#130 Before You Hit 'Go Live' On Your Community
This week, our team at Affinity launched a brand-new community experience for a client with over 1,000 members.
🎧 ON THE POD: I shared the full list of what we did to make this migration a success — from member interviews and beta testing, to communication plans, onboarding emails, DM automations, and how we used ambassadors to model engagement.
They’ve always had a thriving curriculum and in-person events, but they needed a true online community to bring it all together... a place where members could connect between those big, transformational gatherings.
It wasn’t just about migrating platforms. It was about creating a community of practice and connecting members to one another. We wanted to create a place that members actually want to log into.
Here are the 4 strategic moves I’d highly recommend before launching or migrating to a new community experience.
(1) Talk to your members before you build
Most community launches skip this step and start with creating a giant list of features. We started with conversations.
We ran surveys and 1:1 interviews to uncover what really mattered: who members wanted to meet, what felt missing between events, and what would make them log in consistently.
These conversations helped us prioritize the right features and strip out distractions. The result was a build that felt personalized, not generic.
If you’re designing a new community, talk to your members first. The best platform decisions come from empathy, not assumptions.
(2) Beta test before going all in
Before inviting everyone, we ran a beta with a small group of members and the internal team.
It gave us a safe space to experiment, gather feedback, and identify friction points before launch. We found a few places we over-engineered the setup at first.
That early test helped us scale back to something simpler and more effective. A beta is all about getting clarity. You don't really know how things are going to work until you get real humans interacting with it.
(3) Plant members to model behavior
Nobody wants to be the first to show up to the party.
We invited a small group of ambassadors before launch day so they could seed discussions, post resources, and model engagement. By the time other members arrived, the space already felt active and welcoming.
Culture spreads through people, not features. If you want your launch to feel alive, give your early adopters structure, purpose, and a clear way to lead the way.
(4) Design onboarding around quick wins
One of the first actions in our onboarding flow was simple: RSVP to an event. When we defined what ​meaningful engagement​ looked like, it was attending live events, and connecting to other members.
Onboarding isn’t about showing off features... it’s about creating momentum! Every community needs at least one quick win that helps new members feel like they belong from day one.
Your Action Steps:
Interview 3–5 members before you build or migrate.
Run a small beta and adjust based on what you learn.
Invite ambassadors early to seed posts and set the tone.
Design your onboarding around one clear, immediate win.
That’s the foundation we used for this week’s launch, and it’s the same playbook we adapt for every client project.
No two communities are alike. Every migration, every launch, every member journey has its own nuance... and that’s where strategy and thoughtful design make all the difference.
If you’re preparing to launch or migrate your own community, we can help you build a plan that aligns with your goals, your members, and the way you actually want to lead.