Checklists guide your users through a series of tasks with a persistent, self-serve widget that checks off items in real time. Use them to onboard new users, drive feature adoption, or nudge users toward activation milestones.

Before you start

• Decide on 3–5 checklist items. Completion rates drop sharply beyond five items — keep it focused on the actions that matter most.
• If any item should launch a flow, create that flow first and set its trigger to Show Manually. Otherwise the flow may appear on its own outside the checklist.
• For each item, decide what counts as "done": a user property changing, an event firing, or simply clicking the item. This determines your completion criteria later.

Create the Checklist

1. Go to Experiences > Checklists and click Create a Checklist. The checklist editor opens.
2. Enter a name. This is internal only — your users won't see it.
3. Set a Primary Color. This color applies to the beacon icon and progress indicators throughout the checklist.
4. Choose a Font Family from the dropdown. To use a custom font, scroll to the bottom of the list and select Custom... then enter the font name exactly as it appears in your CSS.
5. For detailed instructions on loading custom fonts, see Loading Custom Fonts for Checklists.

Configure the beacon

1. The beacon is the floating button your users click to open the checklist. It stays visible as they navigate your app until they complete or dismiss the checklist.
2. Choose a Beacon position — bottom-left or bottom-right of your application.
3. To fine-tune placement, expand Adjust and set pixel offsets. Positive values move the beacon right and up; negative values move it left and down.

Pixel offset changes don't appear in the editor preview. Publish the checklist and check your app to see the final position.

4. Add a public-facing title (displayed above the checklist when open) and set the Beacon text color to ensure it contrasts with your primary color.

Add checklist items

1. Click Add Checklist Item. A new empty item appears in the list.
2. Click Edit on the item. Enter a short, action-oriented name that your users will understand immediately.
3. Name items as tasks, not features: "Invite a teammate" is clearer than "Team Settings Configuration." Front-load your easiest item to build early momentum.
4. Set the action — what happens when the user clicks the item:

Go to a page

Enter the destination URL. Use this when the task is self-explanatory and doesn't need a guided flow. 

To use a dynamic URL that includes a user property, insert the property variable into the URL field. Ensure that there are two curly braces immediately wrapping the name of the attribute you'd like to use, for example {{account}}.

For step by step guidance on where to find your attribute and how to use it correctly, make sure you read our article Personalize Flows.

Launch a flow

Select the flow from the dropdown. You can launch it on the current page or add a redirect URL to navigate the user first.

If the flow should only appear when launched from the checklist, set that flow's trigger to Show Manually in its settings.

If your flow starts with a tooltip or hotspot, the checklist item won't mark as complete on launch alone — the user must interact with the tooltip or hotspot first (click next, dismiss, or engage with it). For flows starting with a modal or slideout, the item completes as soon as the flow appears on screen.

Set completion criteria

Checklist state is tracked per user ID, not per account. For account-level completion, see Create Checklist items that can be completed by anyone on an account.

For each item, choose what marks it as done:

When the launched flow is started

The item checks off as soon as the flow appears. Use this when seeing the flow is enough — for example, watching an introductory video in a Modal.

Keep in mind the Tooltip/Hotspot exception described above: for those pattern types, "started" means the user has interacted, not just that the flow launched.

When the user matches a condition

The item checks off when the user meets a condition you define — a user property, group property, event, or segment. This is the most reliable option because it confirms the user actually performed the action.

For example: an item named "Add a teammate" completes when the event added_teammate occurs. An item named "Complete your profile" completes when the property profile_complete equals true.

You can use Click to Track to create no-code events for this purpose without involving your engineering team.

When the item is clicked

The item checks off immediately on click. Use this for simple tasks where the click itself is the action — for example, visiting an external knowledge base link.

Configure item order

If items must be completed sequentially, enable Complete in order. The next item only becomes clickable after the current one is marked done. Leave this off if users should be able to tackle items in any order. Reorder items by dragging them in the editor.

Customize checklist text

Set the list title and description. Keep both short. The title should tell users what they're working toward (e.g., "Get started with Appcues" or "Set up your workspace").

Configure dismiss behavior:

• Toggle on to let users skip the checklist. Customize the dismiss confirmation text that appears when they click to skip.
• Toggle off to make the checklist persistent. It stays visible until the user completes all items or you unpublish it.

Customize the congratulations screen that appears when all items are complete. Upload an image or choose an emoji, edit the success message, customize the dismiss button text, and pick a success color.

Confirm it worked

• Click Preview in the editor. The beacon appears in the position you selected.
• Click the beacon. The checklist opens with your title, description, and all items listed.
• Item names, colors, and fonts match your configuration.
• If you enabled Complete in order, only the first item is clickable — the rest are locked.

To test with real completion logic and targeting, publish the checklist and test with your own user account. See Preview and test your checklist for detailed testing methods.

Tips for effective checklists

• 3–5 items maximum. Short checklists get completed. Long ones get dismissed.
• Use event-based or property-based completion over "when clicked" whenever possible. It confirms the user actually did the thing, not just that they clicked through.
• Name items as actions. "Send your first message" outperforms "Messaging" because it tells users exactly what to do.
• Front-load quick wins. Put the easiest item first. Early completion builds momentum to finish the rest.
• Pair with a welcome flow. Show an introductory modal first, then reveal the checklist. Configure the checklist's audience targeting to require that the welcome flow was completed. The checklist won't appear while any modal is open — it shows automatically once the modal is dismissed.

If something isn't working

Beacon doesn't appear after publishing: Open the Appcues debugger on the page where you expect the checklist. Verify that all installation checks pass (green checkmarks) and that the checklist shows as "Eligible" in the diagnostics panel. If it shows "Ineligible," click the link to see which targeting condition failed.

A checklist item won't check off: Verify your completion criteria:

• If using an event, go to Events Explorer, find the event, and confirm it fired for your test user.
• If using a property, open the user's profile in Appcues and check the property value.
• If the item launches a flow that starts with a tooltip or hotspot, remember that the user must interact with it — launching alone doesn't count.

Checklist disappears while a flow is showing: This is expected behavior. Checklists are suppressed while any Modal or Slideout is on screen. The checklist reappears after the user dismisses or completes the flow.

Checklist keeps showing after a user dismissed it: If your checklist is set to non-dismissible (dismiss toggle off), it remains visible until all items are complete or you unpublish it. Check the dismiss toggle in the editor.

If it's still not working, collect:

• Checklist ID (from the URL on the checklist settings page)
• User ID of the affected user
• Screenshot of the debugger
• Screenshot of the completion criteria configuration for the failing item

Then contact Appcues support.

Related

• Checklist targeting settings — control who sees the checklist, on which pages, and the default open/closed behavior
• Checklist analytics — monitor completion rates, item-level engagement, and drop-off points
• Use a checklist to onboard users — end-to-end guide covering event setup, targeting, and follow-up flows
• Create account-wide checklist items — mark items complete when any user on an account performs the action