#313: How Tom Ross Doubled His Community Engagement and Retention With Training Pathways

Closing the doors to a membership is supposed to hurt signups. But one of Tom's clients did exactly that — closed it, added an application, doubled the price, then reopened. His next launch sold out in 4 minutes. Same community. Same people. Just different mechanics.

My guest this week is Tom Ross, the founder of Learn.Community, where he helps community builders design learning experiences that actually stick. His clients have reached millions of people and generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Tom has been building online communities for 20 years, and he's been a member of The Lab since 2022.

In this episode, we talk about:

Why an application process might be the most underused retention lever in the membership world

The “bacon medicine” framework for making your membership both sellable and sticky long-term

Tom’s “delight, direct, connect” onboarding philosophy — and what almost every community gets wrong

How he rebuilt his course into learning pathways, drove completion from 20% to 50%, and turned a siloed module into the main engine of community engagement

By the end of this episode, you will understand exactly why most membership churn is decided before someone joins, and what to actually do about it.

Learn.Community

Tom's Community Compass Framework

Tom's YouTube Channel

The Lab