Create Your First Playbook (Keep It Simple)

Last updated: January 28, 2026

Playbooks are where onboarding goes from “we should do this” to “we do this every time.”

A playbook gives your team a repeatable structure for delivering a customer experience — whether that’s onboarding, implementation, or long-term success.

And here’s the good news:

Your first playbook doesn’t need to be perfect.
It just needs to exist.

Because the sooner you have one, the sooner you can automate projects with workflows.

What Is a Playbook?

Think of a playbook as your onboarding blueprint.

It’s made up of a few key building blocks:

  • Playbook → The overall process (ex: “New Customer Onboarding” or “Product Implementation”)

  • Modules → Chunks of work or milestones (ex: “Kickoff,” “Data Setup,” “Go Live”)

  • Tasks → The specific actions that complete a module

  • Sub-tasks → Smaller steps or data collection inside a task

Sub-tasks can also include different field types to collect information — internally or directly from the customer.

Together, these pieces form the skeleton of a repeatable customer journey.

Option 1: Import a Playbook Template (Fastest Start)

If you want a strong starting structure right away, importing is the easiest path.

To do this:

  1. Go to Settings

  2. Click Imports

  3. Select Download Import Template

This gives you a spreadsheet template designed specifically for playbook creation.

In Excel or Google Sheets, you can define:

  • Playbook names

  • Module names (and which playbook they belong to)

  • Task names (and which module they belong to)

You can even create multiple playbooks in the same file.

This method is perfect for building the “bones” of your process quickly — then refining inside OnRamp afterward.

Import templates are widely used across platforms because they help teams build structure fast without clicking endlessly.

Option 2: Build a Playbook Manually (Direct in OnRamp)

Prefer to build as you go? You can create a playbook directly in the product.

To get started:

  1. Navigate to Library

  2. You’ll land on the Playbooks tab

  3. Click Create Playbook

From there, you can begin adding:

  • Modules

  • Tasks

  • Sub-tasks

  • Customer-facing or internal work items

Manual creation is great when you’re shaping the process live with your team.

Keep Your First Playbook Simple

Your first playbook should focus on:

  • The most common onboarding path

  • A few clear milestones

  • Tasks that reflect real work

Don’t worry about edge cases yet.

A simple playbook you can use today beats a perfect one that never ships.

Why This Matters Now

The reason to create a playbook early is simple:

Playbooks power automation.

Once a playbook exists, you can move to the next step:

✅ automating project creation through workflows
✅ launching onboarding directly from your CRM
✅ scaling consistency across every customer