If you’re here, you want to send better onboarding emails—without babysitting lists or remembering to hit “send” every time someone signs up. This guide’s for marketers, product folks, or anyone who needs onboarding to just work in Iterable, and doesn’t want to wade through vague “best practices” or get lost in endless settings.
Let’s get practical: you’ll learn how to build a basic but solid automated onboarding workflow, avoid common headaches, and know what to skip until you’re ready for the fancy stuff.
Step 1: Know What You Actually Want to Send
Before you even open Iterable, sketch out your onboarding plan. Seriously—grab a notepad or a Google Doc.
Ask yourself: - What’s the bare minimum someone needs to know to get value from your product? - How many emails do you really need? (Three to five is usually plenty to start.) - What action do you want from each email? (E.g., “Log in,” “Add a profile photo,” “Try this feature.”)
Pro tip: Don’t get hung up on clever drip campaigns or “behavioral triggers” yet. A basic sequence always beats a broken, over-complicated one.
Step 2: Prep Your Content
Write your emails outside of Iterable first. It’s a lot easier to edit and collaborate in Google Docs or Word than in a tiny web editor.
What you need: - Subject lines - Email body copy (keep it short, clear, and actionable) - Any images or assets - Call-to-action (CTA) links
Keep it simple: Plain text or minimal formatting works best. Don’t let design rabbit holes slow you down. You can always pretty it up later if it works.
Step 3: Set Up Your Contact List and Fields
Iterable needs to know who gets these emails and when.
3.1 Create Your List (or Use an Existing Audience)
- If you already have a “new users” list, double-check it’s up to date.
- Otherwise, create a static or dynamic list for onboarding. Dynamic is better if you want new signups added automatically.
3.2 Add Custom Fields (If Needed)
If your emails reference details like “first name” or a signup date, make sure those fields exist on your users.
- Go to Audience > Contact Fields and add what you need (e.g.,
signupDate,firstName). - Test with a sample user to make sure the data shows up.
Honest take: Don’t overengineer user properties right now. You can always add more personalization later.
Step 4: Build Your Onboarding Workflow
This is where Iterable shines—setting up a series of emails that send automatically.
4.1 Create a New Workflow
- Go to Workflows in Iterable.
- Click Create New Workflow.
- Give it a name you’ll recognize, like “User Onboarding.”
4.2 Set the Entry Trigger
This is how users get added to your workflow.
Most common triggers: - List Subscription: When a user is added to your onboarding list. - Event Trigger: If your app sends a “Signed Up” event to Iterable.
Choose the simplest trigger for now. If your dev team isn’t sending custom events, just use list subscription.
4.3 Add Email Steps
- Drag in an Email node for each email in your sequence.
- Connect them in order.
- Set a delay between each email (e.g., 1 day, 3 days).
Example: - Email 1: Welcome (immediately) - Wait 1 day - Email 2: Get Started Tips - Wait 2 days - Email 3: Feature Highlight
4.4 Personalize (If You Want)
- Use merge tags like
{{firstName}}if you set up those fields. - Don’t overdo it—awkward personalization is worse than none.
4.5 Set Exit Criteria
- Add an Exit node to end the workflow.
- Optional: Add logic to stop emails if a user completes your key action (e.g., they’ve already “Activated”).
Warning: Don’t get lost building complex branches for every possible user action. Start with a simple “send these three emails” flow. You can always add more rules later.
Step 5: Add Your Email Content
Now, plug in the copy and images you prepped.
- Click each Email node, select or create the message.
- Paste in your subject line and body.
- Preview and send yourself a test version before going live.
What works: Short, clear, actionable emails. One CTA per email. Don’t cram in 10 links.
Step 6: Test the Whole Flow
Don’t just test one email—test the entire workflow.
- Use a test user account with a real email address (not your main admin email).
- Add yourself to the onboarding list or trigger the event.
- Make sure you receive every email, at the right times.
- Check that personalization works and links go where they should.
What to watch for: - Delays not working as expected (Iterable sometimes handles time zones oddly—check your settings). - Users not entering the workflow (usually a trigger or list issue). - Emails going to spam (keep your copy simple; avoid too many images or salesy phrases).
Step 7: Turn It On and Monitor
- Set your workflow from Draft to Active.
- Keep an eye on the first few users—do they get the emails? Any complaints or unsubscribes?
- Watch your open and click rates in the Workflow analytics.
Ignore the temptation to “optimize” after one day. Let it run for at least a week or two to spot real trends.
Step 8: Iterate—But Don’t Overcomplicate
Once you’ve got basic onboarding running, you can: - Add more emails, or send fewer if engagement drops off. - Try A/B testing subject lines or CTA buttons. - Add simple logic: e.g., “If user hasn’t activated, send a reminder.”
But honestly? The biggest mistake is building a giant, branching workflow before you’ve even seen if anyone reads your emails.
Gotchas, Limitations, and What to Skip (For Now)
What works: - Simple, linear onboarding flows. - Personalization using basic fields (first name, signup date). - Delays between emails to avoid overwhelming new users.
What doesn’t (until you’re ready): - Overly complex branching based on tons of user events. Easy to break, hard to debug. - Fancy design-heavy templates—focus on message first. - “Best practice” advice to send 7+ emails. Most people don’t want that many.
Stuff to ignore until you have real data: - Custom event triggers for every tiny action. - “Win-back” emails for users who haven’t even finished onboarding.
Keep It Simple, Ship It, and Improve Later
Automated onboarding in Iterable isn’t hard—but it’s easy to overthink. Get a basic sequence up and running, make sure it works, and then tweak based on what real users actually do. Nine times out of ten, a clear, helpful welcome series beats some convoluted, “AI-powered” workflow you can’t debug.
Done is better than perfect. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and iterate as you learn.