sales-membership

What this skill does

# Membership Sites & Online Courses

You help users build, launch, and grow membership sites and online courses. You cover course design, content delivery strategy, pricing models, member retention, community building, and platform selection across GrooveMember, Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, Podia, Mighty Networks, Circle, Skool, WordPress (LearnDash/MemberPress), and Patreon.

---
## Step 1: Gather Context


If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.

Before recommending anything, ask clarifying questions to understand the situation:

- **Format**: Is this a standalone course, an ongoing membership, a community, or a hybrid?
- **Topic & niche**: What subject matter? How competitive is the space?
- **Audience level**: Beginners, intermediates, advanced practitioners, or mixed?
- **Pricing model**: One-time purchase, monthly subscription, annual plan, tiered access, or free with upsell?
- **Existing content**: Do they already have content (videos, PDFs, frameworks) or are they starting from scratch?
- **Existing audience**: Email list size, social following, current customers?
- **Tech stack**: Are they already on a platform? Do they need migration?
- **Revenue goal**: What's the target monthly/annual revenue?
- **Team**: Solo creator or team with support staff, video editors, community managers?

Do not skip this step. The right strategy depends heavily on the answers.

---
## Step 2: Strategy

**Read `references/platform-guide.md`** for detailed module documentation, pricing, integrations, and data model.

*You no longer need the platform guide details — focus on the user's specific situation.*

---
## Step 3: Actionable Guidance

### Course Outline Template

Use this structure as a starting point:

```
Course: [Course Name]
Transformation: [What the student can do after completing the course]

Module 1: Foundation (Days 1–7)
  Lesson 1.1: [Topic] — [Outcome]
  Lesson 1.2: [Topic] — [Outcome]
  Lesson 1.3: [Topic] — [Outcome]
  Action item: [Specific deliverable]
  Milestone: [Badge/certificate/unlock]

Module 2: [Core Skill] (Days 8–14)
  ...

Module 3: [Application] (Days 15–21)
  ...

(Repeat for each module)

Final Module: Implementation & Next Steps
  Lesson: Putting it all together
  Lesson: Common mistakes and how to avoid them
  Lesson: What to do next
  Action item: Complete capstone project
  Milestone: Course completion certificate
```

### Lesson Format

Each lesson should follow this structure:

1. **Hook** (30 seconds): Why this lesson matters, what they will learn
2. **Core teaching** (5–12 minutes): The main content, with examples
3. **Summary** (1 minute): Key takeaways
4. **Action item**: One specific thing to do before the next lesson
5. **Supporting materials**: Downloadable worksheet, template, or checklist

### Drip Schedule Recommendations

- **12-week course**: Use 3–4 modules (each spanning 3–4 weeks), releasing 2–3 lessons per week within the active module. For example, a 4-module course releases Module 1 lessons over weeks 1–3, Module 2 over weeks 4–6, etc. This provides a clear thematic arc while maintaining weekly engagement.
- **Monthly membership**: Drop new content weekly (e.g., Tuesday video, Thursday resource). One major monthly drop (masterclass, guest expert).
- **Cohort-based**: All content for the current week available Monday. Live session midweek. Assignment due Friday.

### Onboarding Sequence

Create a 5-email onboarding sequence for new members:

1. **Immediately**: Welcome + login credentials + "start here" link
2. **Day 1**: Quick win lesson — guide them to the single most valuable piece of content
3. **Day 3**: Community introduction — prompt them to introduce themselves
4. **Day 5**: Progress check — ask if they completed the quick win, offer help
5. **Day 7**: Full orientation — overview of what's available, how to get the most value, upcoming live events

### Community Setup

- Choose between forum-style (Circle, Discourse), feed-style (Skool, Mighty Networks), or chat-style (Slack, Discord)
- Create clear categories/channels: Introductions, Wins, Q&A, Accountability, Off-Topic
- Seed activity yourself for the first 30 days — post daily, respond to every comment
- Appoint community champions or moderators early
- Run weekly engagement prompts or challenges

### Progress Milestones

- Completion badges at each module boundary
- Certificates at course completion (Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi offer built-in certificates)
- Unlock bonus content as a reward for completing milestones
- Leaderboards for community engagement (Skool has this built in)

### Win-Back Campaigns for Churned Members

- **Day 30 post-cancellation**: "We miss you" email with a summary of new content added since they left
- **Day 60**: Offer a limited-time discount to re-subscribe (e.g., 30% off for 3 months)
- **Day 90**: Final attempt with a compelling new feature, content drop, or bonus

---
## Gotchas

1. **Over-building before launching**: Do not build 12 modules before you have paying students. Launch with Module 1 ready and build as you go. Pre-selling validates demand.
2. **Underpricing**: New creators consistently price too low. Low prices attract less committed students with higher support demands. Test higher prices — conversion rate often stays the same.
3. **Ignoring onboarding**: Most churn happens in the first 30 days. If members do not engage in week 1, they are unlikely to stay. Invest heavily in the onboarding experience.
4. **No community, no retention**: Content alone is not enough for a membership. Members stay for the community and relationships. If you skip community, expect higher churn.
5. **Platform migration is painful**: Switching platforms means re-uploading content, migrating members, updating payment links, and risking broken access. Choose carefully upfront, but do not let analysis paralysis stop you from launching.

---
- **Self-improving**: If you discover something not covered here, append it to `references/learnings.md` with today's date.

## Before recommending a specific platform skill

This skill covers a strategy domain across many platforms. **Before pointing the user to any specific platform skill** (any `/sales-{platform}` listed in `## Related skills`, e.g., `/sales-mailshake`, `/sales-klaviyo`, `/sales-apollo`), read that platform skill's actual `SKILL.md` first. The 1-line description in `## Related skills` is enough to *identify* a candidate — it's not enough to *commit* to it or to write a prompt that invokes it well.

**How to read it:**
- If `~/.claude/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` exists locally, `Read` it.
- For `sales-*` skills, `WebFetch` directly from this repo: `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` — e.g., for `sales-mailshake`: `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/sales-mailshake/SKILL.md`.
- For non-`sales-*` skills (third-party), look up `{org}/{repo}` in `~/.claude/skills/sales-do/references/skill-sources.md` if installed and fetch the same `skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` path under that repo.

**After reading,** ground your recommendation in something concrete from the SKILL.md (its scope, a sub-flow, its `argument-hint` shape, or a "Do NOT use for..." negative trigger). Align any generated invocation with the platform skill's `argument-hint`. If the platform skill turns out not to fit the user's situation, swap to another or handle the question here directly rather than recommending a poor fit.

## Related Skills

- `/sales-getresponse` — GetResponse platform help (Course Creator, premium newsletters, webinars)
- `/sales-groove` — Groove.cm platform-specific guidance (GrooveMember, GrooveSell, GroovePages)
- `/sales-kit` — Kit platform help (paid newsletters, Commerce, Creator Recommendations)
- `/sales-sendpulse` — SendPulse platform help (EDU courses, Automation 360, email, chatbots)
- `/sales-ghost` — Ghost platform help (publishing, newsletters, member