> This page is part of the [Customer.io documentation](https://docs.customer.io). For the complete index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.customer.io/llms.txt).
> Last updated: July 15, 2026

# Onboarding Automation

## Introduction

After someone signs up for your app, the task of onboarding them begins! Show how they can get value from your app and improve your user activation and retention rates. Thoughtful onboarding email automations are a win for everyone.

This recipe will show you how to set up targeted drip series using segment triggered automations in Customer.io to keep profiles interested, learning, and making progress.

## Ingredients

*   Choose a specific behavioral goal that is key to your onboarding process
*   Optional: [basic knowledge of Liquid](/messaging/liquid/using-liquid)

## Method

While you can have several onboarding automations for your customers, each automation should be focused on nudging them towards a particular goal.

For this example, we’ll use a fictional subscription service based on the Acme Corporation from Looney Tunes. Each month, subscribers get a box of roadrunner-catching products. The specific goal we have for Acme customers, like Wile E. Coyote, is to get them to fill out their profile so they can get tailored product selections.

Let’s get started!

### Prep for the automation

Before getting started on creating this automation, let’s do some prep work. You’ll want to decide on a specific behavioral goal and think about how many messages you’d like to create to nudge profiles towards that goal.

#### Create a segment-triggered automation

In the navigation, click **Automations**, followed by **Create Automation**. Give your automation a name that makes its purpose clear so you can track it later (in this case, we’ve used “Onboarding Series #1: Profile Set-up”).

Click **Choose trigger** on your workflow then select **Segment change** from the panel.

#### Define your trigger

Your trigger defines who will receive this automation. In our case, that’s members of Acme’s Hunters Club service who haven’t yet filled out their profile. Choose your segment from the dropdown:

[![recipe_send-a-welcome-email_trigger-1.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/recipe_send-a-welcome-email_trigger-1.png)](#e06df25b8674fbfe4edcda825cd217d2-lightbox)

We provide all accounts a segment called **Signed up** which is composed of anyone whose `created_at` attribute is a timestamp, so we’ll use that for this automation.

##### Need a segment?

You might need to create a segment that doesn’t exist yet. For example, you may have deleted the “Signed up” segment or want to reach a more specific audience for your particular onboarding series. In that case, choose **Create a new data-driven segment** from the trigger dropdown.

[![trigger-dropdown.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/trigger-dropdown.png)](#79582c04a2f44f7c79d1dd193a6c398f-lightbox)

This is the condition for Customer.io’s “Signed up” segment:

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28413%29.png)](#911769d0f016f67c077bfcf3be1ec388-lightbox)

### Set up your workflow

#### Add your first email

Drag and drop an email from the Add menu into your workflow. Click the email to to begin editing. Change the name so it’s purpose is clear to your teammates. Then click **Add Content** to start writing your email.

[![An email blocked is clicked on the workflow canvas. To the right of the email block is a panel. At the top is the name. Under the name is the button labelled add content.](https://docs.customer.io/images/workflow-email-settings.png)](#920dc5377d7fb4b64f90069e96df23ba-lightbox)

#### Write your email’s content

Fill in your message content, choose your email layout (rich text or code editors onl), and review your email’s envelope - to/from fields, subject line, and more.

Personalize each email for your audience using [liquid tags](/messaging/liquid/using-liquid) to add a customer’s name and otherwise tailor the content. In our example, we added our customer’s first name and plan details.

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28389%29.png)](#7511d736c7aa04b6a226d5be08b27ece-lightbox)

 Don’t know what to say? We’ve got you covered. Here are some [welcome copy templates](https://customer.io/learn/lifecycle-marketing/welcome-email-templates) you can adapt and use.

 Preview with sample data

Search to find a user with the attributes specified in your liquid syntax so you can preview the message.

Once you’re happy, save your email, and click **Done**. You’ll be taken back to your workflow.

#### Edit your email’s behavior

Let’s update the email to [**Send automatically**](/messaging/send/timezones/queue-draft) so after we start the automation, we don’t have to manually send drafts.

1.  Click the email in your workflow.
2.  Click *Settings* to expand the menu.
3.  Click **Send automatically** from the Sending behavior dropdown.
4.  Click **Save**.

#### Add a delay

Timing is key in onboarding. We want profiles to have a chance to explore the app before prompting them to fill out a profile. So from the workflow builder sidebar, I can click and drag a **Delay** before they receive my next message:

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28419%29.png)](#d4b5c546e4ab385f4ccb8940c2524500-lightbox)

I’ve set mine to one day, but you can set yours to whatever you like (days, minutes, or hours).

#### Add another email

Now it’s time to really start building out our automation. I want to add another email, one which prompts the customer (if they still haven’t’t filled out their profile) to do so. Once again, I drag an email into the workflow after the delay.

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28420%29.png)](#d72ddf2e77a6f2226838fa8ed8f08c17-lightbox)

#### Optional: Set up a time window

Say I know that my users often have some downtime on weekend mornings— that’s when they browse products most often. So maybe that’s when I want to ping them. Customer.io lets you do that, by adding a **Time Window** in the workflow. Drag and drop it in, and click to set it up:

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28422%29.png)](#96818c651046cb778d5d2287931dff3c-lightbox)

This way, I can be sure that they’ll get the message when it’s most appropriate for them, and most helpful!

#### And so on…

With this in mind, keep setting up your workflow. Add emails, delays, and time windows as appropriate. You can see my Acme example here:

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28423%29.png)](#d9351c324af89a49c731164c1909ee56-lightbox)

Good onboarding emails are well-timed, focus on a behavioural goal, and offer different techniques and framings to give value to the customers (and the company). My first email is ‘Why you should set up your profile,’ with a view to giving Wile E. Coyote better product recommendations if I know more about him. The final one is ‘How to level up your roadrunner-catching skills,’ appealing to customers’ desire to catch more roadrunners— and prompting them to fill out their profile in the process.

### Set up your goal

Once you’re done with your automation setup, you can set a goal to help you understand whether or not your messagesThe instance of a message sent to a person. When you set up a message, you determine an audience for your message. Each individual “send”—the version of a message sent to a single member of your audience—is a delivery. and [journeysTypically, a person’s path through your automation. If the automation is triggered by a webhook, then a journey captures the webhook’s path, not a person’s.](/journeys/send/campaigns/journeys/) have their desired effect. Conversions can be a more reliable way to track success than opens and clicks.

In this case, a *conversion* is the behavioral goal we decided at the beginning: whenever a customer fills out a profile. I have a segment that identifies those customers:

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28424%29.png)](#fc5f0402a9baa8bec240f3b3e21eea2d-lightbox)

Which I then use to define my conversion criteria:

[![Set goal is selected at the top instead of No goal. Under that, the goal is defined as when a customer enters the segment: Filled in profile. It counts as a conversion when the customer achieves the goal within 1 week of receiving any delivery from this automation.](https://docs.customer.io/images/onboarding-goal.png)](#ff478d634fe00b5eac1e4439d6cc899c-lightbox)

### Review!

It’s time to review your onboarding automation; check it out at a glance and see if there are any errors or anything missing. Check timing, email names, and sending behaviours until they’re exactly what you need. And finally, choose who to send to!

### Current or future matches?

By default, automations are forward-looking. Anyone who matches your trigger in the future will receive the onboarding automation. However, you can choose to include existing matches, too—it’s up to you!

For my example, I only want future matches to receive my new onboarding automation:

[![image.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/send-welcome-review.png)](#e901dca41e1deaa096378298a9c3768f-lightbox)

### Get sending!

Click start, and that’s it! You can head over to the automation’s overview page after the emails start sending, to get an insight into its performance.

If you’ve set your emails’ sending behavior to draft to check how your automation will run, remember you’ll have to set to “Send Automatically” to reach your customers.

## Wrap Up

Getting started in any app and making that app stick in a user’s day-to-day can be a struggle, and that’s why thoughtful onboarding automations are so critical.

If you have any questions about the process or are wondering how to apply it to your service (assuming you don’t offer a roadrunner-catching product subscription box), [please send us a message](https://customer.io/contact/)!

*   *   [Introduction](#introduction)
    *   [Ingredients](#ingredients)
    *   [Method](#method)
        *   [Prep for the automation](#prep-for-the-automation)
            *   [Create a segment-triggered automation](#create-a-segment-triggered-automation)
            *   [Define your trigger](#define-your-trigger)
        *   [Set up your workflow](#set-up-your-workflow)
            *   [Add your first email](#add-your-first-email)
            *   [Write your email’s content](#write-your-emails-content)
            *   [Edit your email’s behavior](#edit-your-emails-behavior)
            *   [Add a delay](#add-a-delay)
            *   [Add another email](#add-another-email)
            *   [Optional: Set up a time window](#optional-set-up-a-time-window)
            *   [And so on…](#and-so-on)
        *   [Set up your goal](#set-up-your-conversion-goal)
        *   [Review!](#review)
        *   [Current or future matches?](#current-or-future-matches)
        *   [Get sending!](#get-sending)
    *   [Wrap Up](#wrap-up)

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