Intro message best practices for getting people started in Basecamp

A thoughtful intro message can help Basecamp users hit the ground running. This post contains several examples of successful, personalized messages Basecamp customers use to get others up and running with Basecamp.

Some of the top tips:

• Get some content in your project before sending it out to others (e.g. set up message categories, post a few items, etc.). This will help new people "get it" when they login.
• Send a simple, personal intro email from your own email account (not from Basecamp) so it's recognized asap.
• Emphasize the benefits of Basecamp vs. email or other options (everyone's on the same page, single place for everything, etc.)
• Refer people to Basecamphq.com for an extensive tour, screenshots, etc.
• Create a separate welcome document for easy reference.
• Give people a reason to get into Basecamp within the first day.

Let's look at some specific examples: Basecamp Client Jumpstart is an attempt by Venture Marketing's John Fox to capture his best practices for intro'ing new clients to Basecamp. It is a follow-up to a post in the Basecamp forum on the same topic.

I’d like to revisit the idea of providing a path for our clients so they feel successful with Basecamp from the start. Here’s the process I’ve instituted. I’m hoping others will add their $0.02 so we can have a sense of best practices.

Step 1. Create the client account and first project in Basecamp. Create the categories. I start with these: Assets, Brainstorms, Competition, Design ideas, Future features, Meeting Notes, Stock images, Strategy Documents

Step 2. Send intro email to all new members from my own email account, not from within Basecamp:

Hello everyone. Great meeting yesterday.

In a few minutes you’ll be receiving your login to VM Basecamp. If you filter email addresses for spam, make sure to add venturemarketing.updatelog.com to your company’s whitelist or spam filtering software. If you don’t receive an e-mail by the end of today, please let me know.

When you first login look for a Message: Welcome to VM Basecamp. You’ll want to start here. I’ve posted an Overview Document to get you going quickly. If you have questions, just ask.

Best regards,

Step 3. Create user accounts

Step 4. Post a new Message to Basecamp
Title: Welcome to VM Basecamp
Copy: Welcome to VM Basecamp. This is the intranet site where we’ll post project updates, host discussions and upload files. We use Basecamp to keep everything in one place. I believe you’ll find it is much, much superior to email when it comes to project-related discussions and a better way to keep everyone on the same page.

Note: the content of the Overview Document is on this wiki page. Add your comments and feel free to use it in your own business.

Step 5. Post milestones, to-dos, etc. to get people used to the system. In a perfect case, I like to give everyone a reason to get into Basecamp within the first day or so.

Fox also offers a Basecamp welcome document (PDF) which provides a high-level overview of what newbies will find in Basecamp.

The forum thread that Fox mentioned (Explaining to New Users) also has some good suggestions. More examples after the jump.

At the forum, lnelson offers this standard message when starting a new project:

Welcome to VinBalance Web Support
This web site provides a common meeting place for gathering together all of the communications in making VinBalance a productive tool for ClientNameHere. Look to this web site for installation To-Do Lists, progress Milestones and shared Messages.

This shared Message section provides a common ground for all project communications in a single place.

You are always welcome to contact us by e-mailing support@vinbalance.com. But please consider posting requests as a Message. That can be beneficial as it lets everybody see problems and solutions as they develop. If your message is urgent, you even have an option to send a notification to our On Call Pager as you post your message.

Click the Post a new message link above to get started on a new message.

Thanks!

In our face-to-face project start up meeting I stress that e-mail is nice but using BaseCamp helps keep all of the many people involved in the project on the same page.  I also stress that the client's project manager has a single place to look to monitor progress.  The project managager (aka the boss) likes this and helps encourage use of BaseCamp.

lunchbox uses this methodology which "has worked fantastically from my perspective, and more importantly from our clients’ perspective."

Include a simple and personal introduction in the "new account email"
ex:

Good afternoon John,
I have created an account for you on our extranet. I will be adding project information over the next couple of days, so please feel free to login, take a look around, and add any additional contact information for yourself that I may have overlooked.
cheers,
Richard

The initial messaging clients receive once logging in is simple and friendly.

"We're setting up your project, John.

This project site will ensure communication and schedules are centralized, organized, archived by date and topic, and accessible from any computer with a web browser.

We'll use this project site to make sure everyone's on the same page when it comes to project updates, conversations, milestones and schedules, to-do lists, contact information, and more.

We haven't posted any messages or project updates yet, but when we do they'll appear on this page.

Stay tuned,

- Lunchbox Collective, LLC"

I have found that by introducing Stakeholders to a simple not cluttered page provides them with a sense of "oh this appears to be straightforward - sweet, these guy's are on it".

I then proceed to write the "cover letter" message, and upload our initial proposal for download along with all of the related milestones to clearly set the stage and align expectations from day one.

Hopefully that helps,

PS. the beauty of Basecamp is it's simplicity; clients will "get it", as long as you don't add unwarranted directions - no one reads directions anyway.

Ben uses a message like this:

"Hi (client),

We're using this nifty project management tool called BaseCamp, where we keep milestones, files, designs and comments relating to your project. Here's a password if you want to access it, but don't feel obliged to actually use it. Just check in whenever you like to see how things are going."

---

They log in without feeling intimidated. They lurk a while, then actually start fiddling around some. Worked great so far.

Thanks to everyone above for sharing their methods. Do you have a special intro message for Basecamp? Tell us about it.