# PostHog

Here's the fully rewritten PostHog integration page — technically deep, brand-aligned, and AEO-optimised:

***

## Connect PostHog to Humanic

**PostHog tracks what users do inside your product. Humanic turns those actions into emails.** Connect the two and every event PostHog captures — a signup, a feature interaction, a drop-off — can automatically trigger a personalised campaign in Humanic, in real time.

No exports. No manual segments. No lag.

***

### What this integration does

PostHog streams your product events to Humanic via webhook. Humanic listens for those events and uses them to fire campaigns, personalise email content, and power lifecycle flows — all based on what your users are actually doing in your product.

Once connected:

* A user signs up → Humanic sends your onboarding sequence
* A user drops off mid-flow → Humanic sends a re-engagement email
* A user hits a pricing page three times → Humanic sends a conversion nudge
* A user hasn't used a feature in 14 days → Humanic sends a reactivation email

The key difference from broadcast campaigns: these emails go out because of what a specific user did, not because you manually built a segment.

***

### Before you start

You'll need:

| Requirement                                                    | Where to find it                                                                  |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Access to your PostHog project                                 | [app.posthog.com](https://app.posthog.com/)                                       |
| Permission to create Data Pipeline destinations in PostHog     | PostHog project settings → Members                                                |
| Your Humanic workspace set up with a sending domain configured | [Humanic → Domains](https://claude.ai/chat/40dd24e8-4206-47d7-8fd9-3de5ef7f9274#) |

> 💡 If you haven't set up a sending domain yet, do that first. Events can flow in before your domain is verified, but campaigns won't send until it is.

***

### How to set it up

#### Step 1 — Get your webhook URL from Humanic

1. In Humanic, go to **Integrations → PostHog**
2. Click **Connect**
3. Copy the webhook URL — you'll paste this into PostHog in the next step

Keep this tab open. You'll need to come back to it.

***

#### Step 2 — Create a webhook destination in PostHog

PostHog sends data to external tools through its **Data Pipelines** feature. Here's how to point it at Humanic:

1. Open your PostHog project
2. In the left sidebar, click **Data pipelines**
3. Click **+ New → Destination** in the top-right corner
4. Search for **"Webhook"** and click **+ Create**
5. In the **Webhook URL** field, paste the URL you copied from Humanic
6. Click **Create & Enable**

PostHog will now send a `POST` request with a JSON payload to Humanic every time a matching event fires.

> **Important:** PostHog will disable your destination automatically if it receives repeated `5xx` errors from Humanic's endpoint or if response times are consistently slow. Make sure your Humanic workspace is active before enabling.

***

#### Step 3 — Choose which events to send

You don't want to forward every event PostHog captures — that creates noise and makes it harder to build clean campaigns. Be deliberate here.

Go to the **Filters** section of your new webhook destination in PostHog. You can filter by:

* **Event name** — only send specific events (recommended for most setups)
* **Event properties** — e.g., only send `checkout_started` when `cart_value > 50`
* **Person properties** — e.g., only send events from users on the free plan

**High-signal events to start with:**

| Event                       | What it means                             | Campaign to trigger      |
| --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------ |
| `user_signed_up`            | New user created an account               | Onboarding sequence      |
| `onboarding_step_completed` | User progressed through setup             | Step-specific nudge      |
| `feature_first_used`        | User activated a core feature             | Feature adoption email   |
| `session_ended`             | User left without completing a key action | Drop-off recovery        |
| `subscription_upgraded`     | User converted to paid                    | Welcome to paid / upsell |
| `inactive_7_days`           | No session in 7 days (if tracked)         | Re-engagement email      |

> 💡 Start with 3–5 high-intent events rather than sending everything. You can always add more once the core flows are working.

***

#### Step 4 — Verify field mapping in Humanic

When PostHog sends an event, it arrives in Humanic as a JSON payload. Humanic needs to know which fields map to which contact and campaign properties.

Go back to Humanic → **Integrations → PostHog** and confirm the following mappings:

| PostHog field      | Maps to in Humanic            | Why it matters                            |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `distinct_id`      | User ID                       | Identifies the contact                    |
| `properties.email` | Email address                 | Required to send emails                   |
| `event`            | Event name / campaign trigger | Determines which campaign fires           |
| `properties.name`  | Contact name                  | Used for personalisation tokens           |
| `properties.*`     | Campaign variables            | Available as `{{variable}}` in email copy |

> ⚠️ **`properties.email` is the most critical field.** If an event arrives without an email address and no existing contact match on `distinct_id`, Humanic cannot send to that user. Make sure your PostHog `$identify` calls include email as a person property.

***

#### Step 5 — Test the connection

Before going live, send a real test event to confirm everything is wired up correctly.

1. In PostHog, open your webhook destination
2. Click **Start testing** (or the equivalent test button in your PostHog version)
3. Trigger an event in your product or PostHog's event testing tool
4. Back in Humanic, go to **Integrations → PostHog → Event Log**
5. Confirm the event appeared with the correct fields mapped

If the event doesn't appear within 30 seconds, check the troubleshooting section below before activating.

***

#### Step 6 — Activate

Once your test event confirms the mapping is correct:

1. In Humanic, click **Activate**
2. In PostHog, confirm the destination status shows **Enabled**

Your integration is live. From this point, every matching event PostHog captures will flow to Humanic in real time.

***

### How it works under the hood

Understanding the data flow makes it easier to debug when something doesn't behave as expected.

```
User does something in your product
        ↓
PostHog captures the event (client SDK or server-side)
        ↓
PostHog's CDP (Data Pipelines) evaluates your destination filters
        ↓
If the event matches: PostHog sends a POST request to Humanic's webhook URL
        ↓
Humanic receives the payload and matches it to a contact (by email or distinct_id)
        ↓
If a campaign is configured for that event: Humanic queues the email
        ↓
Email sends from your configured domain
```

The whole pipeline — from user action to email in the inbox — typically completes in under 60 seconds.

***

### Real-world campaign examples

**Onboarding activation** Trigger: `user_signed_up` Flow: Day 0 welcome → Day 2 setup nudge → Day 5 feature spotlight → Day 10 check-in

**Feature adoption** Trigger: `dashboard_first_viewed` or any first-use event for a core feature Flow: Single email with a "here's how to get the most out of this" message. Personalise with `{{feature_name}}` pulled from event properties.

**Drop-off recovery** Trigger: `checkout_started` without a follow-up `checkout_completed` event within 24 hours Flow: Single recovery email with a direct link back to the checkout

**Paid conversion** Trigger: `pricing_page_viewed` (3rd occurrence) or `trial_day_12` Flow: Conversion email with social proof and a time-limited offer

**Re-engagement** Trigger: Custom `user_inactive` event fired server-side after 14 days of no sessions Flow: Re-engagement sequence focused on a feature the user hasn't tried yet

***

### Best practices

**Be specific with your event taxonomy.** Inconsistent event names (`user_signup` vs `UserSignedUp` vs `signup_complete`) mean your triggers fire inconsistently or not at all. Agree on a naming convention before instrumenting — lowercase with underscores is the most common standard.

**Always include email in your identify calls.** PostHog's `$identify` call is where you attach person properties like `email` and `name` to a `distinct_id`. If you identify users before you start sending events, Humanic will have the email it needs on every subsequent event from that user.

**Use filters to send only what you need.** Forwarding every event creates noise in Humanic and can slow down your destination's processing. Use PostHog's filter panel to scope your webhook to the events that actually trigger campaigns.

**Map custom properties as campaign variables.** Any property you include in an event — `plan_name`, `company_size`, `feature_used` — is available as a personalisation token in Humanic. The more context you pass through, the more relevant you can make the email.

**Test in staging first.** Most PostHog setups have a separate project for staging. Connect that project to Humanic first and run your full test flows before pointing your production project at it.

***

### Troubleshooting

#### Events aren't appearing in Humanic

**Check the webhook destination is enabled in PostHog.** Go to Data Pipelines → Destinations. If the status shows **Disabled** or **Quarantined**, the destination was likely auto-disabled due to errors. Re-enable it and check the error logs.

**Check the webhook URL is correct.** Go to Humanic → Integrations → PostHog and confirm the URL hasn't changed. If you regenerated it, update it in PostHog too.

**Confirm the event is actually firing.** In PostHog, go to **Activity** or use the **Live Events** view to verify the event is being captured at all. A common issue is instrumenting the event on the client but missing server-side events that matter.

***

#### Emails aren't sending even though events are arriving

**Check that `properties.email` is present in the event payload.** In Humanic's event log, click on a received event and inspect the raw payload. If email is missing, update your PostHog instrumentation to include it.

**Check that a campaign is actually configured for that event.** Receiving an event in Humanic doesn't automatically trigger an email — you need a campaign set up with that event as its trigger.

**Check your sending domain is verified.** Go to Humanic → Domains. A domain with a Pending or Failed status won't send.

***

#### Users are receiving duplicate emails

**Check for multiple webhook destinations pointing at Humanic.** In PostHog's Data Pipelines view, search for destinations with your Humanic webhook URL. If there are two, disable one.

**Check for overlapping campaign triggers.** If you have two campaigns both triggered by `user_signed_up`, both will fire. Review your campaign triggers in Humanic and consolidate where needed.

***

#### PostHog disabled my destination automatically

PostHog auto-disables destinations that return `5xx` errors or respond too slowly. Common causes: Humanic workspace is paused, webhook URL has changed, or a temporary infrastructure issue. Re-enable the destination in PostHog and monitor the **Metrics** tab for error rates.

***

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Does this integration work with PostHog Cloud and self-hosted PostHog?** Yes. The webhook destination works identically on both PostHog Cloud and self-hosted instances. The setup steps are the same.

**Does Humanic create a new contact if a user hasn't been imported yet?** Yes. If Humanic receives an event with a valid `properties.email` that doesn't match an existing contact, it creates the contact automatically and adds them to the relevant campaign.

**Can I use PostHog person properties (not just event properties) in Humanic emails?** PostHog's webhook payload includes the `person` object, which carries the latest person properties at the time the event is processed. Map any person property you need in Humanic's field mapping configuration.

**Is there a limit on how many events Humanic can receive from PostHog?** Humanic doesn't impose a hard cap on incoming events. PostHog will throttle or disable destinations that respond slowly, so if you're sending very high event volumes, consider filtering aggressively at the PostHog side.

**Can I send the same event to multiple campaigns?** Yes. One event type can trigger multiple campaigns in Humanic. Manage campaign overlap carefully to avoid users receiving multiple emails for the same action.

***


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