Speed to Activation: Why Canva’s Communities Don’t Wait Around
When I speak with Australians in the tech space, there's one brand they're incredibly proud is from down-under... Canva.
I had the chance to chat with Canva’s Celine Riemenschneider to chat about how timing makes or breaks community engagement.
When someone be comes aware of your brand, how long do they take to get involved?
For Canva’s Community Lead, Celine Riemenschneider, the answer to that question is everything.
“Once you onboard a new person into your community, what's the time span it takes for them to get activated? The longer it takes, the harder it is to turn them into an active person.”
Celine manages multiple communities across the German-speaking market, from SMBs to teachers to creators, but regardless of the audience, the challenge is the same: keep momentum.
“If they wait for more than 10 days to do something, it’s harder to pull them back in and get them to actually contribute.”
For Canva, activation isn’t just about engagement. It’s about creation.
This could be the same if you run a Gym - you want people in the Gym ASAP, seeing the benefits of joining.
If you run membership organisation focused on growing businesses, you want your new members to get engaged... as quickly as possible.
A member is only truly active once they’ve used the platform to do what it was built for.
“If they've activated in the creative form - created their first template - that’s the most relevant metric for us.”
To make that happen, everything needs to be frictionless. A delayed welcome email or a slow sign-up flow can be all it takes to lose someone’s interest.
“We don't have patience anymore. If something takes 15 minutes for the email verification to come, it’s a big problem.”
Celine’s insights align with a wider shift in community building. Whether it’s education, SMBs, or creators, members are busy. They’re moving fast — and expect your platform to do the same.
“You want people to be able to exchange ideas, have communication… It’s not just supposed to be a digital space where they can consume information and then go away.”
The answer? Meet people where they are, give them a quick win, and remove anything that slows them down.
“Speed is such an important part of community management these days.”
At Canva, that means structured rituals, fast communication, and clear pathways to contribution. Once a member joins, the goal is simple: get them creating now.
“If they start posting, asking questions, or doing something in the first week, it’s usually off to a great start.”
What could you tweak in your sales or onboarding flow to get some someone from Audience to Advocate a little quicker?
You can watch or listen to the full podcast over at: https://podcast.digitalcommunityleaders.com/
Speak soon,