Build a smooth onboarding experience that nurtures customers automatically

A great customer onboarding flow collects the right information, adapts based on what the customer needs, and sends personalized follow-up emails, without any manual work.
In this guide, you’ll build a customer onboarding form that tailors questions by customer type, uses answer piping for personalization, and sends automated follow-ups using Formaloo’s On Submit logic.

📘 Learn more: Create your first form, app, or portal in a flash

Why this helps

• Personalizes onboarding based on customer type, product interests, or goals.
• Sends targeted follow-up emails the moment someone submits the form, no manual chasing.
• Creates a clean internal workflow: your team gets instant email or Slack notifications.
• Improves customer experience and reduces onboarding time.
• Real-world use: SaaS and agencies use this exact setup to automate 90% of new-client onboarding.

📘 Learn more: Build personalized and time-saving flows with logic and automation

Step 1 – Create your onboarding form

You can start from scratch or use a template from our Template Gallery (e.g., Client Onboarding Form, Customer Intake Form).
You can also use Magic Create, sample prompt:
“Customer onboarding form with customer profile, goal selection, product interest, priority level, and personalized follow-ups.”

Include fields such as:

• Full name (short text)
• Work email (email field)
• Company name
• Customer type (dropdown: “Startup”, “Enterprise”, “Freelancer”)
• Primary goal (single-choice)
• What product/features they’re interested in
• Onboarding priority (dropdown)
• Additional notes (long text)

💡 Tip: Use multi-page layout to break onboarding into “About you”, “Goals”, “Preferences” for better completion.
📘 Learn more: Form editor and field types

Step 2 – Personalize questions with conditional logic

Use conditional logic so customers only see questions relevant to them.

Examples:

• If customer_type = Startup, show: “What’s your team size?”
• If goal = Improve workflow, show: “Which workflow tools do you currently use?”
• If product_interest includes CRM, show: “How big is your sales team?”

📘 Learn more: Show or hide questions or fields based on previous answers

💡 Tip: Keep onboarding under 10 questions for higher completion rates.

Step 3 – Add personalized copy with answer piping

Use answer piping to address customers by name or reference their selections:

Examples:

• “Thanks, @field_full_name, let’s personalize your setup.”
• “Since you’re interested in @field_product_interest, we’ll prepare a tailored guide.”

📘 Learn more: Build personalized and time-saving flows with logic, automations, and AI

Step 4 – Create multiple ending pages for tailored onboarding

Make ending pages that match customer goals or products.

Examples:

• Ending page A — CRM setup
• Ending page B — Project tracking setup
• Ending page C — Workflow automation guide

Use logic like:
“If product_interest = CRM → go to ending page CRM onboarding.”

📘 Learn more: How to set up multiple ending pages with redirect logic

💡 Tip: Add links to quickstart guides, Calendly meeting pages, or tutorials directly in the ending page.

Step 5 – Send automated personalized follow-up emails (On Submit logic)

This is where your onboarding becomes fully automated.
Use On Submit logic to send relevant emails immediately after form submission.

Examples of automated follow-ups:

• Email A – Send CRM onboarding resources
• Email B – Send product tutorial links
• Email C – Schedule onboarding call (include Calendly link)
• Email D – Internal notification for your onboarding team

Set up an email rule:

1. Open your form → Settings → Advanced Logic → On Submit.
2. Add a rule:
   • When: product_interest contains “CRM”
   • Do: Send email
3. Personalize content using field IDs (e.g., “Hi @field_full_name”).
4. Repeat for each product or customer segment.

📘 Learn more: What is “On Submit” logic and how it works

💡 Tip: Add an internal Slack notification for high-priority customers.
📘 Learn more: (Slack notifications explained inside On Submit logic article)

Step 6 – (Optional) Redirect customers to a scheduling page for onboarding calls

If you offer onboarding sessions or demos, you can automatically redirect users to your Calendly booking page.
Formaloo can pass form data to Calendly, so name and email are prefilled.

📘 Learn more: Calendly integration in Formaloo

💡 Tip: Use “Send form data to redirect URL” in Settings to auto-pass name/email to your scheduling page.

Step 7 – Build an internal onboarding dashboard (optional)

Convert your form into a lightweight CRM for your team:

• Table view → track all new customers
• Kanban → group by goal, product interest, or priority
• Charts → track customer segments or product demand
• Filters → show only high-value customers

📘 Learn more: How to create or edit an app

💡 Tip: Add a “Status” field to track onboarding stages:
New → In progress → Completed

Pro tips

💡 Pro tip: Use Memory Forms to auto-prefill returning customers’ information and reduce friction.
📘 Learn more: How to create a Memory Form that auto-fills user details

💡 Pro tip: Turn your onboarding app into a customer portal so users can revisit onboarding resources anytime.
📘 Learn more: How to create a portal and manage users’ access

💡 Pro tip: Add a quote or setup calculator using variable fields if your onboarding includes pricing.
📘 Learn more: How to calculate an estimated quote/price

Real-world example

A SaaS company built a “New Customer Onboarding” flow using this exact structure.
Once a customer submits the form, Formaloo:

1. Sends a personalized “Welcome + CRM setup guide” email
2. Alerts the onboarding team in Slack
3. Redirects the customer to a booking page
4. Places the customer in a Kanban board grouped by onboarding priority

Their onboarding time dropped from 3 days to under 24 hours.

📈 See more examples: Formaloo use cases

FAQ

1. How do I send different follow-up emails for different customer types?

Use On Submit logic with conditions based on fields like customer_type or product_interest.
❓ Learn more: What is “On Submit” logic

2. Can I personalize emails with customer answers?

Yes. Use answer piping or reference field IDs inside email templates.

3. Can customers schedule onboarding calls automatically?

Yes. Use redirect + data passing to Calendly.
🛠️ Learn more: Calendly integration in Formaloo

4. Can I create an onboarding portal instead of just a form?

Yes. Any form can be turned into a portal with role-based access and user dashboards.
❓ Learn more: How to create a portal

5. Can I track onboarding progress internally?

Yes. Use tables, kanban boards, and charts inside your app.
🔧 Learn more: How to customize tables, boards, charts

Final wrap-up

You now have a complete onboarding system that personalizes questions, adapts to customer needs, and sends automated tailored follow-up emails using Formaloo’s powerful logic engine.
Next, expand this flow by adding live dashboards or converting it into a full customer portal.

🎉 Learn more: Expand your workflow in Formaloo

Last updated November 2025