Getting started with Smaply
Get oriented in your workspace, start your first journey map, and bring your team into the same space.
By the end of this guide, you'll be oriented in your workspace, you'll have your first journey map started, and your team will be invited in.
If you haven't created an account yet, see How to create an account. If you've received an invitation, see How to join by invitation.
If you set up the Smaply Account and need to configure integrations, branding, custom item types, or users at scale, see First steps for admins.
What you'll do
The left sidebar
The persistent left sidebar is where you move around Smaply.
The Account name sits at the top with an expand and collapse dropdown for switching between Smaply Accounts you belong to. Below it, the workspace expands to show the sections you'll use day to day:
Dashboard - The workspace landing page, with quick-create buttons, recents, saved views, favorites, and learning links.
Journey maps - Every journey map in the workspace.
Personas - Customer archetypes you can attach to journey maps.
Portfolio - Pain points, opportunities, solutions, and any custom item types your team works with.
Metrics - Quantitative data you can drop onto maps as cards.
Research - The Research Hub for analyzing transcripts and turning them into insights.
Templates - Pre-built journey map structures, from Smaply or your team.
Archive - Archived journey maps, personas, and templates.
Settings - Workspace-level settings.
At the bottom of the sidebar, your current plan name appears with an Upgrade button next to it (visible on the Free plan).
Create your first journey map
Click + New journey on the Dashboard to open the New journey map dialog. Pick the Account and Workspace the map belongs to, then click Create. The editor opens on the Create your journey map start screen, where you choose one of three ways to build the map:
With Smaply AI - Describe the journey in a sentence and let AI draft the structure. Fastest if you don't have an existing model in mind.
Blank journey - Start from an empty canvas and build the map yourself. Best when you have a clear plan or want full control.
From a template - Start from a pre-built structure for a common scenario. Best when your situation matches a known pattern.
Smaply AI is available on every plan. The Free plan includes 3 generated maps per month; paid plans raise this limit.
Type a sentence describing the journey in the prompt field and click Generate. A guided three-step wizard then walks you through refining the name and description and customizing the stages and steps before it builds the full map.
For the full walkthrough, see How to create a journey map.
Click the Blank journey card in the Templates row. The map opens as an empty canvas with a single Stage lane, ready for you to add the lanes, columns, and cards you need.
For the full walkthrough, see How to create a journey map.
Pick a template card from the Templates row to start from a pre-built structure. Smaply's built-in templates sit alongside any your team has saved, and the map opens with the template's structure already in place.
For the full walkthrough, see How to create a journey map.
Invite your team
Invites happen at three levels. Pick the level that matches how widely the person needs access. Access at a broader level cascades down, so an account-level invitee automatically has access to every workspace and journey map.
Account level - Use when someone needs access to everything in the account. Open Account Settings > Users.
Workspace level - Use when someone only works inside one workspace. Open Workspace Settings > Manage users.
Journey-map level - Use when someone only needs access to one specific map. Open the map's Share menu in the top-right of the editor and choose Manage access.
When you invite someone, you assign them a role: Admin, Editor, or Viewer. For what each role can do at each level, see Access levels and permissions.
For the full invite flow at any level, see How to invite users.
Viewer seats are tracked separately from Admin and Editor seats and require Framework or above.
Get oriented to the rest of Smaply
Beyond journey maps, four other workspace areas hold work that connects back into your maps:
Personas - Audience profiles you can attach to journey maps to filter and contextualize the experience. See How to create a persona.
Portfolio - The catalog of pain points, opportunities, solutions, or any custom item types your team works with. See How to create a portfolio item.
Research Hub - Where you analyze research files in an investigation; insights and quotes can flow into the portfolio. See How to create an investigation.
Metrics - Quantitative data from connected tools or manual CSVs that you can drop onto journey maps as cards. See How to create and configure a metric.
What's next
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