Customer.io

Welcome to Customer.io

Updated July 8, 2026

While the platform offers plenty of features and options, this guide breaks down the basic things you need to set up to help you get started as quickly as possible. You'll create a workspace, set up your messaging channels, and add profiles!

How Customer.io Works

In Customer.io, you’ll spend most of your time setting up automations to send messages to profiles. But you’ll get the most out of Customer.io when you integrate your data with Customer.io and make us a central part of your martech/messaging stack. By getting your data into Customer.io, enriching it, and sending it out to other places where you activate it, you can focus on your messaging strategy without having to jump from platform to platform.

Browser support

Before you get started with Customer.io, make sure you’re using a compatible browser! We actively test our user interface with the latest two major versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari.

You might find that a different browser or an earlier version works for you. But, if you run into trouble in our UI, you should try updating your browser or switch to a supported platform to make sure that you haven’t encountered a browser-based issue.

Ready to get started?

When you’re ready to get started, you’ll follow the basic setup path below. Your path might change depending on whether you’re comfortable with code, the kinds of messages you want to send, and so on. But the general order of operations is the same.

  1. Create your workspace.
  2. Set up your message channels—like email, push, and SMS.
  3. (Developers) Integrate with Customer.io. If you’re not a developer, you can move ahead to the next step; there are ways to use Customer.io without integrating but you’ll get the most out of Customer.io when you do.
  4. Add profiles to Customer.io:
    • If you’re a developer: make your first identify and track calls.
    • If you’re not a developer: add profiles via CSV or manually.
  5. Capture events and create segments—both are essential for automating your messaging strategy.
  6. Set up automation and broadcast workflows.
flowchart LR z(1. Create your<br>workspace)-->d a{Are you a<br>developer?} d-->a subgraph d[2. Set up channels] direction LR u(Email) t(Mobile Push) s(In-App) r(SMS) end subgraph b[4. Add profiles] direction LR f(Upload CSV or<br>use the UI) g(Send <br><code>identify</code> calls) end a--->|no|f a-->|yes|c subgraph c[3. Integrate Customer.io] direction LR x(Add JS to<br>your website) w(Add server<br>side libraries) y(Integrate mobile SDKs) v(Use Reverse ETL to<br>connect your database) end c-->g subgraph h[5. Add Events and Segments] direction BT i(Create data-driven<br>segments) j(Send events via<br><code>track</code> calls) j-.->i end g-->j f-->i i-->k(6. Send automations<br>and broadcasts)

Plan your setup path

There’s a lot you can do with Customer.io, but we want to help you focus on your needs so you get the most out of Customer.io in the shortest amount of time. Before you get started, ask yourself the following questions. Your answers can help you understand what you need to do in Customer.io!

  1. Where do your “profiles” come from—your website, mobile app, backend database, etc? These are the data source(s) you should connect to Customer.io.
  2. What do you need to know about your audience? These are the attributes and events you need to send to Customer.io.
  3. What kinds of messages do you want to send? These are the message channels you need to set up.
  4. What goals will your messages accomplish? These can help you determine the types of segments and automations you build!

Data Sources: getting profiles and data into Customer.io

While you can always add profiles and data to Customer.io manually, you’ll get the most out of Customer.io if you integrate your data sources with us. For example, if you have a website that people visit, you probably want to integrate it with Customer.io so that you can identify your audience and them send messages based on their activities on your site!

Even if you’re not a developer, knowing where your data comes from can help you know who to talk to in your organization to get the data you need into Customer.io.

Common data sources include:

  • Your website(s): use our JavaScript libraries or server-side libraries
  • Your mobile app(s): use our mobile SDKs
  • Your backend database(s): use our Reverse ETL integrations

Attributes and Events: understanding your profiles and data

Profiles have data associated with them:

  • identifiers: the values that make profiles unique in your system—like a database id or email address.
  • Attributes: the things you know about a person, like their name, interests, birthdate, etc.
  • Events: the things that people do, like visiting a page on your website, logging into your service, or making a purchase. These things are recorded on a person’s profile.

You’ll use attributes and events to automate automations, personalize messages, and so on—so you’ll need to make sure that you capture the right information in Customer.io. Similarly, you don’t want to send noise—data that you don’t care about—into Customer.io if you can help it. So, as you get started, you should think about the attributes and events that you want to track and send to Customer.io.