Onboarding: Impact’s 8 Key Must-Win Moments For Brands
According to Harvard Business Review, 88% of employees feel that their organisation’s onboarding practices could be improved. Meanwhile, in the member organisation realm, almost half of surveyed individual member organisations are losing 40% of their first-year members. Appropriate onboarding saves money in recruitment and productivity. So, it is worth it to invest in strategies that make your new members and employees feel appreciated, welcome and prepared.
Branded merchandise is the perfect accompaniment to your onboarding strategy. Below, we’ll show you how to incorporate real products into your onboarding practices to make the best first, and lasting impression.
What is Onboarding?
Onboarding is how you introduce new employees and members to your brand. For employees, onboarding processes introduce their new workplace and teammates, and familiarise them with brand policies, processes and the work they’ll be performing.
Essentially, thoughtful and thorough onboarding demonstrates your brand’s commitment to your employee’s success.
In the same vein, effective onboarding of members new to your association demonstrates your commitment to providing the most value for their membership. As your members are orientated to your organisation, its processes and benefits, they should receive insights into your brand identity. Familiarity and trust then leads to a longer-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship.
“A strong start gives you an advantage in facilitating long-term happiness and success as part of your community... How you welcome new members to your association sets the tone for their overall membership experience, so don’t neglect this important part of the process.”
Impact’s 8 Key Must-Win Moments
What are they?
Over our 20+ years of branding experience, we’ve learned that the most effective brands connect with their audience in key must-win moments. Now, these moments vary across industries, but we’ve narrowed them down to the eight most common.
- Onboarding
- Point of Sale Presence
- Events and Tradeshows
- Campaigns and Promotions
- Gift With Purchase
- Educational Campaigns
- Rewards
- Calendar-Based Events
You may find that your brand focus is just one of the key moments. On the other hand, your brand might find the most success in three, or five, or all of these. Whichever it is, if you can bring your brand to life in these key must-win moments, you can make a meaningful connection with your audience.
Why is onboarding one of the key, must-win moments?
You know that first impressions are incredibly important. While onboarding is not the first time your employees or members encounter your brand, it is their first look behind the curtain. As such, onboarding sets the tone for their entire experience. How they’re onboarded influences their perception of your brand.
Effective onboarding also helps your members understand the value and benefits of your brand. It ensures they have a smooth transition into accessing your services, reducing the likelihood of confusion or frustration. This, in turn, increases member retention and engagement, as they are more likely to continue using your service or participating in association activities.
Joining your team or community is a critical moment. You can improve your onboarding and win this key moment with the help of branded merchandise. Below are some examples.
“Organizations with strong onboarding practices improve employee retention by 82% and productivity by more than 70%.”
– Rebecca Zucker
How to enhance your onboarding with promotional products.
Equip your team
When your new hires start it’s likely that they’re not starting fully equipped. Whether they’ve been in a similar role or not, they’ll need to be completely set up to make them feel comfortable and prepared. Promotional products, or branded merchandise can help them feel like part of the team.
A uniform is the first thing you might think of. You can read about uniforms and branded apparel in another blog, but the idea is that everyone on your team is on-brand. Uniforms, or any branded apparel, facilitate that feeling of belonging.
Backpacks are another common onboarding product. They’re functional and diverse, with styles and features useful to any industry. If your new starters are commuters, a backpack with hi-vis elements or anti-theft functions would be a great onboarding gift. Equipment that makes their work-life easier is a great place to start with onboarding products.
Mugs, mouse mats, notebooks and pens are other common onboarding products. They can be used on site and in the home-office. But if you’re looking for something more functional, or more unique, consider a branded laptop stand or wireless charging desk clock.
Welcome your members
Show your new members that they’ve made the right choice. Firstly, by thanking them. Promotional products make great thank you gifts. Exclusive gifts, just for new members, makes your promotional products even more desirable. For premium sign-ups, you might like to give them beautiful, branded glassware that they can’t get anywhere else.
Secondly, your onboarding goal might be to add value to new memberships. Not only will you be making your services available, but your members will also be rewarded for signing up. Sweeten the deal with bonus merch to increase member satisfaction and engagement. This type of onboarding pack would include fun and functional products like stress items, stationery and tech products.
Finally, what’s a warm welcome without an introduction? Facilitating a community is a key method to increasing initial engagement that leads to future engagement. As stated above, uniforms are a great way to create a team. Matching t-shirts are the equivalent in a member organisation environment. They don’t need to be wearing them at the same time, or even in the same place. Just knowing that others have received the same helps to build a community that your new members are a now a part of.
Create on-brand experiences.
Whatever your onboarding goals, aligning with your brand identity is key. So what is on-brand for your business? Are you fostering a “family feel”? Or perhaps a professional network niche? You can show more of your brand personality through the welcome gifts and branded start-up packs you give.
Is your brand about warmth and building relationships? You could be the grandma that sends socks through the mail.
Or the trusted advisor that forsees any issue and always has the just the thing. For your new hybrid worker, it’s a multi-device charging dock.
Finally, your brand might be the industry leader who understands members’ needs and fills them with custom, industry specific merchandise.
Whatever your brand, promotional products can amplify who you are. They’re tools to enable on-brand interactions and create memorable experiences in your key moments.
Onboarding can be done better. Welcoming people into your brand is a key moment. It should give them everything they need to be successful. Whether that’s knowledge of your processes and systems, an introduction to their new support network or the equipment that can make their work-life more enjoyable. It should also reflect who you are and how much you appreciate the individual investing their time and energy with you. You can express your thanks and provide more value with promotional products.
For more insights, have a look at a few of the articles below.
Three Ways to Leverage Your Branded Merchandise to Support Hybrid Employees – Forbes
Onboarding Best Practices – Forbes
