Your Onboarding Journey

Welcome to Appreciation Engine! This article walks you through everything that happens between signing your Order Form and going live on the AE dashboard — and what we need from you at each step.

What to Expect

Onboarding runs in four stages:

1. Kickoff — you tell us the basics (dashboard admins, your domain, your brand, your launch date)
2. Technical Setup — you connect your social/streaming platforms and install AE Connect on your site
3. Trial — you run live on AE, with weekly usage updates from us
4. Launch — Trial Success meeting, then roll into your full license term

Step 1 — Complete the Onboarding Kickoff form

Right after your Order Form is signed, we'll send you the Onboarding Kickoff form. It covers your dashboard admin users, the domain(s) we need to allowlist, your website platform, and your target launch date. The Brand Import file is optional at this stage, but you'll need it completed before we can schedule your implementation call.

Step 2 — Fill out your Brand Import file

The Kickoff form includes a Brand Import template (one row per brand) — official website, social handles, streaming pages, and your primary hashtag. Only the fields for the connectors you've selected need to be filled in. For a field-by-field walkthrough of what each column means, see Add a Brand.

Step 3 — Set up your connector apps

For each platform you want fans to sign in with or that you want AE to monitor (Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, Discord, and more), you'll need a developer app with a Client ID and Secret. Step-by-step guides for every platform are in Create Social Apps for AE Connect. Once you know where things stand, fill out the Connector Readiness Check — one form covering all your connectors, not one per platform. Mark each connector as ready, in progress, or blocked, and you can revisit and update the same response any time as more become ready — no need to resubmit. You'll enter the actual Client ID/Secret directly in your AE dashboard, never in a form.

Step 4 — Install AE Connect on your site

Once your domain is allowlisted, follow AE Connect Installation to add the embed code to your site. If you told us AE-assisted in your Kickoff form, we'll schedule a call to do this together.

Step 5 — Test AE Connect

Before launch, follow Testing AE Connect to confirm your social login works and that activity is showing up in your dashboard.

Step 6 — Privacy & data protection setup

You'll also need a Privacy Policy, Data Use Statement, and Cookie Text configured in AE Connect, plus your domain allowlisted. See Data Protection and Privacy Setup for all four steps.

What Happens Next

Once you're live, you'll get weekly updates on API usage, member capture, and interesting behaviors during your trial. We'll wrap up with a Trial Success meeting, then roll you into your full license term.

Who to Contact for Help

Reach out to your AE contact any time, or email support@appreciationengine.com.