So you want to set up a personalized onboarding campaign in Braze, but you don’t want to drown in buzzwords or get lost in endless docs. You just need clear steps that actually work. This guide is for you: marketers, product folks, and anyone who wants new users to stick around. We’ll walk through the whole process—what matters, what doesn’t, and where most people trip up.
Why Personalized Onboarding? (And Why Braze?)
Most onboarding campaigns are boring, generic, and easy to ignore. Personalized onboarding—using real user data to tailor messages—actually gets people to engage. That means more users finish sign-up, try your features, and (if you’re lucky) stick around.
Braze is a popular customer engagement platform that’s good at this kind of thing. It lets you send emails, push notifications, and in-app messages, all triggered by what a user actually does (or doesn’t do). But it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the options. Let’s cut through that.
Step 1: Get Your Data In Order
You can’t personalize what you don’t track. Before you even touch Braze’s campaign builder, make sure you’re sending the right data into Braze. This is the step people skip, and it’s why their “personalized” onboarding is really just a template with a name slapped on.
What you need: - Unique user IDs (not just email addresses) - Key events (e.g., sign up, first login, feature used, etc.) - User traits (plan type, location, signup source, etc.)
How to do it: - Use your product’s SDK or backend to send events and attributes to Braze. Don’t just rely on their JavaScript snippet or mobile SDK defaults; customize the events. - Spot check users in Braze after setup. If you don’t see your important events and traits, fix it now or you’ll be stuck later.
Pro tip:
If your data’s a mess, your campaigns will be too. It’s better to pause and get this right than to blast out “personalized” emails that don’t match what users actually did.
Step 2: Map Out Your Onboarding Flow
Don’t start building in Braze yet. First, sketch out what you want users to do in their first week or two. This doesn’t have to be fancy—a Google Doc or whiteboard is fine.
Ask yourself: - What’s the “aha” moment you want new users to reach? - What steps do they need to take to get there? - What’s likely to trip them up?
Keep it simple.
Most good onboarding flows only have 3–5 steps. More than that and users tune out. You can always add later.
Example flow: 1. Welcome message (after sign-up) 2. Prompt to complete profile 3. Nudge to try a key feature 4. Reminder if user stalls
What to ignore:
Don’t try to cover every possible path or exception. Focus on the 80% case. You can get fancy later.
Step 3: Segment Your Users
This is where real personalization starts. In Braze, create segments based on what users have done (or haven’t done) and who they are.
Useful segments for onboarding: - New sign-ups (joined in the last 24 hours) - Users who haven’t completed onboarding steps - Users from different countries or platforms - High-value leads (e.g., those from paid channels)
How to do it: - In Braze, go to “Segments” and set up criteria based on events/attributes you’re tracking. - Keep segments broad at first. You can always refine them once you see how users behave.
Watch out for:
Over-segmenting. Just because you can create 20 segments doesn’t mean you should. More segments = more work and more chances for mistakes.
Step 4: Build Your Messages
Now, write the emails, push notifications, or in-app messages for each step. This is where most onboarding falls flat because the copy is either too generic or tries too hard to be clever.
Keep in mind: - Use the user’s name if you have it, but don’t force it (“Hi, [FirstName]!” gets old fast). - Reference what the user has or hasn’t done (“Looks like you haven’t added your first project yet”). - Give one clear call to action per message. - Don’t hype—be helpful.
Braze tips: - Use Liquid templating for personalization—but test it. Broken personalization is worse than none. - For in-app messages, less is more. You want to nudge, not interrupt.
What to ignore:
Don’t email users every day. It’s annoying, and you’ll end up in spam. Space messages out and stop when users complete the desired actions.
Step 5: Set Up Campaigns and Canvases
This is where you actually put things together in Braze.
Campaigns vs. Canvases
- Campaigns: Send a single message to a segment (e.g., a welcome email).
- Canvases: Create multi-step flows with logic (e.g., if user does X, send message A; if not, send reminder B).
For onboarding, Canvases are usually better—they let you set up branching and timing in one place.
How to do it: 1. In Braze, go to “Canvases” and create a new Canvas. 2. Set your trigger (e.g., user joins “New sign-ups” segment). 3. Add your messages as steps. 4. Add wait times between steps (e.g., 1 day after sign-up, 2 days after first message). 5. Use “Decision Splits” to branch the flow (e.g., if user completed profile, skip to next step).
Pro tip:
Don’t try to build the perfect flow on the first try. Get a basic version live, then improve it as you see real data.
Step 6: Test Everything
This is the step everyone hates, but it’s where most issues show up.
What to check: - Do the right users enter your Canvas or campaign? - Are the messages personalized as expected, or are you sending “Hi, {{first_name}}” to half your users? - Are users getting messages at the right times? (Not all at once, not never.) - Does unsubscribing work? (You really don’t want to mess this up.)
How to do it: - Create test users with different traits and run through the flow. - Use Braze’s “Preview as User” feature, but also test real sends. - Catch typos, broken links, and embarrassing personalization misses now, not after launch.
Watch out for:
Time zones. Nothing says “impersonal” like a push at 3am.
Step 7: Monitor and Iterate
You’re not done. The first version will have issues—users will drop out, messages will flop, some segments won’t make sense.
What to track: - Open rates and click rates (don’t obsess, but notice big drops) - Conversion to the next onboarding step - Unsubscribes or spam complaints
What to do: - Fix obvious issues first (broken links, unclear copy). - Cut messages that no one opens or clicks. - Add or tweak steps for users who get stuck.
Pro tip:
Don’t chase vanity metrics. If users are reaching the “aha” moment and sticking around, your onboarding works—even if open rates seem unimpressive.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
- Too much “personalization”: Using a name doesn’t make a message personal. Reference real actions or needs.
- Overcomplicating the flow: More steps usually means more confusion. Start small.
- Ignoring unsubscribes: Make it easy to leave your onboarding flow. It’s better than getting flagged as spam.
- Not testing with real data: Placeholders and test users only get you so far. Watch real users go through the flow.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast
Personalized onboarding in Braze isn’t magic—it’s just about tracking the right things, sending the right messages, and paying attention to what works. Don’t get overwhelmed by features or try to automate everything from day one. Start simple, watch how users respond, and improve from there.
Remember, the best onboarding campaigns don’t feel like campaigns—they feel like help at just the right moment. If you’re not sure what to do next, focus on making things clearer and easier for your users. That’s what actually works.