Automate PLG Onboarding with Email, In-App & Triggers

Written by

Greg Harned

Founder

5 minutes read

Onboarding is a critical point where user engagement is either ignited or extinguished. In a product-led growth model, if your onboarding experience doesn’t immediately establish value, you’ve already lost your shot. Users don’t have time to wait around for your product to make sense; they want results, fast.

Automation is your weapon here. Creating an onboarding journey that feels tailored keeps users coming back for more, without drowning them in a sea of useless information.

By strategically using email automation, in-app messaging, and triggered campaigns, PLG companies can build a smarter, more engaging onboarding experience.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to automate PLG onboarding. Let’s begin!

3-Layered Onboarding Strategy for PLG Companies

To create a successful PLG onboarding experience, focus on three core areas:

1. Automating Emails

If you want to set a stage for a successful onboarding, start by sending a personal welcome email.

Here’s how you can automate emails:

Welcome Series: Send a quick, value-packed intro email with important resources to get users started.

Day-Based Triggers: Schedule emails to guide users through the onboarding process.
Behavioral Triggers: Send reminders or tips if your users haven’t completed important tasks like creating a project, etc.

2. In-App Messaging

In-app messaging allows you to provide contextual, real-time help as users navigate the product.

Here’s how to make it work:

Tooltips & Walkthroughs: Leverage in-app tips to highlight your prominent features as users interact with them.
Progress Bars & Checklists: Create targeted and user-centric onboarding flows to show them where they are in the onboarding process and keep them motivated.
Milestone Celebrations: Celebrate actions like completing setup with in-app messages to encourage further engagement.

3. Triggered Lifecycle Campaigns

Trigger campaigns are of — when this, send that campaigns. These make sure that you reach users at the right moment with personalized, data-driven content.

Here’s how to implement them:

Usage-Based Triggers: Send a highly personalized message based on what signals you get on user interaction with your SaaS product. For example, if they haven’t created a project, send them a how-to video.

4. Product Community Engagement

Communities provide SaaS users a great space to connect with others, share experiences, and solve problems.

Here’s how you can integrate community engagement into onboarding:

Community Invitations: Invite new users to join your community after completing onboarding.
Milestone Celebrations: Celebrate user achievements within the community. This encourages users to share successes and inspire others.
Interactive Campaigns: Run campaigns or challenges within the community to reward users for completing onboarding steps.

Sample Onboarding Journey Blueprint

Day 1: Welcome and Setup
Send a friendly welcome email with a simple, actionable checklist (e.g., “Set up your profile,” “Start your first project”).

Day 3: Pro Tip to Keep Moving
Drop a short, helpful tip via email or in-app message. Nudge users to explore a key feature they haven’t tried yet, something that adds real value early on.

Day 5: Celebrate Progress
When a user hits a meaningful milestone (like completing their first task or inviting a teammate), show an in-app celebration modal. For example, light animation or a “Nice work!” message.

Day 7: Nudge Toward What’s Next
If the user is actively engaged, send a tailored message inviting them to try advanced features or explore the premium plan.

Building a Data-Driven Onboarding Stack

Creating a cohesive onboarding experience involves integrating multiple systems. These tools work together seamlessly to deliver a personalized, data-driven journey.

Here’s a process-oriented approach to building your onboarding stack:

1. Data Collection & Tracking

You need to capture detailed info about your users’ behavior and interactions throughout the onboarding process. This includes tracking events such as sign-ups, feature usage, clicks, and key actions.

2. Centralized Data Repository

Next, all the product data from different touchpoints (web, in-app, CRM, etc.) needs to be brought together in a data warehouse or central repository.

3. User Segmentation

After the data aggregated, it’s time to segment the users below in different buckets:

users who have just signed up
users who have completed basic setup
users who are actively exploring your core features

4. Trigger Actions Based on User Behavior

Then, the next step is to set up behavioral triggers that prompt actions when users read specific milestones.

5. Automate Personalized Communication

Lastly, you can start automating personalized communication to guide users through their onboarding journey.

Key Metrics to Measure Onboarding Success

To evaluate the effectiveness of your onboarding process, focus on these metrics:

Metric	What It Tells You	Why It Matters for PLG
Time to First Value (TTFV)	How quickly a user gets their first “win” or sees the product’s value.	The faster they see value, the more likely they’ll stick around.
Activation Rate	How many users complete a key step (like starting a project or inviting teammates).	Shows they’re actually starting to use the product, not just testing.
Time to Activation	How long it takes users to hit that first meaningful “aha” moment.	Shorter time = more engaged users who are likely to convert.
Onboarding Completion Rate	How many users finish the full onboarding flow.	Tells you if your onboarding is clear, helpful, and not too long.
Trial to Paid Conversion Rate	What percent of trial users become paying customers.	Directly reflects how well your product sells itself.
Feature Adoption Rate	How many users start using your core features.	Shows if users are getting real value and exploring the product.
User Engagement During Onboarding	How users interact with tutorials, guides, tooltips, etc.	Helps you see what’s working and what’s not.

Ready to Optimize Your Onboarding Experience?

Schedule a free strategy session today and see how RevOps Global can help streamline your process, boost user engagement, and drive faster activation.