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This guide walks you through the essential setup to get Trig working for your business. By the end, you’ll have stages tracking your customer journey, objectives measuring progress, and your first job ready to intervene.

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Before you start

Ensure you have:

Data Integration

CRM (HubSpot or Salesforce) and product data sources connected

Customer Data

People and Organisations flowing into Trig
Work with your Trig implementation team to set up integrations if not already configured.

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Step 1: Define your stages

Stages are the foundation of everything in Trig. They represent the phases of your customer journey.

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Standard stages

Most B2B SaaS companies use four stages:
StagePurposeTypical Duration
OnboardingInitial setup and first value milestonesDays 0-30
AdoptionGrowing usage, team expansion, feature depthMonths 1-3
ExpansionSignals of readiness to upgrade or expandVariable
RenewalPre-renewal health monitoring60-90 days before renewal

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Create your first stage

1

Navigate to Stages

Go to Dashboard > Stages in the main navigation
2

Create a new stage

Click Create Stage and enter:
  • Name: Onboarding
  • Description: Initial setup and first value milestones
3

Set entry criteria

Define when organisations enter this stage:
first_seen_date is within last 30 days
4

Set exit criteria

Choose time-based exit for now:
Auto-exit after 30 days
Start with time-based exit criteria. You can refine to completion-based exit once you understand typical customer patterns.

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Step 2: Add objectives to your stage

Objectives are the milestones that define healthy progression within a stage. They answer: “What do we want customers to do?”

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Identify 4 to 7 key milestones

For an Onboarding stage, consider:
  • Created first project
  • Invited a team member
  • Connected an integration
  • Generated first report
  • Completed a full week of usage

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Create your first objective

1

Open your Onboarding stage

Click into the stage you just created
2

Add an objective

Click Add Objective and configure:
  • Name: Created First Project
  • Completion criteria: projects_created >= 1
3

Add more objectives

Repeat for 3-5 additional milestones important to your business

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What happens next

As customers flow through your stage, Trig will:
  1. Track completion for each objective
  2. Calculate averages across your customer base
  3. Identify slow completers via Signals
  4. Build patterns showing what successful customers do

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Step 3: Create a cohort for targeting

Cohorts are reusable audience segments. Create one to target customers who need intervention.

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Create a “Stuck in Onboarding” cohort

1

Navigate to Audience

Go to Audience > Cohorts
2

Create new cohort

Click Create Cohort and configure:
  • Name: Stuck in Onboarding
  • Type: Organisation
3

Define filter criteria

currently_member_of_onboarding_stage = true
AND days_in_stage >= 14
AND objectives_completed < 2
4

Save the cohort

This cohort will dynamically update as customers match or unmatch the criteria

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Step 4: Launch your first job

Jobs are where intervention happens. They target an audience with a goal and drive action through messaging.

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Create an onboarding nudge job

1

Navigate to Jobs

Go to Jobs in the main navigation
2

Create new job

Click Create Job and configure the basics:
  • Name: Onboarding Nudge
  • Target type: Organisation
3

Define the goal

What do you want customers to do?
projects_created >= 1
4

Set the audience

Use your cohort or define criteria directly:
Member of cohort "Stuck in Onboarding"
5

Set auto-exit duration

How long before customers exit if they don’t complete?
14 days
6

Configure entry action

Add a Message Customer action with plain text email:
Subject: Quick tip to get started with {product_name}

Hi {first_name},

I noticed your team at {organization_name} signed up recently
but hasn't created your first project yet.

Here's how to get started - it takes about 5 minutes:

1. Click "New Project" in the dashboard
2. Give your project a name
3. Add your first task

If you run into any issues, just reply to this email.

Thanks,
{sender_name}
7

Launch the job

Review your configuration and click Go Live
Plain text emails work best. They look personal and get 10x higher engagement than branded HTML templates.

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What you’ve built

Congratulations! You now have a working Trig configuration:

Stage

Onboarding stage tracking new customer progression

Objectives

Key milestones measuring healthy customer behaviour

Cohort

Reusable segment identifying customers who need help

Job

Automated intervention nudging stuck customers

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The virtuous cycle

With this foundation in place:
  1. New customers enter the Onboarding stage automatically
  2. Objectives track their progress against key milestones
  3. Slow completers are identified by Signals
  4. Jobs intervene to get them back on track
  5. Completion data improves your understanding of “normal”

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Next steps

Add more stages

Configure Adoption, Expansion, and Renewal stages

Build job sequences

Chain jobs based on outcomes for progressive journeys

Use Signals

Proactively surface customers who need attention

Define behaviours

Track milestone moments beyond stages

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Checklist

Before moving on, confirm:
Stage created with entry and exit criteria
4 to 7 objectives defined with clear completion criteria
At least one cohort for targeting
First job live with plain text email action
Data flowing - customers entering stages and objectives tracking