5 easy steps to map your member journey

Meet your members where they are with exactly what they need

Photo by Nick Seagrave on Unsplash

Have you ever felt like everyone was miles ahead of you and no matter how hard you tried, you’d never catch up?

When I was 14, I lived in the south of France on an exchange program. My French was elementary at best, so when it came to living with a French family and taking classes in a French school, I was way out of my depth. It felt like riding a tricycle surrounded by cyclists from the Tour de France.

Then when I returned to the US, the tables flipped. Now fluent, I signed up for AP French. After being completely immersed in the language, the class taught by my American teacher felt like a joke. In the span of a year, I'd gone from feeling frustrated and discouraged to feeling frustrated and bored.

Feeling way ahead of the group is boring. Feeling way behind is discouraging. And that’s why mapping your member journey is so important.

When people are entering your community at different stages in their development, a roadmap helps you meet them where they are. Novices receive a gentle introduction while more advanced members get the challenge they need.

In community, there’s no such thing as being “ahead” or “behind.” There’s just meeting members where they are and helping them progress to the next step.

The member journey map is how you do it.

How to Map Your Member Journey

1. Clearly define the start and end points – Point A and Point B.

At Point A: What does a new member think, know, feel, and believe? What’s hard for them? What problem do they want to solve?

At Point B: What does a successful member think, know, feel, and believe? How do they know they’ve “arrived?” What’s easy now that was difficult before?

2. Identify key milestones.

Don’t worry about putting them in order yet. Just list out every milestone a person needs to hit on their way from Point A to Point B.

For example, before you learn to swim, you have to learn to float. Before you learn to float, you have to get comfortable putting your face in the water.

If you made this transformation yourself, reflect on your journey. Focus on times you went sideways, got delayed, struggled, or felt alone. How can you spare your members the detours and headaches you endured?

If you have an existing community, think about a member who has made great progress. What steps did they take on the way from Point A to Point B? If you’re not sure, set up a call to ask them.

3. Put the steps in order.

Once you have all your milestones listed, put them in sequence. Your member journey should have no more than seven steps – mindset is almost always Step 1.

You can order these in a Google Doc, a Trello board, or a wall of Post-It Notes. Personally, I like to use a template like this one from Miro.

As I was writing this newsletter, I attended a fundraising dinner in my city. Check out this excellent example of a journey map from the Raleigh Rescue Mission, a nonprofit which helps people living in homelessness transition to home ownership:

4. Break down each milestone into action items.

Think about the actions specific to your community a member has to take to achieve each milestone. This helps you architect your community so everything – events, lessons, discussions – guides them to progress.

5. Identify red-flag areas.

Your members will get stuck along the path. That’s OK! Just have a plan in place to get them moving again.

Track members’ emotions at each stage and watch for areas where they’re likely to become frustrated. Some action items can feel like a slog. Brainstorm ways to keep people engaged at slow points – like gamification, surprise and delight, rituals, or community challenges.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of finding and onboarding new members, especially when your community is new. But if you want those members to stick around (and you do), you need to give them a sense that they’re making progress toward their goals.

Mapping the member journey gives your members a path to success, and it gives you a clear sense of how to create a valuable, engaging environment for them.

Happy mapping!

PS. Building a community is easier when you don’t go it alone. Book a call when you need some help breathing life into your community.