Onboarding Sequence Automation

This drill wires the onboarding email sequence (designed in onboarding-sequence-design) into an always-on automation. It connects PostHog product events to Loops email triggers via n8n, so emails fire based on real user behavior — not just time delays.

Prerequisites

• Onboarding sequence specification from the onboarding-sequence-design drill (email content, triggers, timing)
• n8n instance running with Loops and PostHog credentials configured
• PostHog tracking onboarding milestone events
• Loops account with the sequence created (emails loaded, branching configured)

Steps

1. Set up the PostHog-to-Loops event bridge

Using the n8n-triggers fundamental, create an n8n workflow with a Webhook trigger. Configure PostHog to send webhook notifications to this endpoint when key onboarding events fire:

• signup_completed — triggers sequence enrollment
• milestone_2_completed (e.g., profile_completed) — updates Loops contact, may skip Email 2
• milestone_3_completed (e.g., first_project_created) — updates Loops contact
• activation_reached — exits the user from the non-activated email branch

For each event, the n8n workflow:

1. Receives the PostHog webhook payload
2. Extracts distinct_id, email, event name, and event properties
3. Updates the Loops contact properties via API using n8n-email-integration
4. Fires a Loops event that advances or branches the sequence

2. Build the enrollment workflow

Using n8n-workflow-basics, create the enrollment flow:

PostHog Webhook (signup_completed)
  → Extract user email, name, signup_source, plan_type
  → POST to Loops /api/v1/contacts/create with properties
  → Loops auto-starts the onboarding sequence (triggered by "Contact created")
  → Log enrollment event back to PostHog: onboarding_email_enrolled

Add error handling: if Loops returns a 409 (contact already exists), update the contact instead of failing. If Loops is unreachable, queue the enrollment for retry.

3. Build the milestone sync workflow

Create a separate n8n workflow for each milestone event:

PostHog Webhook (milestone_N_completed)
  → Extract user email and milestone details
  → PUT to Loops /api/v1/contacts/update with {milestone_N_completed: true, milestone_N_date: timestamp}
  → POST to Loops /api/v1/events/send with {eventName: "milestone_N_completed"}
  → Loops sequence uses this event to branch/skip emails

The Loops sequence's conditional branches check these contact properties to decide whether to send or skip each email.

4. Build the activation exit workflow

Using n8n-triggers, create a workflow that fires on the activation_reached PostHog event:

PostHog Webhook (activation_reached)
  → Extract user email and activation details
  → PUT to Loops /api/v1/contacts/update with {activation_date: timestamp, activated: true}
  → POST to Loops /api/v1/events/send with {eventName: "activation_reached"}
  → Loops sequence exits the "not activated" branch and sends Email 6 (celebration)

5. Build the onboarding funnel in PostHog

Using the posthog-funnels fundamental, create a funnel that tracks the full journey:

onboarding_email_enrolled → email_1_sent → email_1_opened → email_1_clicked
  → milestone_2_completed → milestone_3_completed → activation_reached

Add a breakdown by signup_source and plan_type to identify which user segments convert best through the email sequence. Set the funnel window to 14 days.

Also create a separate funnel for email engagement:

email_sent → email_opened → email_clicked → activation_reached

Break down by email step (1-7) to identify which emails drive the most activation.

6. Track email events in PostHog

Using posthog-custom-events, ensure every email interaction is tracked:

• onboarding_email_sent with properties: {email_step: N, subject: "...", user_email: "..."}
• onboarding_email_opened with properties: {email_step: N}
• onboarding_email_clicked with properties: {email_step: N, cta_url: "..."}

If Loops provides webhooks for open/click events, route them through n8n to PostHog. If not, use Loops API to pull metrics daily via a scheduled n8n workflow.

7. Set up monitoring alerts

Using n8n-workflow-basics, create a daily monitoring workflow:

1. Query PostHog for yesterday's onboarding email metrics: emails sent, opens, clicks, activations
2. Compare to thresholds: open rate < 25% or click rate < 3% triggers an alert
3. Check for errors: failed enrollments, bounced emails, broken webhook connections
4. Send a daily digest to Slack or email with: enrollments, open rate, click rate, activations, and any errors

8. Test the full pipeline

Before going live:

1. Create a test user in your app
2. Verify PostHog fires signup_completed
3. Verify n8n receives the webhook and enrolls the contact in Loops
4. Verify Email 1 arrives immediately
5. Simulate Milestone 2 completion and verify Email 2 is skipped
6. Simulate no activity for 5 days and verify Emails 3-5 arrive on schedule
7. Simulate activation and verify Email 6 fires and the non-activated branch exits
8. Verify all events appear in the PostHog funnel

Document any issues found during testing and fix before launching to real users.