What is an Onboarding Profile?

An onboarding profile is the customized signup experience that determines what questions new members see and how they're welcomed into your community. You can include custom questions, welcome videos, social links, code of conduct acceptance, and automatic intro posts.

If you have different access groups (e.g., free vs. paid members), you can create a unique onboarding experience for each.

When to Create Multiple Onboarding Profiles?

When to use multiple onboarding profiles:

• Free vs. paid members with different question sets
• Course cohorts with specific welcome videos
• Geographic segments with location-specific content
• Member types (students, professionals, leaders)

What you can customize per access group:

• Custom onboarding questions
• Welcome videos
• Automatic workflows
• Intro post settings.

How to Customize Your Onboarding

1. Access the Onboarding Builder

Head to: Settings > People > Onboarding

Heartbeat starts you off with a set of default questions. You can edit, delete, or add more depending on what you need.

2. Add & Customize Onboarding Questions

Click Add Question to ask something members answer in their own words. To have members pick groups to join, add a Group Question instead (step 3).

Each question has three options:

• Required: members can't continue until they answer. Ticking it also ticks Include answer in user bio, which you can untick.

• Include answer in user bio: the answer is added to the member's Bio.

• Private: only admins see the answer, for things like T-shirt size or dietary restrictions. A private answer never goes into the Bio or the intro post, so ticking Private unticks Include answer in user bio.

Every written answer is limited to 140 characters. The limit is the same for every question in every community, and it can't be changed. It applies to the answer, not the question, so shortening a question doesn't give members more room. If a question needs a longer answer, split it into two or three questions, since each one gets its own 140 characters. For example, "What are your professional goals, and how can this group help you achieve them?" can become "What are your professional goals?" and "How can this group help you achieve them?".

Answers that go into the Bio have the same limit, but members can add more to their Bio afterwards under Settings > Account > Profile. Longer onboarding answers are a feature request you can upvote.

💡 Tip: Use 1–2 “human” questions like “What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?” to make introductions more fun and personable.

3. Use Access Groups to Unlock Content

Heartbeat lets you tie onboarding choices to Access Groups — so someone who selects “Beginner” might unlock a different set of channels or courses than someone who selects “Advanced.”

Just make sure those groups are created in advance (with the right content tied to each) and then select your group question inside the onboarding setup.

[See: How to Create Joinable Access Groups →]

4. Add an Onboarding Video

Use this video to reduce time-to-value. Point members to:

• Your top 2–3 channels

• A live event they can RSVP to

• A course they should start first

This helps members get clarity on where to start and makes the community feel immediately useful.

5. Set Up the Intros Post + Bio

When the Intros Channel toggle is enabled, Heartbeat will automatically publish a welcome post for each new member inside your introductions channel using the info they just filled out. Private questions are *not* included. 

For any questions where "Include answer in user bio" was select, those answers will appears in their bio automatically. 

6. (Optional) Code of Conduct Agreement

You can select any existing Heartbeat document as your Code of Conduct. It is not one of the signup questions. The document appears in a pop-up the first time a new member opens your community after signing up, and they cannot continue until they click Agree.

The document members are shown is always the one set on your Default onboarding profile, so set it there even if you use several profiles.

7. Toggle On Required Profile Info

We strongly recommend turning on:

• Profile picture requirement (so people feel real)

• Location sharing (helps power location-based groups down the line)

8. Add Follow-Up Emails

You can add onboarding emails under: Settings > Workflows or directly by pressing +Add Action at the end of your Onboarding Profile.

We recommend:

• Day 0 (5 min after signup): Reinforce next steps

• Day 1: Highlight an event or community win

• Day 2–3: Ask a question or invite engagement

9. Preview the Flow

You can preview the entire experience with the "Preview" button in the top right.

The preview covers the signup questions only. The Code of Conduct pop-up is not part of it, so it does not appear here even when it is switched on.

Try running through it yourself so you can make improvements and experience what new members see.