Onboarding Guide

Bento is an email marketing and automation platform that helps you deliver broadcasts, transactional notifications, and real-time chat from a single stack. This speedrun walks you through the exact steps we use internally to review new accounts and help teams go live in a few hours.

Compliance review: Every account is manually reviewed within 12–24 hours. Read the Acceptable Use Policy so there are no surprises during approval.

Important: Bento is not for cold email or outreach. Only email people who expect and want to hear from you. Violations lead to account termination.

Typical timeline

1. Connect data. Send events via an SDK, integration, or forms.
2. Upload your existing audience. Import CSVs so historical contacts are available immediately.
3. Authenticate the domain. Add DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, link branding) and verify.
4. Send a test email. Confirm transactional and broadcast workflows are delivering.

Pick the path that matches how you plan to integrate. Each flow shares the same high-level milestones but calls out nuances for your toolset.

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Developers · Build with an SDK

Use our server-side SDKs to push events and trigger emails from your application. Start with the SDK feature list for installation links (Laravel, Rails, Node.js, and more).

1. Add DNS records for your domain

• Go to Emails → Authors and add each address you plan to send from.
• Open Deliverability → DNS Records and add the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC entries.
• Enable link branding so click-tracking points at your subdomain.
• Click Validate DNS Records before moving on.
• Schedule time with support if records do not propagate quickly.

Note: Link branding ensures every link and image loads through your domain—an easy deliverability win.

2. Install and verify the SDK

• Follow the README for your chosen SDK.
• Start with a few core events such as $signed_up so you do not flood Bento with noisy data.
• Wire up transactional endpoints (password resets, receipts) once the basics work.

3. Import existing users

• Navigate to People → All Users, choose Import Users (CSV), and download the sample sheet.
• Normalize headers with lowercase snake case (email, first_name, tags).
• Upload the cleaned CSV and refresh to confirm profiles appear.

Warning: Clean the CSV first. Remove dead addresses, match field names, and upload unsubscribed users using the “Unsubscribe users” command.

4. Send your first email

• Search for your own profile, click Send Email, and send a quick test.
• Verify the message lands in your inbox and optionally trigger a transactional email from your app.

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Developers · Use the Laravel importer

Prefer to start by migrating an existing Laravel application? Use the bundled importer in the Laravel SDK.

1. Add DNS records using the same checklist above.
2. Run the importer to populate Bento with production data. Customize the importer query if you need to filter specific users.
3. Send a test email from Bento to confirm the integration.

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No-code builders (Make, Zapier, Bubble, etc.)

If you live in automation tools, connect Bento through Make.com, Zapier, or similar platforms.

1. Authenticate your domain exactly as described in the DNS section above.
2. Connect the integration and start with a key event such as $signed_up or Purchased.
3. Import CSVs so legacy users appear alongside new sign-ups.
4. Send a test email to verify automations are firing and unsubscribes are honored.

Tip: Keep the initial automation lightweight. Add more events once the core flow is stable.

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Ecommerce teams (Shopify, Stripe, etc.)

Bento connects directly to Shopify and other ecommerce stacks.

1. Add DNS records for the sending domain and link branding.
2. Install the integration (Shopify app, Stripe webhook, etc.) and confirm data is flowing.
3. Import legacy customers with a cleaned CSV so purchase history is preserved.
4. Send a transactional test (order confirmation or one-off email) to validate the integration.

Reminder: When uploading customers, align custom field names with the data delivered by the integration so records merge cleanly.

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WordPress users

Run the Bento WordPress plugin or pair it with WPFusion when you need broader coverage.

1. Authenticate the domain by adding SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and link branding.
2. Install and activate the Bento plugin, then add your API keys.
3. Verify supported plugins (WooCommerce, LearnDash, etc.) are syncing data.
4. Import any outstanding CSV lists and unsubscribe files.
5. Send a test email from your own profile.

Pro tip: For unsupported plugins, WPFusion can bridge data into Bento. We routinely credit accounts that need the license to get started.

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Spreadsheet exports (CSV first approach)

When you simply have a CSV pulled from another ESP or event signup list, start here.

1. Authenticate the domain so your first campaign lands in the inbox.
2. Download the Bento sample sheet and map your columns to it.
3. Upload the CSV and use the “Unsubscribe users” option for any suppression lists.
4. Browse a few profiles to confirm data imported as expected.
5. Send a test email—the same workflow as every other path.

Keep an untouched copy of the original CSV so you can reference it later if field mappings need to change.

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Next steps

• Schedule a compliance review call if you run into deliverability questions.
• Build automations incrementally; focus on the core welcome or onboarding journey first.
• Monitor DNS validation and engagement metrics after your first campaigns—small adjustments early prevent bigger deliverability repairs later.

Complete these checkpoints and you will have a production-ready Bento account in less time than it took to read the old documentation.