Create, customize, test, and launch in-app message campaigns. 

Communicate directly with your customers while they’re using your app with in-app messages!

MessageGear's in-app messages support a variety of use cases to help you engage with your customers in a relevant and personalized manner. Use in-app messages to:

• Improve conversion – Send time-limited offers to users who have interacted with the app for a specific period of time, visited the shop at least three times, but not converted.
• Assist users – Provide additional assistance to users stuck at a certain level for a particular time period (and leave those progressing nicely alone).
• Drive permission opt-in – Increase opt-in rates by requesting device permissions such as push notifications, location, and camera access before triggering the system prompt.
• Personalize experiences – Inject user-specific content into your message to ensure relevancy and drive conversion.

Create an inbound marketing campaign

Create campaign

1. In the MessageGears navigation, select Campaigns > Marketing.
2. Select Create Marketing campaign.
3. Enter the campaign Name, and an optional Description.
4. Select the Mobile app.
5. Specify the devices and platforms your campaign should target:
   • Device Type
     • All - mobile devices and TVs
     • Mobile - mobile devices only
     • TV - TVs only
   • Platform
     • Apple - devices running iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS
     • Google - devices running Android (excluding Amazon and Huawei devices)
     • Amazon - Amazon devices (for example, Amazon Kindle, Firestick)
     • Huawei - Huawei smart phones
     • webOS - LG Smart TVs
     • Tizen - Samsung Smart TVs
6. Select the relevant Account and add an optional Category.

Campaign overview

The overview page of the campaign allows you to view and manage all aspects of your campaign. The cards on the Overview page - Who, What, and When - guide you through building your campaign. While there is no specific order to how you build your campaign, you must complete all sections before you can test and launch your campaign.

Additionally, the overview page shows the campaign's current state and gives you full control over the lifecycle of the campaign.

What

The What card shows all the information about the campaign's content. Unlike Outbound channels - Email, Push, and SMS - the content is created with the campaign, not in advance as a template. On the Content block, select Add or Edit .

Message layout

The message layout dictates the content's orientation, default number of buttons, and the background resolution and safe zone. By default, MessageGears supplies three layouts for each orientation. If you require additional layouts, contact your CSM.

Manage elements

Once you have selected your message template, you now have the option to add dynamic elements to your in-app campaigns. Add image, text, or buttons directly in the content editor without changing the base template.

Add elements

To add more in-app elements to your message, select the + Add element button and choose the relevant content type.

Duplicate elements

Copy an existing message element using the Duplicate option from the element action menu. This action will clone the entire element, including its content, position, and size.

Rename elements

To improve the readability of the content within the content builder, choose the Rename option from the element action menu and enter the new element name.

Remove elements

Remove any message element or template placeholder with the exception of an in-app background.

Message content

Your in-app message campaign is made up of a background and one or more elements. While the message template must always include background media, the number of buttons and button content type is configurable.

Background

Every layout requires background content. To help you use a single piece of artwork across all platforms and devices, the Background element displays two dimensions: the recommended size of the image you want to upload and the safe zone resolution. Uploaded images are automatically resized for all devices.

Content types

Image

In-app messages support using both static images (.png's, .jpg's) and animated images (.gifs) as the media type.

There are two options for adding an image:

• Upload an image file
• Enter the image URL

Option 1: Upload an image file

1. Upload a static image file (.png, .jpg, .jpeg files only).
2. Check the device preview to ensure the uploaded image adheres to the resolution requirements and that all important aspects of the image fit within the safe zone dimensions.

Option 2: Enter image URL

1. Enter the image URL and, if required, include user properties to personalize the URL.
2. Set the container width and height values for your image to fit inside.

Text

Add one or more lines of text that displays inside a text box and use the options available to set the text style and overflow behavior. Set the styling for the text and text box by selecting the:

• Font family, style, size, color
• Background color
• Line height
• Horizontal alignment
• Padding

Buttons

After you select a saved button style, you have the option to set the button size and position. Enter static or dynamic text that displays inside a button container and use the options available to set the button style and overflow behavior.

Pages

Pages allow you to design multi-step flows for app users within a single in-app message campaign. Use Pages to execute a wide variety of use cases, including:

• Feature awareness – Educate new users about the key features of your app.
• Content promotion – Highlight multiple relevant products that users can easily browse through.
• Requesting device permissions – Inform customers of the multiple benefits of device permissions before asking them to opt-in.

To create a multi-page campaign, start by adding pages to your message.

1. Depending on the type of page flow you want to use, there are two options for adding a new page to your campaign:
   • Select + in the Pages bar
   • Select Duplicate page
2. Add actions to allow your users to navigate between pages, by:
   • Enabling Swiping in the Pages bar.
   • Assign actions to buttons to "Open to N" page.

Linear sequence

Campaigns with Swiping enabled always follow a linear sequence. That is, users can navigate back and forth between the pages in the order in which the pages were created: Page 1 ←→ Page 2 ←→ Page 3 .

Non-linear sequence

Leave Swiping disabled to create non-linear sequence where a use can follow different paths depending on the button they click. For example, put two buttons on your first page, where Button 1 directs the user to Page 2, and Button 2 directs the user to Page 3.

Actions

Include an engagement action for each element. No action is selected by default. However, it's required that at least the background or one element has an action, even if that action is Dismiss. The available actions are:

• Dismiss - Dismisses the message.
• Deeplink -Directs the user to the specified URL either by a screen within the app, or by opening the URL on the device’s default browser.
• Copy to clipboard - Copies the action content to the user’s device clipboard. For example, you might provide a coupon code that the user can copy and apply later when making a purchase.
• Request Permission - Prompts the user to authorize permission for the selected capability and then triggers the related system permission prompt. The available permissions are as follows:

  	iOS	Android
  Notifications	X	X
  Location	X
  Camera	X	X
  Photos	X
  Contacts	X	X

• Open app settings - Opens the app settings page. Use this option if prompting the user to manually update a permission when they previously denied it.
• Open notification permission settings - Opens the push notification permissions settings page. Use this option if prompting the user to manually update their notification permission if they previously denied it.

Personalized dynamic content

Users can inject user data directly into each content field, including image URLs, text, and button actions. 

Select personalization from the lightning bolt icon within the content form

After selecting a real-time user property, users have the option to include Fallback text - a value used if the selected property is empty for the recipient.

When

Use the When section to cover the When and Where of your in-app message campaign —setting the campaign start and end dates, if relevant, and then selecting the campaign triggers.

Campaign start and end dates

To activate your campaign immediately or keep it going indefinitely, leave the default campaign start and end values as ASAP and Ongoing. Otherwise, to set a start or end date, select the appropriate calendar and then select your campaign start and/or end date, times, and timezone.

Display triggers

Depending on your app configuration, there are two options for triggering your message:

1. User behavior/trigger
2. Include in Message center

User behavior triggers

Select this option to display the campaign when targeted users launch the app or trigger specific events.

There are two options for displaying your message based on user behavior:

• When the user launches the app: Select to trigger the campaign when target users start a new app session.
• When the user triggers an event: Select to trigger the campaign when target users trigger specific events. Enter the event name in the search box and then select the desired event from the list.

Advanced trigger conditions

Optionally, after you select an event, you can add further conditions to the trigger if the event includes payload values. To include payload conditions, select +Add condition. In the Enter payload parameter box, enter the payload key as configured in your app, and then enter the payload value.

Event payload conditions include string or numeric values.

Message display rules

Optionally, to define the campaign-level display rules, select Message display rules, and select the rules you want to apply. Then, complete the selected rule statements, as required. You can define the following:

• Maximum number of message views per device across all app sessions.
• Campaign priority over other campaigns with the same event triggers. A lower number means higher priority over other campaigns.

Timing restrictions

If you have selected one or more specific events to trigger your campaign, you can also define the following:

• The number of seconds of app usage that must elapse before a message can be displayed.
• The number of seconds after message dismissal that must elapse before a new message is displayed.

Display campaigns in a message center

Select this option if you want to trigger the campaign from your app’s message center.

Who - Audience

Use the Who section to define your campaign's target audience. In-app message campaigns support three audience types:

• Audience or Blueprint
• User lists
• Push notification

Audience or Blueprint

When selecting an Audience type, choose Audience or Blueprint. Select an audience or blueprint from the dropdown. If you select an audience, no further steps are required.

Blueprint filtering

By default, the Blueprint's entire starting population (audience) is targeted. Select Blueprint Filter on the Campaign Overview screen to target users in specific Blueprint nodes.

Clicking this button opens the Blueprint.

Select the Node of records to target. The records selected by that Node and all child Nodes will be targeted by the Campaign. Optionally, click the Refresh button to check how many users are in the targeted nodes. To be counted, the recipient audience recipient must have a valid MobileUserId.

User list

When uploading a new Recipient File, all files must be UTF-8 encoded. There are a few different file type options and different requirements for each file type:

• XML file requirements:
  • ends with .xml
  • has a root element of "RecipientList"
  • each "Recipient" element has a "MobileUserId" node
• CSV or TSV file requirements:
  • ends with .csv or .tsv,
  • file has properly named headers (including an MobileUserId header)
  • all file rows contain the same number of elements

Push notification

Select this option to trigger the in-app message from a push notification. Once the in-app message campaign is launched, it becomes available for selection from the push notification template.

Who - Advanced

Advanced options are made available in the Who section depending on your audience type.

Enable the audience recording or campaign trigger, then select item from dropdown

Audience recording

In addition to the audience's attributes, in-app message audience recordings include an Action attribute. The Action attribute is set to add or remove, depending on whether the recipient was added or removed from the campaign in the corresponding recipient extraction.

For example, if a recipient's attributes change so they no longer meet the filter criteria, their Action is recorded as remove. Add the Action attribute to your recording as you would any other attribute.

For more information on Audience recording, see Creating a New Audience Recording.

Campaign triggers

In-app message campaign triggers function similarly to other channels (email, push) with some notable differences in the metadata.

In-app messages support the following elements in the Campaign metadata:

• appName - The name of the campaign's mobile app.
• appId - The ID of the campaign's mobile app.
• platform - The campaign's mobile platform.
• deviceType - The campaign's device type.

In-app messages do NOT support Template metadata, as the content is created as part of the campaign. Additionally, because Context data is not supported for in-app message campaigns, the contextDataSourceName and contextDataSource elements are excluded from the Audience metadata.

For more information on Campaign triggers, see Campaign Triggers.

Testing in-app message content

Once you've defined your target audience, display triggers, and campaign content, it's time to test your campaign! Select one or more QA devices from the QA devices section and add them to your campaign.

Campaign states

The state of a campaign governs what actions you can take on it. The state is displayed at the top of the campaign overview page, making it easy to monitor and manage the campaign's lifecycle.

Campaign launch

Once you've defined the Who, What, and When of your campaign, you're ready to launch! Click Launch (or Schedule if your campaign start date is in the future) to begin serving your campaign to users.

Optionally, provide an email address to get notified if any part of the job launch process fails. For example, if MessageGears cannot connect to your data warehouse when attempting to extract the targeted recipients.

Job failures

If an error occurs at any step during the launch process - audience extraction, audience recording, campaign trigger - the campaign is paused immediately. This ensures that the campaign is not served to recipients who may no longer be eligible, and gives you or MessageGears the opportunity to address the underlying issue.

When an error occurs, an email is sent to the notification email address with the error details. Additionally, the campaign Overview page displays a message with the failure details, and if applicable, a link to the asset that caused the failure (for example, the audience).

Analytics

The Analytics screen displays in-app message metrics to help you understand the reach of and engagement with your campaign. The metrics are divided into two sections: Overview and Button clicks.

Overview

The Overview section of the report displays Totals - aggregated metrics over the course of the campaign - and the campaign's Performance over time.

• Views: The total number of times the in-app message was shown (for example, the same user may see the message multiple times).
• Unique views: The number of users exposed to the in-app message campaign.
• Clicks: The number of times users who viewed the message engaged with a button action (dismiss and page navigations to not count as clicks)
• Unique clicks: The number of users who engaged with a button action.

Button clicks

This section displays summary reports for the page views and button clicks associated with your in-app message. Only buttons that have an action associated are displayed on this screen.

• Views: The number of times users viewed the specific page.
• Dropoff: The number of times users dismissed the campaign while on a specific page.
• Button name: The name provided for the button. The default option is Button 1, Button 2, and so forth.
• Action: The action and value assigned to the button, for example, a deeplink.
• Total clicks: The total number of times users clicked the button.
• Rate: The number of times users clicked the button divided by the total of page views.

The Dismiss - device button row indicates the number of messages dismissed through the device's native controls, for example, an Android device's back button.

Audience refresh frequency

System configurations now contains In-App Message Settings, where admin users can set the audience refresh cadence for their in-app message campaigns. By default, in-app message campaign audiences are generated at campaign launch, and reevaluated every 30 minutes after launch until the campaign ends.