You did it! You've launched your membership…

All of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears has paid off and your vision has now become a reality.

Congratulations!

…Now what?

Before you crack open the champagne (there will be time for that later), there’s still some work to do…

You see, launching a membership isn’t just about getting your site up and running…

It's about what you do post-launch… 

How you capitalize on the momentum you've built around your business and lay the foundations for future growth.

The first 30 days after you launch your membership are absolutely crucial…

So how can you make the most of this time and get your membership site off to the best possible start?

Here are six things you should do after you’ve launched your membership…

1. Assess what worked and what didn’t

In many ways, launching your membership site will be easiest marketing you'll ever do…

That's because of all the buzz and curiosity built up around your new site that really helps you in your first initial push taking your membership to market…

But after you have what is hopefully a successful launch and the excitement dies down, it's time to assess how it went.

Of course you'll want to check your sales to see if they match your goals, but you should also ask yourself:

• What worked?
• What didn’t work?
• Where did I see highest level of engagement? 
• What sources led to member sign ups? 

If you ran ads or used affiliates, dig deep into the analytics…

If you’re not already, use a tool like Google Analytics to track where and when people visit your site.

Look out for open rates for emails, click-through rates on your ads, website traffic, leads, and conversion rates.

Also make sure you ask new members things like…

• Where did you hear about us? 
• Why did you join?

All of these things will give you a good picture of what was successful, what wasn't and where you should focus your attention next.

This data is gold dust for any business looking to grow…

You can use it to make solid decisions in the future and build on the lessons you learned during your launch and draw a line under it.

2. Go all-in on your new members

Memberships are not just about getting people through the door and leaving them to their own devices, it's about what happens after the sale. 

So once you have new members signed up, it's important to pay close attention to what they’re doing and saying, and go the extra mile to help them wherever you can.

In other words, you need to make their experience the best it can possibly be.

This is especially important for your first few members…

Remember, they're the ones who've taken a bit of a risk by signing up for your brand-new membership…

They're your super fans and your early adopters, so take the time to repay them for their trust in you…

You could do this by throwing a little welcome party, sending out personalized thank you videos, or even offering a discount for next month if you’re feeling extra generous. 

Beyond that, you should already have a kick-ass onboarding process in place that helps your members settle into your community and use your resources in the right way.

Anything you can do to keep your members happy is going to work in everyone’s favor…

So, don’t just deliver to expectations – over-deliver on the promises you made during your launch. 

The member experience is a massive part of what we call the Membership Marketing Flywheel.

Happy members are your biggest marketing assets.

If you can blow them away, get them wins and real results fast, this turns members into advocates who will do your marketing for you…

Both by word-of-mouth recommendations and giving you social proof…

In the form of customer reviews, social media posts, and testimonials…

You use these things in your marketing as ‘proof’ of how great your membership is.

3. Leverage your social proof

This is something you should be seeking to do from the day you launch your membership…

Leveraging your social proof can and should become a key part of your marketing strategy.

This means gathering all those reviews, testimonials, case studies, and positive comments and putting them to good use…

Sharing them on social media and including them on your sales page so everyone can see that you have happy members who are getting great results from being part of your community.

This early social proof should form part of the next phase of your marketing activity you conduct after your launch…

It will make those who chose not to sign up on your launch kick themselves for not taking action…

And make them feel FOMO (“Fear of Missing Out”).

This is great opportunity for you to catch their attention, show them what they're missing and make them realize they need to sign up.

4. Follow-up on those non-buyers

Speaking of those who didn’t sign up the first time around…

Don’t forget about them…

Once you have some great social proof and a few weeks have passed, it’s time to follow-up on those non-buyers.

These are the people who were on your mailing list, took part in your launch up to a certain point, but didn't buy.

This is you…

Give it around two to four weeks after your launch before you approach them…

By that point, they may know a bit more about your site and have seen your member wins.

You could start by sending over a simple email, reminding them of the signup deal/discount or promotion you’re currently running…

Or if you’re not running one, maybe a little discount is in order to seal the deal.

If nothing else, this exercise is also an excellent opportunity to get some feedback from them…

After all, they're already on your email list and are interested in your membership…

So what stopped them from joining?

Is there anything you could have done better or differently that would have made them sign up?

Find this out so you can refine your marketing messaging and address any misconceptions and common objections.

5. Kickstart your organic marketing

One of the most important things you can do after your launch is kickstart your day-to-day membership marketing.

This is all the marketing that goes on in between the big launches, promotions, and events…

And brings members in consistently.

It’s the stuff you need to work on every day, the bare minimum you should do to get eyes on your membership.

This type of marketing can take many forms, such as content marketing, paid ads, and social media…

Whatever method you use, your activity needs to be consistent and strategic to reach the right people for your membership.

If you’re unsure about how to kickstart your marketing, head over to the Membership Academy…

We’ve got tons of handy tips, tricks, training resources, and a great community to help you out with your marketing.

6. Celebrate!

Launching a membership is no easy feat…

You've wrestled with the tech, created content, drafted a sales page that has converted and built your site…

Not to mention hosted a successful launch and onboarded your first influx of members who are starting to see results…

So now is the time to pick up that champagne, take the night off, book that spa day or treat yourself to your favorite meal…

You’ve earned it.

Yes, there’s still work to do…

You've now got to deliver an amazing experience for your members, market your business to attract new ones, and build a thriving community.

That's a lot of moving parts…

And while I've said that your launch is the easiest marketing you'll ever do…

That doesn't mean the launch process itself is easy…

It's really not.

It takes so much time, energy and resources to get to the point of launch…

But you've done it.

You're here…

Now is the time to take action and follow the six steps I've outlined above so you can position your membership for growth.