If you’re onboarding new B2B clients with a chatbot and want it to actually feel helpful (not generic or annoying), you’re in the right place. This guide is for anyone building onboarding flows in Chatfuel who’s tired of the usual “Welcome to our platform!” boilerplate. I’ll walk through how to set up a genuinely personalized onboarding experience, what’s worth your time, and what you can skip.
Let’s get hands-on.
Why Bother Personalizing Onboarding in Chatfuel?
When you get a new B2B customer, their first impression of your service is critical. A one-size-fits-all onboarding flow is easy to ignore or dismiss. Personalization goes beyond dropping in a company name; it means giving people only what they need, when they need it, and in a way that fits their workflow.
But—and this is important—don’t go overboard. Personalization should make onboarding easier, not more complicated (for you or your client). The good news is that Chatfuel gives you enough tools to do this without re-inventing the wheel.
Step 1: Map Out What “Personalized” Really Means for Your B2B Clients
Before you jump into Chatfuel, get clear on what matters to your clients. Personalization isn’t about sprinkling in first names everywhere. For B2B onboarding, the most useful things to personalize are:
- Role: Is your user an admin, end-user, or decision-maker?
- Industry: A SaaS company and a manufacturing firm care about different features.
- Client goals: Are they here for reporting, integrations, or just basic usage?
- Account setup status: Are they brand new or migrating from another tool?
Pro tip: Don’t try to cover everything on day one. Start with the 2–3 variables that most impact a client’s onboarding needs. You can always add more later.
Step 2: Set Up User Attributes in Chatfuel
Now that you know what info matters, you’ll need to collect and store it. Chatfuel uses “User Attributes” to keep track of things like role, industry, and goals.
Collecting Attributes
- Option 1: Ask up front. Start your onboarding flow by asking a couple of targeted questions (“What’s your role?” “Which feature is most important to you?”).
- Option 2: Pre-fill via integrations. If you already know some info from your CRM or signup form, use Chatfuel’s API or integrations to set attributes automatically.
How to Actually Do It
- Create attributes: In Chatfuel, attributes look like
{{role}}or{{industry}}. You don’t need to predefine them; they’re created the first time you set them. - Add “Set User Attribute” blocks: After a user answers a question, use the block to store their response.
- Test your flow: Always run through the questions yourself to make sure attributes save correctly.
What to ignore: Don’t ask for info you’ll never use. Nobody likes extra questions for no reason.
Step 3: Build Branching Flows Based on Attributes
This is where the magic happens. Chatfuel lets you create different conversation “paths” based on user attributes.
How to Branch
- Add “Conditional Blocks” to your flow. For example:
- If
{{role}}= “admin”, show setup instructions. - If
{{role}}= “user”, skip straight to day-to-day usage tips.
- If
- You can nest conditions if you want to get fancy (“If role = admin AND industry = finance…”), but keep it manageable.
What Works
- Role-based flows: Admins get more setup content; end-users get how-to guides.
- Goal-based tips: If someone says they care most about integrations, highlight those features first.
- Industry-specific examples: Mention use cases relevant to their field, but only if you actually have something useful to say.
What to Skip
- Over-personalizing. Don’t try to write 20 different flows for every possible variable. Start broad and refine based on what real users ask for.
Step 4: Use Chatfuel’s “AI Rules” and Plugins (But Don’t Overhype)
Chatfuel promotes its AI Rules and plugins, which sound tempting. Here’s the honest take:
- AI Rules: These let you detect keywords or intents in messages and branch accordingly. They work for simple cases, like guiding someone who types “help” or “integration.”
- Plugins/integrations: You can connect Chatfuel to Google Sheets, CRMs, or your backend to fetch real-time info or trigger onboarding steps.
When it works: If you have structured data (like a list of client industries in Google Sheets), you can pull that in and personalize messages.
When it doesn’t: Don’t expect Chatfuel’s AI to truly “understand” users or replace a human. For complex onboarding or nuanced questions, it’ll fall short. Use AI rules for obvious cases, not deep personalization.
Step 5: Personalize Messages Without Being Creepy
It’s easy to cross into “trying too hard” territory. A good rule of thumb: reference what matters, skip what doesn’t.
- Use variables sparingly: “Hi, Sarah from Acme Corp! As an admin, here’s how to invite your team…” is fine. Repeating the company name every message isn’t.
- Reference their goals: “Since you said integrations matter most, let’s set that up first.”
- Avoid unnecessary chit-chat: B2B users want to get stuff done.
Step 6: Trigger the Right Onboarding at the Right Time
Personalized onboarding isn’t just about what you say—it’s also about when you say it.
- Welcome message: Trigger only when a new client first interacts, not every time.
- Milestone nudges: If you can, check if a client hasn’t finished setup after a few days and send a reminder (either via Chatfuel’s “broadcast” feature or an external system).
- Contextual help: If a user asks for something (“How do I connect Salesforce?”), jump them to the relevant flow.
What to ignore: Don’t flood users with daily tips unless they ask for it. Most B2B users want fewer interruptions, not more.
Step 7: Measure and Iterate
Your first version won’t be perfect. The real power is in tweaking based on what works.
- Track drop-offs: Where in the onboarding flow do users bail? Simplify or clarify those steps.
- Review common questions: If everyone asks the same thing, bake it into your flow.
- Ask for feedback: A single “Was this helpful?” question at the end can be gold.
Don’t get fancy: You don’t need a complicated analytics stack to see what’s working. Even basic feedback beats guessing.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and Real-World Pitfalls
Works: - Keeping onboarding focused on what the client actually needs. - Using simple branching logic for the biggest variables (role, goals). - Making it easy to get a human if the chatbot isn’t enough.
Doesn’t: - Over-customizing for every scenario. You’ll burn out and confuse users. - Trusting AI or NLP to handle tricky onboarding questions. It’s not there yet. - Forgetting to update flows as your product evolves.
Pitfalls: - Asking too many questions up front. People get annoyed. - Mixing up user attributes, leading to weird or wrong messages. - Ignoring the “handoff” to a real support person. Always give clients a way out.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Chase Hype
Personalized onboarding in Chatfuel isn’t magic, but it’s absolutely doable—and worth the effort for B2B clients. Start with the basics: collect only the info you’ll use, branch your flows around real needs, and keep an eye on what actually helps users. Skip the AI hype unless it genuinely saves you time.
The best onboarding flows are the ones that get out of your user’s way. Build something simple, test it with real clients, and improve as you go. That’s how you’ll deliver an onboarding experience your clients actually appreciate.