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Onboarding and engagement in Braze work best as two journeys joined by one hand-off event. Onboarding ends when a new user completes the action that shows they have found value, and engagement starts from that same event. Settle the entry event, exit criteria and re-eligibility rule before you build either Canvas.
Key Takeaways
- Use one conversion event as the hand-off: onboarding exits on it and engagement starts from it.
- Action-based entry suits onboarding, but the entry event must not also act as an audience filter.
- Exit criteria give a clean stop, while Action Paths give a branch based on the first qualifying action.
- Braze sends a message to a user only once by default, so leave re-eligibility off for onboarding.
- Check audience overlap and suppression lists so users do not get competing messages from several journeys.
- Add a control group before launch, because you cannot add one retrospectively.
How should onboarding and engagement in Braze hand over to each other?
We recommend ending onboarding on the event you have named as the primary conversion, and starting engagement from that same event. One event, one owner on each side of it. Without that, a new user can sit in both journeys at once and receive competing messages.
Braze gives you the pieces for this. Conversion events measure the success of the Canvas, and the Canvas QA checklist advises teams to align exit events with their primary conversion.
Decide the conversion event before you open the Canvas builder. It is the sentence your onboarding journey is trying to make true.
How should a new user enter the onboarding journey?
Action-based entry suits onboarding. Braze calls action-based delivery “very effective for transactional or achievement-based messages.” The onboarding template uses it to target users who first used an app less than one day ago.
Braze lists actions such as opening your app or adding an email address as entry triggers. Pick the event that best marks a new user, and confirm your app actually sends it.
Two documented traps are worth checking before launch:
- Do not use the entry event as an audience filter as well. Braze warns of a race condition: the user may not be in the audience when they perform the trigger event, so they never enter the Canvas.
- Send custom events with the current time. If the timestamp is backdated by more than the delay, Braze treats the delay as already elapsed, and a message you meant to hold can go out early.
What should end the onboarding journey?
Exit criteria stop messaging. If a user performs the exception event or matches the segments and filters, they receive no further messages. Braze suggests them when you want a user to leave the Canvas entirely after an action that matches their entry event.
For onboarding, the exception event should be your conversion event. A user who has activated does not need the day-three reminder.
Exit criteria are not the only option. Action Paths suit the case where a user should remain in the Canvas but follow a different path. Use exit criteria for a clean stop and Action Paths for a branch.
How do Action Paths decide where a user goes next?
An Action Paths step holds users for an evaluation window. By default, users are evaluated within one day, and the maximum evaluation window is 31 days. A user advances through the action group for the first qualifying action they perform after entering the step.
That first-action rule shapes how you design the groups. If two groups could both match, the first action the user takes decides the route, unless you turn on ranked order.
| Tool | Use it when | What happens to the user |
|---|---|---|
| Exit criteria | The conversion event means the journey is finished | The user receives no further messages from the Canvas |
| Action Paths | The next message depends on what the user did | The user takes the path for their first qualifying action |
| Action group exit option | One branch should end the journey after the window | The user exits at the end of the evaluation period |
What does re-eligibility do to an onboarding Canvas?
By default, Braze sends a message to a user only once, even if they re-qualify. Re-eligibility is turned on separately. That default fits onboarding well, because a person is only new once.
We recommend leaving re-eligibility off for the onboarding Canvas and turning it on, deliberately, for engagement journeys that should repeat.
If you do turn it on, read the timing rule. Braze gives an example: with a Canvas duration of 7 days and a re-eligibility period of 3 days, a user can re-enter before finishing their first journey. On re-entry, the steps from the first pass are not visible to the user, so the user may receive the same message again.
How do you stop the two journeys colliding?
Collisions come from overlap, so plan for it. The Canvas QA checklist says to check audience overlap and suppression lists so users do not get competing messages from several journeys.
Three controls cover this. First, give each journey a clean audience boundary: onboarding for new users, engagement for users who have converted. Second, use frequency capping, which Braze describes as a way to ease the marketing pressure on your users, and third, keep a Delay step in the onboarding path, as the onboarding template recommends.
When one Canvas should start another, Braze documents the Send to Destination Canvas component. It also documents a Braze-to-Braze webhook that calls the Canvas trigger endpoint. Check the current docs for the exact setup before building.
What does a hand-off look like in practice?
Take a hypothetical subscription fitness app. Nothing here is client work, and it uses no real data.
The onboarding Canvas has action-based entry on session start, with an audience of users who first used the app recently. Its conversion event is a custom event for a completed first workout. That same event is the exception event in the exit criteria, so anyone who completes a workout stops receiving onboarding messages.
The engagement Canvas has action-based entry on the same completed first workout event. Its audience filter does not reference that event, which avoids the race condition. Its first step is a Delay, so the user gets a gap between the last onboarding message and the first engagement message.
Users who never complete a workout never enter engagement. They stay in onboarding until its path ends, which is the right outcome: engagement messaging assumes the user has seen value.
How do you measure whether the hand-off works?
Start with the conversion event, since it is the measure Braze uses for the Canvas. Add a control group before launch, because you cannot add one retrospectively. Braze tracks conversions for control users even though they receive no messages, which gives you a baseline.
Be careful with Message step reporting. By default, users advance through all Message steps whether or not they received the message. A suppressed user still moves along the path, so read send counts and entry counts together.
Before launch, confirm that the triggering event reaches Braze. The checklist says to verify that the triggering datapoint appears on a live user profile in Messaging History before launch.
How does this connect to the rest of the programme?
Onboarding sits inside a wider engagement strategy. The customer engagement strategy guide covers the programme level, and engagement triggers covers the events that start journeys.
For the build itself, see how to automate an onboarding journey in Braze Canvas and the post on onboarding new mobile users. Two channel-level companions are push notifications for onboarding completion and feedback surveys in onboarding.
As a Braze implementation partner, CustomerIK recommends mapping the hand-off event, exit criteria and re-eligibility rule on one page before anyone builds a Canvas. It settles the decisions hardest to change once users are in flight.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the difference between onboarding and engagement in Braze?
Onboarding is the journey that helps a new user reach their first valuable action. Engagement is the ongoing programme that follows. In Braze, you build each as its own Canvas and join them with a shared event.
2. Should onboarding be one Canvas or several?
We recommend one onboarding Canvas per entry point and a separate engagement Canvas. Keeping them apart makes exit criteria and re-eligibility easier to reason about.
3. Can I move users from one Canvas into another?
Yes. Braze documents the Send to Destination Canvas component, and a Braze-to-Braze webhook that calls the Canvas trigger endpoint. Verify the setup in the current docs.
4. Do users get onboarding messages again if they re-qualify?
Not by default. Braze sends a message to a user only once unless re-eligibility is turned on.
5. What is a conversion event used for?
Braze describes it as a metric for measuring the success of the Canvas. With variants or a control group, Braze uses it to determine the best variation.
Sources
- Braze, Onboarding. Retrieved 22 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Delivery and entry types. Retrieved 22 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Create a Canvas. Retrieved 22 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Re-eligibility for campaigns and Canvas. Retrieved 22 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Matching exit criteria to entry events. Retrieved 22 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Action Paths. Retrieved 22 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Canvas QA checklist. Retrieved 22 Oct 2026.
- Written by CustomerIK, a Braze implementation partner.
CustomerIK is a Braze implementation partner working across onboarding, technical integration, marketing operations and customer data management.
If you are planning the hand-off between your onboarding and engagement Canvases, let's talk.
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