Onboarding as Conversation

Designing a Progressive Preference-Learning Onboarding Experience for Member’s Mark Community

Domain: Retail membership, community & research
Surface: Mobile & web (asynchronous interaction)
Focus: Preference learning, intent signaling, trust, personalization
Role: Senior Content Designer / Conversational Designer

 
 

The Challenge

Member’s Mark Community is a member-only platform for feedback, testing ideas, and co-creation. Currently the community is managed through a third party website. We now have the opportunity to build a seamless experience in the the Sam’s Club app. The first challenge was onboarding members in a way that felt welcoming and valuable without overwhelming them or turning the experience into a traditional survey.

Because participation is optional and engagement-driven, early trust mattered. Asking too much, too soon risked drop-off and skepticism before members understood the value of participating.

 

My Role

As the senior content designer, I partnered with Product, Research, and Design to:

  • Design the onboarding and profiling experience

  • Write system prompts, explanations, and micro-interactions

  • Define how responses would shape future activities and invitations

 

The Approach

Progressive disclosure over front-loaded questions
 Onboarding was designed as a multi-step conversation rather than a single intake. Members started with low-effort, high-signal prompts and were gradually invited into deeper questions. Skipping or pausing was always allowed.

Clear system framing
 Each prompt included lightweight context explaining why the question was being asked and how the information would be used. This reframed profiling as a value exchange instead of data collection.

Preference and intent modeling
 Responses were designed to function as signals, not just answers. These signals helped the system learn:

  • Product interest areas

  • Preferred participation types

  • Engagement depth and cadence

This created a memory layer the system could reference to personalize future prompts and opportunities.

Invitation, not interrogation
 Language emphasized choice, warmth, and clear exit points. Members were invited to participate rather than pushed to complete every step, preserving trust while still gathering meaningful insight.

 

Why This Matters

This experience applies core conversational design principles in service of our North Star:

  • Turn-based interaction over time
    Enables ongoing dialogue with members rather than one-time data collection, creating space for deeper participation and feedback.

  • Intent and preference learning
    Helps us understand what matters to members so we can invite them into more relevant, meaningful item experiences.

  • Trust-centered data collection
    Builds confidence by being transparent about why we ask questions and how responses are used, strengthening long-term relationships.

  • System memory and adaptation
    Allows the experience to evolve with the member, reinforcing that their input shapes what comes next.

Together, these tactics transform onboarding from a survey into the foundation of a co-creation engine. By learning gradually and acting thoughtfully on member input, the experience deepens relationships with Member’s Mark and supports long-term brand affinity, loyalty, and advocacy.

 

The Outcome

While this experience is not fully live yet, early feedback from business partners and internal teams has been strongly positive. The new model aligns closely with the redesigned Member’s Mark Community and its integration within the Sam’s Club app ecosystem. The experience now feels connected, intentional, and cohesive across touchpoints.