New-member onboarding greets people when they join and points them to their first actions. It has two parts: a welcome message and a new-member checklist (a short list of onboarding steps). Both appear on a Get started card that each member sees until they finish it or dismiss it.
Who can do this: Community owners and admins. · Where: Set up on the web in the admin console. Members see the checklist on the web and in the iOS and Android apps. · Plan: Available on every platform plan.
Write a welcome message for new members
- Go to Admin → Settings → Onboarding. The page is titled Onboarding Experience.
- Make sure the Welcome Message switch is on.
- Type your message in Message Content. It's plain text.
- Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
If you leave Message Content empty, members see Mateflow's default welcome message, translated into each member's language. A message you write is shown exactly as you wrote it, in every language.
You can type {{site.name}} in your message. It's replaced with your community's name when you save. If you rename the community later, saved messages keep the old name, so update them.
To stop showing a welcome message, turn the Welcome Message switch off and save. Members then see the checklist without a welcome message. The welcome message appears on the checklist's card, so a checklist with no steps shows neither.
The default new-member checklist
A community that has never set up its checklist uses four default steps. They appear in Onboarding Checklist so you can see exactly what members get:
- Complete your profile (action type Complete Profile)
- Join a space (Join Space)
- Share your first post (Create First Post)
- Follow a member (Follow a Member)
The default steps use Mateflow's wording, shown to each member in their own language. Keep them, edit them, reorder them, or remove the ones you don't want.
Add steps to the new-member checklist
- In Onboarding Checklist, click Add Step. If there are no steps yet, you can also click Add your first onboarding step.
- Enter a Title and a Description.
- Choose an Action Type:
- Visit Link: sends the member to a page, such as your community rules or an introductions thread.
- Complete Profile: sends the member to their profile settings.
- Join Space: sends the member to browse spaces.
- Create First Post: prompts the member to make their first post.
- Follow a Member: sends the member to the member directory to follow someone. If members can't browse the directory, it sends them to the Explore page instead.
- For Visit Link, enter the address in Target (URL/ID). It must start with
https://or/. A full web address (starting withhttps://) opens in a new tab. A path in your community, such as/spaces, opens in the same tab. - Click Save Step.
- Click Save changes at the bottom of the page. Steps aren't saved until you do.
How onboarding checklist steps are completed
Members don't tick steps off by hand. Each step is marked done when the member does the action:
| Action Type | The step is done when the member… |
|---|---|
| Complete Profile | has a display name and a profile picture, and has answered every Required profile field |
| Join Space | joins a space |
| Create First Post | publishes their first post |
| Follow a Member | follows anyone in the community |
| Visit Link | clicks the step |
Completed steps show a check mark. Progress is tracked per member, so each person sees their own checklist.
Edit, reorder, or remove onboarding steps
- Edit: click the pencil icon on a step, change it, and click Save Step.
- Reorder: drag a step by its handle. Members see steps in this order.
- Remove: click the trash icon on the step.
Then click Save changes. To undo everything since your last save, click Reset Changes.
If you remove every step and save, the page says No steps. Members won't see a checklist or the welcome message. Members then don't see the Get started card at all.
Some steps, such as those added by a community template, show gray placeholder text in Title or Description. That's Mateflow's default wording, which each member sees in their own language. Leave the field empty to keep the default, or type your own text to replace it for everyone.
What members see during onboarding
- On the web: a Get started card in the right-hand sidebar of the home page and other pages, and on the member's own profile. On a phone's browser, it's at the top of the home feed. It shows a progress ring, how many steps are done, your welcome message, and the steps. Clicking a step opens the page for that action.
- In the iOS and Android apps: a Get started card at the top of the Home feed, showing how many steps are done. Tapping it expands the steps.
A member can close the card with the Dismiss (✕) button. When every step is done, the card shows All done! once and then goes away. When your checklist has no steps, the card isn't shown.
Troubleshooting new-member onboarding
Symptom: Members who use another language see your step or welcome text in your language. Why it happens: Text you type is shown exactly as written. Only Mateflow's default wording is translated. Fix: Clear the field to go back to the default wording, which is translated for each member.
Symptom: A Visit Link step opens the wrong page.
Why it happens: The Target (URL/ID) isn't a full web address or a path in your community.
Fix: Enter a full address starting with https://, or a path starting with /.
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