decide whether a site feels worth their time based on visible activity. You can use our Page Builder to showcase Featured Content containing suggested content at the top of your homepage. Combining this with curated tags and trending discussions will provide visitors with a lively mix of content.

Simplify sign‑up

Lowering barriers to entry leads to more members. The Complete My Profile system emphasizes that registration can be as simple as display name, email and password; additional information can be requested after sign‑up through profile completion steps. We also offer Social Sign‑On (Google, Apple, Custom) and enterprise SSO via protocols like SAML and OAuth to make sign‑in a one‑click experience. Avoid lengthy forms and enable quick registration and SSO where possible.

Make navigation obvious and explain your purpose

A new visitor should instantly know where to go. Use clear menus, descriptive forum names and a mobile‑friendly layout. A short mission statement on your homepage or a pinned post clarifies why the community exists and what members love about it. Don’t assume visitors will hunt for information; guide them to the right place.

Greet EVERY member

A warm welcome signals that members matter, and our Alert System allows you to send a message that must be acknowledged before the user continues browsing. Alerts can target individuals or groups, include start and expiry dates, and be configured so they only appear for new members. When used for onboarding, a welcome alert can greet new sign‑ups, thank them for joining and invite them to post an introduction. Alerts can be sent anonymously or as yourself and can optionally allow replies, turning the conversation into a private message. Use this to deliver a friendly, personalised greeting while ensuring it isn’t missed.

Encourage profile completion

People feel more comfortable engaging when they know who they’re talking to. Our Profile Completion wizard shows a progress bar prompting members to upload an avatar, write a short bio or answer any custom fields you require. Administrators configure which steps are mandatory or optional in the Admin Control Panel; members see a dismissible progress bar reminding them to finish. This gentle nudge helps your community feel more human and builds trust.

To motivate completion

• Keep the initial registration simple (name, email, password), then request additional info using profile completion tasks.

• Consider making essential fields (avatar, bio) mandatory and let members skip others, so they don’t feel forced.
  

Provide a clear starting point

Orientation reduces hesitation. Give newcomers a structured path so they know what to do first.

• Pin a “Start Here” guide – Create a pinned post or forum section explaining how to navigate, where to post introductions and where to find help. Link to tag pages, popular forums or key resources.

• Offer a short onboarding course or quest – Our Quests feature lets you design a sequence of lightweight tasks. A “Welcome Quest” could encourage new members to complete their profile, post an introduction and follow a few other members. When they finish, they can be rewarded with a badge or voucher, giving them a sense of accomplishment.

• Use an introductions space – Provide a dedicated forum where new members can post a hello. Staff or volunteer ambassadors should reply promptly to every introduction to build rapport.

By giving members a clear first action like posting an introduction or completing a quest, you remove ambiguity and boost the likelihood they’ll participate.

Help members get early wins

Early wins build small victories, encouraging new members to keep coming back.

• Suggest a simple action – Direct new members to an easy, low‑pressure task. This might be answering a poll, reacting to a post or following a tag. A clear link in your welcome alert or quest removes friction.

• Highlight beginner‑friendly conversations – Use Featured Content to surface casual prompts, polls or threads designed for newcomers. Ensure there’s content available that’s accessible to first‑timers.

• Invite them personally – Tag new members in relevant discussions. A personal invitation like “@Mike Gitkos , I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!” can turn a lurker into a contributor.

• Create an onboarding quest – As described above, quests can guide members through tasks and reward them on completion.

• Follow up on the first post – Use Achievements to trigger an automatic badge or thank‑you message after a member’s first post. Positive reinforcement makes people feel appreciated.
  

Encourage content discovery and joining in

After members introduce themselves, show them how to explore topics and connect with others.

• Teach them to follow tags or forums – Our tagging system reimagines content discovery. Tags have dedicated pages with cover photos that aggregate content and can be followed for email digests. In your onboarding messages, show members how to follow tags that match their interests, so their feed feels personalised.

• Create member traditions – Start weekly threads like “Welcome Wednesday” or “Showcase Sundays” where newcomers can share something about themselves. Consistency offers easy, predictable entry points. There is less friction in posting an easy reply compared to creating a new topic.

• Promote Clubs – Clubs are sub‑communities with their own forums, galleries, calendars and downloads. They support membership types from public to private and can be open, closed or read‑only. Invite new members to join Clubs aligned with their interests. Smaller group spaces feel intimate and encourage connection.

• Highlight community experts – Our system automatically identifies experts based on metrics like solutions, helpful votes and response speed. Experts are displayed with badges next to their posts and can be followed by members. Introduce newcomers to your experts so they know who to trust and where to seek help.

Reward early contributions

Recognition fuels engagement. Even small acknowledgments make people feel valued.

• Achievements – Use the Achievements system to award points and badges for milestones (first post, reacting to content). Actions like joining a club, following items or logging in can earn points and help members progress through ranks.

• Group promotions – Automatically move members to another group once they hit a milestone (e.g., five posts, a certain number of reactions). This can be used to graduate active newcomers into “regulars.” and display trust.

• Celebrate small wins – Publicly acknowledge progress: “Congrats on your 10th post!” or “Thanks for helping a fellow member.” Simple shout‑outs make people feel seen without formal systems.

• Showcase rising stars – Use the Leaderboard widget to highlight top contributors. The Leaderboard page lists the most active members and content for various timeframes; daily winners are recorded on the Past Leaders tab and receive a badge. Seeing their name on this list can be a proud moment for a newcomer.

• Identify community experts – As noted above, experts get badges and can help new members. Encouraging new members to aspire to become experts fosters long‑term engagement.

Continually improve your onboarding

Onboarding is not a set‑and‑forget process. Check your analytics to see where new members drop off. Run surveys or ask newcomers about their experience. Update your “Start Here” guide, welcome messages and quests as your community grows and features change. Ask moderators and ambassadors for feedback on where newcomers struggle and adjust accordingly.

Use tools like Profile Completion, Achievements, Alerts, Tags, Clubs, and Community Experts to can create an onboarding journey that feels personal, encourages participation and rewards progress. Focus on the visitor’s perspective: show them a lively, friendly environment; make it easy to register; provide clear next steps; celebrate their contributions; and continually refine the experience.

When newcomers feel valued and confident from the moment they arrive, they’re far more likely to become the engaged, long‑term members that make communities flourish.

You've no doubt heard of the term' engagement' many times when designing and managing your community, but what does it mean?

Every community is different, but they all share the three main types of engagement.

🚀 Active engagement is centred around creating, including posting, replying, voting, and reacting.

📖 Passive engagement is based around consuming, such as reading, logging in and following content areas that interest them.

🤝 Relational engagement is based around networking, such as following members, private messaging and joining clubs.

Every community is unique, so it's essential to start by defining what meaningful engagement means to your community.

If you're a support community, then key metrics would be the time taken to answer topics and the percentage that are marked as solved. Brand communities would want to track metrics such as author diversity, positive reactions and feedback interactions. Educational communities would focus on monitoring the quality of replies and the percentage of courses completed.

Let's examine some broad strategies you can adapt to suit your community.

Community design

What can people see before they are logged in? Can they see some teaser content and that the site is active and full of life, or do they see empty blocks and 'Please sign in' messages?

Ensure your community is set up to provide sufficient content for guest visitors to encourage them to read more. Ensure your home page shows signs of life. Our Page Editor enables you to drag and drop blocks on the home page to display member leaderboards, trending content, and more. Signs of life are key to encouraging membership.

Engagement can't happen if those visiting can't see what your community's purpose is and how it can solve their problem.

Be transparent and open-ended

Finding the balance with moderation is key to a healthy community. Members should feel safe speaking up. Allow debate, moderate fairly but robustly, and avoid rules that focus on penalties. When people understand that their voice matters, they are more likely to show up. Setting healthy boundaries and making them known helps keep bad actors away and the community positive.

Interact personally and make it easy to respond. Ending a post or blog with a question or clear call to action works just like it does on YouTube—ask for thoughts, feedback, or shared experiences. The easier it is to jump in, the more likely people will.

Lead conversations with tools like Live Topics to host real-time chats and Q&As. These turn into permanent discussion threads and help build momentum through live interaction.

Making it easier to contribute to your community can help engage those reluctant to start their own conversations. Creating group topics can help. Some examples of that may be:

• Weekly themed threads (e.g., "Showcase Sunday")

• AMAs with staff or key members

• Quick polls to prompt votes or discussion

Reward and recognize contributors

People stay engaged when their efforts are seen. Use built-in tools like:

• Reputation points

• Automated achievements with badges and ranks

• Personal recognition to award custom badges and points

• Automatic group promotions that unlock perks when milestones are hit

Community Experts feature highlights members who consistently help others, making it easy to surface trusted voices and reward helpful behavior. 

You can also use the Featured Content option to showcase standout posts, questions, or stories from anywhere in the community. It's a great way to recognize quality content and share it with the entire community.

Try it for yourself

When people feel welcomed, heard, and appreciated, they engage more. Keep it simple. Guide first actions, make it easy to respond, recognize outstanding contributions, and repeat what works. That's how communities grow.

Spend five minutes a day to welcome someone new, highlight a great post, or start a conversation. The more you show up, the more your community will too.