Discord Onboarding Setup Guide: Welcome and Engage New Members

If you’re managing a Discord community, creating a positive first impression for new members is critical. Their initial experiences significantly impact their likelihood of engagement and long-term participation. This is where Discord’s Community Onboarding features become indispensable.

Community Onboarding provides the tools to design a welcoming and informative journey for every newcomer. By customizing this initial experience, you can effectively guide new members through your server’s channels, roles, guidelines, and culture, ensuring they feel at home from the moment they join.

A well-executed Discord onboarding process can dramatically improve your community in several ways:

• Increased New Member Engagement and Retention: By making it easy for new members to understand and participate, you encourage them to become active contributors and stay longer.
• Reduced Confusion and Support Requests: Clear onboarding answers common questions upfront, minimizing confusion and the need for support.
• Reinforced Community Identity and Values: Onboarding is an opportunity to showcase what makes your community unique and to communicate your core principles effectively.
• Instant Welcome and Value Proposition: New members feel valued and understood immediately, fostering a sense of belonging.
• Empowered Contribution: By providing context and connections, onboarding equips newcomers to start contributing meaningfully right away.

Essentially, effective Discord onboarding transforms new arrivals from passive observers into active, engaged community members, building a thriving and sustainable community.

This guide will provide a step-by-step walkthrough of Discord’s Community Onboarding tools, enabling you to design an exceptional onboarding experience. We will cover everything from pre-join safety measures to crafting a compelling Server Guide. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a comprehensive plan to create a Discord onboarding flow that effectively informs, welcomes, and empowers every new member for success.

Getting Started with Discord Community Onboarding

To begin setting up Community Onboarding, navigate to your Server Settings and find the Onboarding tab under the Community section. If you don’t see it, ensure your server is in Community mode. You can enable this by going to Server Settings, then Enable Community.

Setting up your complete onboarding flow involves five key steps:

1. Safety Check
2. Default Channels
3. Customization Questions
4. Server Guide
5. Review and Enable

Let’s delve into each of these steps to build a robust and welcoming onboarding experience. First, ensuring your server is safe and prepared for new members is paramount.

Step 1: Implementing Safety Checks for New Members

Before opening your server to a stream of new members, implementing strong safety measures is crucial. Discord offers a suite of powerful tools to protect your community, and you’ll configure these in the initial safety check step of the Discord onboarding process.

Raid Protection and CAPTCHA Settings

Begin by examining your Raid Protection and CAPTCHA settings.

Enable Activity Alerts to receive notifications when DM or join activity spikes beyond your server’s usual levels. Each alert will provide details about the activity and the number of joins or DMs. This feature is vital for early detection of potential raids or spam attacks.

You can also enforce CAPTCHA verification for suspicious accounts before they can join, and for all accounts during suspected raid events. This adds a layer of security against automated bots and malicious actors.

DM and Spam Protection Configuration

Next, proceed to the DM and Spam Protection settings to further enhance server security.

Under Verification Level, select Low – Must have verified email on account. This basic verification step ensures new members have a verified email associated with their Discord account, deterring throwaway accounts and spam.

Activate Hide DMs from suspicious users. This automatically filters potentially harmful DMs into a separate Spam Inbox, allowing members to review and report them as needed. This feature helps protect members from phishing attempts and unwanted messages.

Turn on Filter DMs from unknown users to hold DMs from users not on a member’s friend list in a Message Requests Inbox, pending member approval. This gives members more control over who can directly message them.

For the highest level of safety, check Accept the rules. This requires new members to explicitly agree to your server rules before they can participate, setting clear expectations from the outset.

AutoMod Setup for Content Moderation

Now, configure your AutoMod settings to automate content moderation and maintain a safe environment. Start by blocking commonly identified spam phrases under Block Suspected Spam Content. This proactively filters out obvious spam messages.

Flag messages containing profanity or slurs by setting up the Block Commonly Flagged Words filter. This helps maintain a respectful and inclusive community environment by automatically flagging inappropriate language.

Create custom word filters under Block Custom Words to catch server-specific problematic phrases or terms. You have options to automatically block messages, send alerts to moderators, and even time out offending members. This provides granular control over content moderation tailored to your community’s needs.

Automatically filter media messages from specific channels using the Explicit image filter. Note: this feature requires enabling in your main Server Settings first, under the Moderation section, to appear here. This helps ensure channels intended for general audiences remain safe for all members.

Permissions Review for Roles and Channels

Finally, review your channel and role Permissions to ensure appropriate access levels.

If not already required, consider enabling 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) for moderator actions like banning and kicking members. This adds an extra layer of security to prevent unauthorized moderation actions.

Ensure the @everyone role has appropriate view and post permissions in your welcome and rules channels, allowing new members to access essential information. However, restrict @everyone access to moderator-only areas to maintain server control and organization.

Remember, these safety settings are not just for initial onboarding setup. You can revisit and adjust them anytime in Server Settings, under Safety Setup in the Moderation section. This adaptability is crucial as your community grows and evolves, and new threats may emerge.

By meticulously configuring these safety measures, you significantly reduce the risk of spam, raids, and inappropriate content, creating a secure and welcoming foundation for new members. With this critical first step completed, you are well-prepared to confidently move forward with your Discord onboarding setup process.

Step 2: Choosing Default Channels for New Members

With your safety settings in place, the next step is to select the channels new members will initially see upon joining your server.

Community Onboarding offers two modes for setting up Default Channels: Regular and Advanced. Each mode provides different levels of customization and control.

Regular Mode: Simplified Default Channel Selection

Regular Mode provides a straightforward way to designate your Default Channels, prioritizing ease of setup:

• Minimum Channel Requirement: You must select at least 7 channels in total to ensure a comprehensive initial experience.
• Chattable Channel Minimum: A minimum of 5 of these channels must have @everyone permission to view and post, encouraging immediate interaction.
• Easy Channel Toggling: Mark channels as Default by toggling them on or off directly within your server’s channel list. This provides a visually intuitive selection process.
• Category Tracking: Easily monitor the number of channels you’ve selected in each category (Text, Voice, etc.), ensuring balanced channel visibility.

Regular Mode is ideal for servers looking for a quick and simple way to set up default channels without delving into more complex configurations.

Advanced Mode: Granular Control and Pre-Join Questions

Advanced Mode offers a more customized and powerful approach to Default Channels, along with the added benefit of Pre-join Questions:

• Categorized Channel Selection: Select your Default Channels within each channel category (e.g., Text Channels, Voice Channels) for a clearer and more organized overview. This allows for strategic channel placement based on category.
• Visibility Identification: Clearly identify channels with limited visibility (like #moderator-only) and decide whether to include them in the default selection. This provides precise control over initial channel access.
• Progress Feedback: Receive instant feedback on your progress, with alerts if you don’t meet the 7 channel/5 chattable channel requirements. This ensures compliance with the onboarding setup requirements.
• Centralized Interface: Manage all your Default Channel decisions in one central interface, streamlining the setup process.

Beyond fine-tuned Default Channel control, Advanced Mode unlocks Pre-join Questions. These questions appear to new members before they fully join your server, allowing you to gather valuable information and tailor their initial experience.

Pre-join Questions enable you to:

• Learn Member Interests: Understand what new members are interested in to direct them to relevant channels.
• Assign Roles Automatically: Grant roles based on member responses, such as interest-based roles or notification roles.
• Personalize Onboarding: Customize the onboarding experience based on individual member profiles.

To avoid overwhelming new members, aim for 3-5 concise Pre-join Questions. Each question should have a clear purpose and directly link to the channels and roles granted based on the answers. Keep the question process quick and engaging to maximize completion rates.

Effective Pre-join Question formats include:

• Multiple Choice Interest Selection: “What are your primary interests? Choose up to 3!” (Answers grant access to relevant topic channels like #sports, #gaming, #music). This is a great way to segment members into interest-based groups.
• Skill Level Assessment: “What’s your skill level with [your community focus]?” (Answers like Novice, Practiced, Expert assign corresponding leveled roles, useful for skill-based communities). This allows for role assignment based on expertise.
• Purpose of Joining: “What do you want to do here? Select all that apply:” (Answers like Make Friends, Collaborate, Learn, Share Content provide access to aligned channels/roles, useful for communities with diverse activities). This helps direct members to channels aligned with their goals.
• Rules Agreement Confirmation: “Do you accept our community rules?” (Single mandatory Yes/No answer to confirm rules agreement before joining, essential for compliance). This ensures rule acknowledgment before entry.

As you design your questions, clearly map which channels and roles are associated with each potential answer. These will be automatically assigned to members based on their selections, creating a personalized entry experience.

To provide additional context, you can add a brief description under each answer choice. Keep descriptions concise to maintain a smooth and efficient answering process.

Mark critical questions, such as rules acceptance, as required before joining. For more flexible questions, allow members to change their answers later, accommodating evolving interests and preferences.

Whether you choose Regular or Advanced Mode, thoughtfully selecting your Default Channels (and Pre-join Questions in Advanced Mode) is crucial for crafting a dynamic, personalized onboarding experience. This strategic approach ensures new members are immediately exposed to your community’s most valuable and relevant spaces from the very beginning, fostering engagement and a sense of belonging.

Step 3: Setting Up Customization Questions for Member Insights

This step in the onboarding process differs significantly depending on whether you selected Regular or Advanced Mode for Default Channels. Let’s examine the unique question setup process for each mode.

Regular Mode: Combining Pre-join and Post-join Questions

In Regular Mode, you’ll configure both Pre-join and Post-join Questions within the “Customization Questions” section. This consolidated approach streamlines question management within the simpler Regular Mode framework.

Pre-join Questions are presented to new members before they officially join your server. Leverage these questions to:

• Assign Key Channels and Roles: Grant access to essential channels and roles based on member responses, tailoring their initial server view.
• Ensure Rules Agreement: Confirm new members have read and agreed to your server rules before entering the community space.
• Gather Essential Information: Collect key data to personalize their onboarding experience from the outset, making them feel understood and welcomed.

Post-join Questions are displayed on the Channels & Roles page after a member joins the server. These questions are excellent for:

• Collecting Optional Information: Gather bonus details about new members’ interests and preferences, enriching member profiles.
• Prompting Onboarding Actions: Encourage key onboarding activities, such as introducing themselves or subscribing to specific channels.
• Assigning Opt-in Roles: Grant vanity roles or opt-in notification roles based on member selections, allowing for personalized server experiences.

You’ll see a preview of all your questions, with Pre-join Questions listed first for clarity. To add a new question, click the Add a Question button and specify whether it should be asked before or after joining.

If any public channels are missing from your Customization Questions and Default Channels, you’ll receive an alert. Ensure all key channels are incorporated into either Customization Questions or Default Channels to create a seamless onboarding flow and prevent members from missing important areas.

Advanced Mode: Focusing on Post-join Questions

In Advanced Mode, the Customization Questions step exclusively focuses on Post-join Questions. Pre-join Questions are configured separately in the Pre-join Questions & Default Channels section, providing a clear separation of question types within the more complex Advanced Mode.

Post-join Questions in Advanced Mode appear in the designated #onboarding channel after a member successfully joins the server. These questions are designed to help you:

• Deepen Member Understanding: Learn more about your new members’ interests, goals, and motivations for joining your community.
• Guide Initial Engagement: Direct them to take important first steps within your community, such as participating in introductions or exploring specific channels.
• Enable Self-Selected Roles: Allow members to self-select roles for notifications, channel access, or profile customization, enhancing personalization.

To create a Post-join Question in Advanced Mode, click Add a Question and choose either Multiple Choice or Open Text format, depending on the type of information you want to collect.

For Multiple Choice questions, you can assign specific roles to grant for each answer option. This enables automated role assignment for elements like pronoun roles, regional roles, or access to opt-in content categories based on member choices.

Open Text questions provide members with more flexibility to share information in their own words. These are ideal for prompts like “What’s a fun fact about you?” or “Why did you decide to join our community?”. Open text questions can foster a more personal and conversational onboarding experience.

As you set up your Post-join Questions in Advanced Mode, be mindful of alerts indicating missing public channels in your questions or Default Channel selection. Ensure every key channel is accounted for across these two sections to create a comprehensive and navigable server environment for new members.

Regardless of whether you are using Regular or Advanced Mode, Customization Questions are a valuable opportunity to gather member insights and encourage early engagement. Aim for a mix of lighthearted icebreaker questions and prompts that guide members towards key actions within your community.

Question ideas to consider:

• Location-Based Roles: “Where in the world are you joining from?” (Use answers to build regional channels or assign regional roles, fostering local connections within your community).
• Icebreaker Fun Facts: “What’s a fun fact about you?” (Spark conversation and encourage members to introduce themselves in designated introduction channels).
• Engagement-Based Perks: “React to unlock [perk/channel]!” (Grant bonus access or special roles for engaging with a specific message, incentivizing interaction).
• Introduction Prompts: “Say hello in #introductions!” (Direct new members to introduce themselves in a dedicated introductions channel, building community connections).
• Pronoun Roles: “What are your pronouns?” (Allow members to self-select pronoun roles for profile customization and inclusivity).

Feel free to combine Multiple Choice and Open Text answer types to add variety to your question flow. You can also leverage role assignments based on specific responses to further personalize the onboarding experience and streamline role management.

The key is to strike a balance between collecting necessary information and keeping the question flow concise and user-friendly. Aim for 3-5 thoughtful questions that provide a helpful snapshot of your new members without making the onboarding process feel lengthy or intrusive.

With your Customization Questions configured, you’ve added a powerful layer of personalization to your Discord onboarding flow. New members will feel more seen, understood, and better equipped to dive into your community from day one, increasing engagement and retention. Now, let’s focus on crafting a compelling Server Guide to bring all the onboarding elements together.

Step 4: Crafting a Comprehensive Server Guide for Newcomers

Your Server Guide serves as the ultimate resource for new members to learn about your community and find ways to participate. Think of it as a welcoming, interactive handbook that orients newcomers and sets them up for success within your server environment. The Server Guide is composed of four essential components:

Welcome Sign: Making a Stellar First Impression

The Welcome Sign is the very first element new members encounter when they open your Server Guide. It’s your prime opportunity to create a positive initial impression and set the tone for their entire onboarding experience.

To design a Welcome Sign that truly wows:

• Visually Engaging Banner: Use a banner image that reflects your community’s vibe and captures its essence. A visually appealing banner immediately grabs attention and communicates your community’s personality.
• Concise and Energetic Welcome Message: Keep your welcome message brief but warm and enthusiastic. Express your excitement about having them join and highlight the value of your community.
• Community Value Proposition: Emphasize what makes your community special and unique. Clearly articulate the benefits of being a member and what newcomers can expect to gain.
• Call to Action for Next Steps: Encourage them to explore the New Member To-Dos and Resource Pages below. Guide them towards the next steps in their onboarding journey.

If graphic design isn’t your strength, don’t worry! User-friendly tools like Canva offer a wide array of pre-designed templates that you can easily customize to create a professional and visually appealing Welcome Sign in minutes.

New Member To-Dos: Guiding Initial Actions

The New Member To-Dos section is your chance to directly guide newcomers towards key actions that will help them get settled, feel comfortable, and start actively engaging within your community. This section appears directly below your Welcome Sign for maximum visibility and immediate impact.

Aim for 3-5 simple, specific, and actionable tasks that provide a clear roadmap for navigating your community’s core activities. For example, effective To-Dos might include:

1. Review Server Rules: “Read through our #rules and #faq” (Ensures members understand community guidelines and common questions).
2. Introduce Yourself: “Introduce yourself in #introductions” (Encourages community interaction and building connections).
3. Claim Roles: “Grab a color role in #roles” (Allows for profile customization and self-expression).
4. Participate in Community Activities: “Vote in our weekly #poll” (Promotes engagement and provides a low-barrier entry point for participation).
5. Engage in General Chat: “Say hi in #general chat!” (Directs members to a main chat channel for immediate interaction).

Think of New Member To-Dos as a concise and actionable roadmap for navigating your server space. Keep the descriptions clear, actionable, and infused with your community’s personality to make them engaging and welcoming.

Resource Pages: Centralizing Key Information

Resource Pages allow you to transform your most crucial information channels into sleek, easily accessible pages directly within your Server Guide. They are perfect for content that you want members to be able to reference at any time without cluttering up your main channel list and making essential information readily available.

Ideal candidates for Resource Pages include:

• Rules and FAQs: #rules and #faq (Provide easy access to community guidelines and answers to common questions for quick reference).
• Staff Directory: Staff directory or #contact-info (Help members identify and contact moderators or staff members for assistance).
• Role Information: #role-info (Explain the purpose of different roles and how members can earn or obtain them).
• Event Schedule: #event-schedule or #upcoming-events (Keep members informed about community events and activities, promoting participation).

To ensure your Resource Pages are easily skimmable and user-friendly:

• Clear Formatting: Break up text with clear headings, bullet points, and ample white space to improve readability and visual appeal.
• Visual Elements: Incorporate relevant images, emojis, and other visuals to add interest and break up walls of text, enhancing engagement.
• Internal Linking: Link out to other key resources or relevant channels where members can find more in-depth information or engage in related discussions.

Server Guide Banner: Adding Visual Polish

The Server Guide Banner is an optional but highly effective way to add visual flair and branding to your guide. It appears at the very top of the page, even above your Welcome Sign, making it a prominent visual element.

Tips for creating an eye-catching Server Guide Banner:

• Simple, High-Contrast Design: Stick to clean, high-contrast designs that will look good even at smaller sizes, ensuring readability and visual clarity.
• Branding Elements: Incorporate your server name, server icon, or other recognizable branding elements to reinforce your community identity.
• Cohesive Visual Theme: Use colors and imagery that complement your Welcome Sign banner to create a consistent and visually appealing overall look for your Server Guide.
• Minimal Text: Keep any text on the banner minimal and highly legible against your chosen background, prioritizing visual impact over textual information.

The recommended banner dimensions are 1920×480 pixels, but don’t worry about pixel-perfect accuracy. Discord will automatically resize your image to fit the available space, ensuring your banner displays correctly.

From your welcoming Welcome Sign to your actionable New Member To-Dos and informative Resource Pages, every component of your Server Guide is an opportunity to inform, engage, and delight your newest members. Investing time upfront to polish each element and infuse it with your unique community personality will significantly enhance the onboarding experience.

Remember, your Server Guide is not a static resource! As your community grows and evolves, make it a habit to periodically review and update your Guide content to ensure it remains accurate, relevant, and fresh. Consistent maintenance will ensure your Server Guide remains an invaluable resource for both newcomers and long-term members alike.

Step 5: Reviewing and Enabling Your Onboarding Flow

You’ve reached the final stage! Before launching your carefully crafted Discord onboarding into your community, take time to thoroughly review each component with a critical eye to ensure everything is set up correctly and effectively.

Is your safety settings configuration robust and secure? Are your default channels appropriately selected, meeting the minimum channel and chattable channel requirements? Do your Pre-join questions (if applicable) cover essential information without being overwhelming? Is your Server Guide polished, with a welcoming sign, actionable to-dos, and helpful resource page content?

Once you’ve double-checked and triple-checked all settings, it’s time for a live test drive. Click the Preview button to simulate the complete onboarding flow as a new member would experience it. Assume the role of a fresh recruit and join your own server, paying close attention and taking notes on any confusing or clunky elements that need refinement.

After making necessary tweaks and conducting a final review, take a deep breath and confidently click the Enable button. Your customized onboarding is now live and ready to welcome new members! Every newcomer will be individually guided through your thoughtfully designed experience from the moment they join your community.

However, remember that launching your onboarding is not the end of the journey, but rather the beginning of ongoing optimization. The key to a truly exceptional onboarding experience lies in continuous iteration – collecting data, gathering member feedback, and making ongoing improvements based on real-world usage. Embrace a mindset of continuous improvement and refinement.

Key practices for ongoing onboarding optimization:

• Monitor Join and Retention Rates: Regularly review new member join rates and retention metrics to assess the overall effectiveness of your onboarding process.
• Identify Engagement Bottlenecks: Watch for channels or roles that are consistently underutilized or ignored by new members, indicating potential areas for improvement.
• Gather Member Feedback: Survey recent joiners about their onboarding experience and solicit suggestions for improvement. Use feedback to identify pain points and areas for enhancement.
• A/B Test Question Tweaks: Experiment with A/B testing different question phrasing or answer options to see their impact on response rates and member engagement. Data-driven adjustments can significantly improve question effectiveness.
• Continuously Update Server Guide: Regularly evolve your Server Guide content to keep pace with your community’s growth, changes, and evolving needs. Ensure information remains accurate and relevant.

Key Wisdom for Your Onboarding Journey

As you embark on building and continuously refining your Discord onboarding flow, keep these guiding principles in mind to ensure success:

Start Simple and Iterate: Resist the temptation to create an overly complex onboarding process right from the start. Especially for newer or smaller communities, simplicity is often more effective. Begin with a core set of essential default channels, a few carefully chosen pre-join questions, and a streamlined Server Guide. Then, let real member behavior and feedback guide the evolution of your onboarding over time.

Prioritize Clarity Above All: Put yourself in the shoes of a brand-new member – it’s a lot of new information to process! Opt for straightforward, unambiguous language in your channel names, question phrasing, and onboarding instructions. Any moment of confusion can lead to frustration and potential drop-off. Especially in these initial interactions, crystal-clear communication is paramount.

Showcase Your Community’s Unique Identity: If your onboarding feels generic and uninspired, you’ve missed a valuable opportunity. Whether your community is centered around laid-back gaming, passionate fandom, professional networking, or any other niche, inject that distinctive personality throughout your onboarding experience. From your welcome banner to your custom questions, every touchpoint should clearly communicate “this is who we are and what we’re about!”. An authentic and engaging identity goes a long way in attracting (and retaining) members who genuinely resonate with your community’s culture and values.

Your Discord Onboarding Adventure Begins Now

A thoughtfully designed Discord onboarding flow is unequivocally your most powerful asset for transforming curious newcomers into enthusiastic, long-term community members. With the Community Onboarding toolkit as your creative palette and the proven strategies in this guide as your brushstrokes, you are now equipped to orchestrate a joining experience that truly impresses, effectively informs, and empowers every new member for lasting community success.

But always remember that building the perfect onboarding is an ongoing journey, not a one-time destination. Approach it with a continuous learning mindset. Your initial version will be a solid starting point, but your version 10, refined by real member insights and data, is where the true magic will happen.

So, start with a foundational setup, remain receptive to feedback, and never stop experimenting and iterating. With each enhancement and adjustment, you’ll move closer to achieving the ultimate goal: an onboarding experience that not only introduces your community but also makes every newcomer feel genuinely welcomed, valued, and excited to be an integral part of it.

Now, it’s time to take the first step. Dedicate a few hours, access your Discord server settings, and begin experimenting with your initial onboarding flow. Will it be flawless right away? Probably not. But it will lay the groundwork for an evolving experience that, with consistent care and continuous refinement, will become a core catalyst for your community’s sustained growth, vibrancy, and long-term success.