User Properties Overview
Send user attributes to Appcues so you can target experiences based on who your users are.
Table of Contents
User properties are attributes you send to Appcues about your users — name, email address, role, signup date, plan type. They're the data points that let you target experiences to specific audiences based on who a user is or where they are in their lifecycle.
Some properties (like browser type and current page URL) are sent automatically. See properties collected automatically by Appcues. Custom properties specific to your application need to be sent by you.
When to use user properties
User properties power audience targeting. For example, to show an onboarding Flow only to new marketing admins, you'd need three properties: created_date, role, and team.
For more on targeting, see Targeting by User Property and Targeting Flows.
Send user properties
Custom properties are sent when a user is identified during an Appcues session. See Identify users and groups for implementation details.
For account-level properties shared by all users within a customer account, use group properties instead.
View your user properties
All custom properties appear on the Properties page in Settings > Data > Properties. Properties only show up after at least one user with that property has been identified.
You can also inspect properties on any page of your app by opening the Appcues Debugger.
Which properties to send
Start with the essentials and add more as needed. For inspiration see Choose which events and properties to send.
Required
| Property | Why |
|---|---|
| User ID | The only required property. Appcues can't function without it. |
Recommended
| Property | Why |
|---|---|
| Created Date | Know how long a user has been in your product. |
| Email Address | Send email messages through Workflows. |
| Plan Type | Lifecycle targeting (e.g., trial vs. paid). |
| Plan Tier | Tier-based targeting (e.g., standard vs. enterprise). |
| Role | Permission-based targeting (e.g., admin vs. standard). |
| Team | Segment targeting (e.g., marketing vs. sales). |
| Beta User / Feature Flags | Communicate with users who have access to specific features. |
Certain properties (name, email) are personally identifiable information. Consult your security and product teams before sending PII to Appcues. See the FAQ for Developers for guidance on implementing Appcues with PII.
Plan your installation
Use the installation plan template to map out the properties (and events) you need. Share the plan with the developers handling your Appcues installation.
Hide or remove user properties
You have two options:
- Hide from menus — Toggle off Show in Menus next to the property on the Properties settings page. The property stays in the database but no longer appears in the Studio interface.
- Remove from Studio — Contact support@appcues.com with a list of properties to remove. This also hides them from the interface but does not delete the underlying data.