First impressions are everything and every digital publisher should be making a great one. With carefully planned onboarding, the right welcome can engage readers and keep them coming back for more. Even for mobile app downloaders, a more engaged group by definition, onboard messaging is critical.

Onboarding: What’s It All About?

Onboarding originated as a human resources concept and then migrated to video games, online products and apps. In marketing and publishing, onboarding can organize the steps for registering on a site or subscribing to email, for example. From there, brands can infuse them with a stream of emails that ultimately stoke repeat visits.

Domino onboarding stream

During onboarding, publishers take on the role of mentor or guide. They communicate the value of their brand and content to get readers excited about both. For Marigold Engage by Sailthru, it’s one of the most crucial tactics to put into place — and more importantly, test — due to its tremendous effect on long-term engagement.

How to Use Onboarding To Increase Repeat Visits

Getting readers “onboard” through strategic, focused use of onboarding messaging is one of the strategies delineated in our strategy guide, Increasing Repeat Visits. The guide includes both foundational (welcome email and in-app messages) and sophisticated (welcome series that are personalized or refer to acquisition source) methods for optimizing onboarding, including.

Best In Class Onboarding Stream In Action

To illustrate this tactic done right, we’ve included The Christian Science Monitor‘s five-part onboarding series.

It begins with account creation, at which point CSM sends an official welcome. The publisher follows that up by sharing its value proposition: “unbiased professional journalism without slant or rant.” CSM eventually encourages readers to follow the publisher on social media and asks them to subscribe to the print publication.

Christian Science Monitor onboarding

This process encourages ever-deeper engagement in the form of repeat visits, whether they’re in-app or on social media. 

 

Learn more about how you can improve your onboarding messaging with Marigold Engage by Sailthru’s Mobile Marketing Automation Platform.