In this solo teaching episode of the People Magic Profit masterclass, Gina Bianchini explains why a poorly designed onboarding experience can sabotage a new community and offers a concrete framework for creating a "magical first experience" that drives engagement and profit. She contrasts a high‑ticket membership with a chaotic, multi‑platform onboarding process (four separate welcome emails, three different login locations) against the streamlined, value‑focused onboarding of Marie Forleo’s Dream Club on Mighty Networks. Bianchini presents a three‑part formula—Purpose + Connection + Surprise—and walks through practical tactics for each pillar, including welcome videos, launch‑day events, ambassador cultures, welcome committees, member profile stories, livestreams, curated playlists, unexpected insights, toasts, and live surprise events. She then showcases Mighty Networks features (confetti welcome, customizable checklists, People Explorer, Show Similarities, conversation starters) that automate these tactics. Real‑world examples from Playwork, Live Richer Academy, The Outlier Project, and Bite Shot illustrate how the formula works in diverse niches. The episode closes with a call to action: start a free Mighty Networks trial and join the companion People Magic podcast for deeper Q&A.
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You have worked hard to get your members into your new membership or course or challenge or event, and making that first experience magical is so important and also really fun. Woo! And then the final module, Module 9, a magical first experience for your members. Why do I actually feel the need to call out creating a magical first experience? Well, I want to show you something that I got when I joined a high-ticket membership recently. So this is a membership, $1,750 per month for entrepreneurs. As you can see, this is my inbox. I set up a folder for all the emails I was getting from this new membership. And when I counted them up in the first day after spending money, I had 4 emails, 4 separate emails. And this one I thought was actually kind of the most interesting because I had to join 3 different places to be able to understand how this membership was set up. This is just too much work for people. And in 2024, 2025, and beyond, this just isn't a magical first experience. So now let me compare this kind of first experience, a non-magical first experience, to something that I also just joined recently, which is Marie Forleo's Dream Club on Mighty Networks. Not only did I get an amazing welcome email, but then when I joined, I am immediately welcomed by Marie. I click View Profile and I have a customized video. I have a very clear welcome checklist. I have a clear tour over on the left-hand side. It is simple, it is easy, it is human, and it speaks to what is possible when you focus in on creating a magical first experience for your members. So this is the most important thing. So many times when we want to get our members in, and especially if we're trying to use different platforms and we have our courses on one place, our community somewhere else, our coaching business on a third, we focus on logistics or mechanics and the value of your membership, the one that you just worked really, really hard to create your offer and your launch and your sales page and invite new people in. Gets lost. It's not a magical first experience if you focus on mechanics because you're just trying to get people into all of the different places. That no longer works. It's time-consuming for you, it's laborious for your new members, and it is hard. Now, granted, people pay attention to what they pay for. So the price tag of what I just showed you isn't the problem. The problem is that I have no value from it. So instead of focusing in on the logistics or the mechanics with maybe a little bit of value, flip it on its head and make your first experience for your new members all about the value and a little bit about the mechanics. So let's look at what the formula for that value creation is. Add purpose plus connection Plus surprise equals that magical first experience for your new members. Reinforce why they're here. What is your big purpose? What is it that they are going to be able to achieve as a result of your community? Then get them making connections with other members as quickly as possible. So purpose, connection, and surprise. That is the formula for a magical first experience. Now, let me give you some examples of what I mean by each of these things. So for purpose, you want to make a great welcome video that starts with the culture that you want. So as you think about your best year ever and you think about all of those hopes and dreams that you have for this community, when you were there before you had launched, turn it into a video. And start to articulate the culture that you want to create, what you want members to do. Avoid guidelines and rules and things that you don't want people to do. With the precious time and attention you have from someone, talk to them about the things that are going to be possible when they contribute in the community. So that is how you want to start with purpose. Then, as we talked about in the last module, you want to host a launch day welcome event. So this is an event where you reinforce your big purpose and start to introduce members to each other. I also like an introductory workshop. That's another thing that you could do that might actually break things down into maybe a few-minute videos or a little bit of text. Finally, if I could recommend anything, It's this. Just ask them to introduce themselves. It is a natural part of human behavior, and it turns out we have built a little mighty co-host feature that helps make it easy for them to do. So that's the only thing that you want to ask people to do. Just introduce themselves. So those are the things that create a magical first experience on the purpose side. So now let's tackle how do you start to make connections between members? I want to start with creating an ambassador culture. And here's what I mean by this. When you let people in your community know that you are open and this community is open for them to nominate, recommend, or invite in other members that fit your ideal member profile, something happens. Something beautiful happens. But you need to make the ask and make sure you have the ambassador features available on your Mighty Network turned on. You want people to feel from their very first session that they are joining friends and that when they invite somebody else in, they're also going to have a magical first experience. I also love the idea and where it's happened. It's been incredibly successful. Successful, a welcome committee. This is a set of people that you've asked or they've raised their hand as you asked for volunteers to welcome new members. It's easy to find new members. It's easy to explore new members. Get to that in a moment. I also love member profile stories. Talked about them a little bit in the weekly calendar. It's a great way to highlight who else is here for your new members as well as returning members. Turns out this is one of our most popular forms of content. And the reason these work so well is because fundamentally people love people. They're curious about people, and they're especially curious about people who are like them. So definitely take advantage of a member profile story. To kick things off for your new members. And finally, if you want to do it, not a requirement, but it's certainly fun, is you can have a weekly new member livestream. This is a way for them to get to know each other, for you to be able to again share the culture you're creating in your community, in your membership, that is about what you want people to do. Not all the things you don't want people to do. So those are just the tip of the iceberg of ways that you can create connections between your members, especially your new members in their very first session. Finally, surprise. Here are some of the things that we've seen and that we've actually done very successfully as well. So create and share your community's playlist, whether it is on any of the music services. Go ahead and create something that tells a new member, Hey, this is some of what we're listening to and the vibe of this community. So another example of surprise is perhaps an unexpected insight that you have from your research or that you've learned from other members in the community. Giving new members that sense that they're now a part of your special club because they know something that they didn't know before they joined is always super fun. Another one is offering new members a toast, a blessing, or a wish. It doesn't cost any money, and it's something that is so lovely and thoughtful that you can repeat with every new member who joins. And when you repeat something with every new member who joins, they know what the culture of your community, of your membership is. Finally, this is always something really fun if you have a following Which is if you see a new member join or a handful of new members join, just go live. And when you just go live in your Mighty Network, everyone's notified of this new unexpected event happening right then and there. Now I want to show you a few of the features that you have in a Mighty Network to make all of this so much easier. Easier. So this is when someone joins, first and foremost, they are welcomed with confetti. And if they came in through a link from a host or another member, that person is shown to them. So they basically have a friend when they join. Another example of creating a magical first experience is with the welcome checklist. So over on the right-hand side, you see a totally customized to this community welcome checklist. Now, this can be as short or as long as you want it to be. So in addition to a welcome checklist, what I'm about to show you is my favorite. So this is the People Explorer. And what this means is that all of the members of your network, of your community, show up for a new member or a returning member to be able to explore. And when they click on any of these profiles, they'll immediately get that introduction. They'll immediately be able to start talking to these other members. This has been an incredibly popular feature, and it's something that you can only find on a Mighty Network. Every profile page in a Mighty Network also shows other relevant members. So instead of any member's profile being something you click into and then you have to click away from, It is a path to discover different members. And this is one of my favorite features. The Show Similarities button will instantly show whoever is looking at Mia's profile here. So immediately you can see what you have in common with the other members in this community. So it's not just using AI to make content. It's about using AI to make connections. If you want to break the ice and have a little bit of help in terms of what you could start a conversation with, you have a conversation starter that shows up as an option in every DM. Now let me show you just a couple examples. So the first is Playwork. This is a community I used as an example in an earlier module. These are early career stage computer programmers and engineers who love to game. And for members of Playwork, the first thing that they are encouraged to do is start to attend live events with other members that they're gaming together. Then there is a personal tour of the Playwork community, and finally there is an intro call with the team. Another example is the Live Richer Academy from The Budgetista, Tiffany Aliche. And her incredible community all around financial wealth, health, and freedom. So in their magical first experience, they surprise new members with a bonus mini course on investing. Then they have a totally personalized welcome email, and finally, a free book on how to grow and maintain a multimillion-dollar business. So these are just little surprises, things that they weren't necessarily expecting when they joined, that they get when they join the Live Richer Academy. The Outlier Project, which is for driven leaders ready to prioritize self-improvement. Their magical first experience is an IRL, in real life, meetup opportunity for members all over the country. Then there is badging. A brand new member has an opportunity to take one action and get their own badge. Finally, there is a warm and welcoming welcome video from the hosts of The Outlier Project. Here's another example, the Bite Shot for food photographers excited to improve their skills and feel confident behind the camera. Their magical first experience is a free downloadable gift for members. They also have a fantastic welcome video And an invitation to a free 52-week food photography challenge. And so that's the magical first experience. And with it is the end of People Magic Profit, the masterclass. I wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of this. It really means a lot to me that you've invested the time to watch these videos, and hopefully I have inspired you To start a free trial of a Mighty Network. So what's next? Well, I have 2 things. Number one, if you have not already started your free trial of a Mighty Network, I do not know what you are waiting for. It is awesome. And you are one step away from creating something that you can be truly proud of and generates real profit. Second, you are not alone if you have questions that come out of learning about People Magic and learning about People Magic Profit. That's why I created a companion podcast, People Magic: How to Build a $1 Million Business. It's a lot more casual. It's a lot of your questions that I answer in real time, and I would love for you to be a part of it. And with that, thank you, and we'll see you on Mighty Network. Woo! Thanks for tuning in to People Magic Profit, a 9-part series where I show you exactly how to build the most profitable digital community membership by creating people magic. And if you want more, I have got a podcast also called People Magic, where we do a deep dive of all of the topics I've covered in this masterclass. Head on over to Mighty Networks where we have got a free trial waiting for you. Until next time, I'm Gina Bianchini, and thanks for being a part of People Magic Profit.
