The Getting started guide is a checklist of everything worth switching on in Tendlio, easiest first. Each step says what it does for your store and opens the page where you do it. A step about a tool ticks itself once that tool is running.
You will learn #
- How to open the guide
- What each part of the checklist covers
- How steps get ticked, and how to skip one that doesn’t fit your store
- How to start the guide over, or take it off your menu
Before you begin #
- Finish the setup wizard. The wizard asks for your store type and whether you track cost prices, and runs your first analysis. Those are the first three steps of the guide. The cost step can still be open afterwards, because it’s ticked only once enough of your products have a cost. The wizard’s last screen links to the guide, under Go to dashboard →.
- The guide doesn’t switch anything on. Each step opens a page, and you decide there whether to switch the tool on.
Open the guide #
- In Tendlio’s menu, open Help.
- Click Getting started.
The Getting started · N of M shortcut in the bottom-right corner of your Dashboard opens the guide too.
Work through the checklist #
The line at the top counts your progress, for example 18 of 26 set up. Steps you’ve done and steps you’ve skipped both count. The total grows by one when you turn on Reviews under Experimental, because the Review requests step joins the list then.
The steps come in five parts:
- Foundations: your store type, your cost prices and your first analysis. Your scores and your to-do list are built on these, so they can’t be skipped.
- Quick wins: the tools that take the least setup, such as cart recovery, Frequently bought together and Smart Product Sort. The summary email to you is here too. It’s on from the start, so its step is ticked already.
- Worth a few minutes: tools that need a little setup first, such as Auto outlet, the Deals page and Customer recognition.
- Email flows: Connect your sending account first, then the welcome emails and the second-order nudge. The flows can’t send anything until that first step is ticked.
- Know your way around: the pages you’ll come back to, such as your to-do list, your Restock list and Reports, plus a step to turn on the Growth coach, if you’d like a daily task. Turning the coach on doesn’t tick that step. You mark it done yourself, like the other steps in this part.
Each step that’s still open has a button on the right:
- A tool step has Set it up →, which opens the tool’s page. Switch the tool on there when you’re ready.
- A Foundations step has a button of its own, such as Add your costs or Run a scan.
- A step under Know your way around has Open →, which opens the page, and Mark done, which you click yourself once you’ve had a look.
If a step doesn’t fit your store, click Not for my store, for example on the email steps if you send your emails with another service. A skipped step counts toward your progress, and Undo takes the skip back.
How a step gets ticked #
A tool step ticks itself once Tendlio sees the tool running, by the same rule the Growth engine page uses. For most tools, running means the tool’s switch is on, whichever page you switched it on from. A few need one more thing:
- The Deals page needs its shortcode on a published page.
- On-sale picks needs Enable experimental features turned on in Settings.
- The welcome emails and the second-order nudge each need a chosen email that has a subject line and content.
The step stays ticked if you switch the tool off later, because the guide keeps track of what you’ve been through. To see which tools are running today, open Growth engine.
The Foundations steps and Connect your sending account aren’t ticked for good. Each one stays ticked only while what it asks for is still in place, so it can open again. Two of them depend on things that can change after you’ve set them up:
- Get your cost prices in is ticked while enough of your products have a cost for Tendlio to work out your Inventory Score, whether the cost is your own or comes from your average margin. If too few of them have a cost later, the step opens again.
- Connect your sending account is ticked while your customer emails can go out, which means sending is switched to Live on the Email sending page and your sending method is set up. If you switch sending back to Off, the step opens again. On a copy of your store, such as a staging site, the step says why emails don’t go out from there, and it stays open.
When you’ve finished #
When every step is done or skipped, the guide leaves the Help menu and your Dashboard on its own. If a Foundations step or Connect your sending account opens again later, the guide comes back until that step is done or skipped.
Start over, or take the guide off your menu #
At the bottom of the guide:
- Reset this guide clears your skipped steps and the steps you marked done yourself, after you confirm. Steps for tools that are running right now tick themselves again, and the rest go back to open.
- Hide the Dashboard shortcut takes the Getting started · N of M shortcut off your Dashboard. The shortcut goes away only for you: other people who use Tendlio keep theirs. No button brings the shortcut back, but you can still open the guide from Help.
To take the guide off your menu before you’ve finished:
- Open Settings → General, and find Advanced options & guidance.
- Switch off Show the Getting started guide under Help, and click Save settings.
The guide leaves the Help menu, and the shortcut leaves your Dashboard. If you switch the setting back on, the guide comes back with your progress as you left it.
Why the guide works this way #
Easiest first #
The tools at the top are the quickest to set up, so your first steps take the least time. The email flows come last, because they need your sending account and the emails you write.
A tool you switch off stays ticked #
If a tick went away whenever a tool was off, a tool you switched off on purpose would come back as unfinished work. The guide would keep asking you for something you’d already decided.
Foundations can’t be skipped #
Your scores, your profit figures and your to-do list are built on them. Without cost prices or an average margin, Tendlio can’t work out your profit or your Inventory Score, and without a finished analysis there’s no to-do list. That’s why these steps have no Not for my store, and why they open again when what they ask for is no longer in place.
Additional resources #
- How to set up Tendlio and run your first analysis: the setup wizard, which covers the Foundations steps.
- How to check your tools on the Growth engine page: which tools are running today.
- How to get a daily task from the Growth coach
- How to work through your to-do list
Frequently asked questions #
I switched a tool off. Why is its step still ticked? #
The guide keeps track of what you've been through, not what's running today. Growth engine shows which tools are on right now.
The guide came back to my menu after I'd finished. Why? #
A Foundations step or Connect your sending account opened again, for example because you switched sending back to Off. The guide stays until that step is handled.
Does clicking Set it up switch the tool on? #
No. It opens the tool's page, and you switch the tool on there.