On this page: Get started with the In-app messaging channel in Adobe Journey Optimizer to engage app users with notifications that promote features, offers, and onboarding.
In-app messages are notifications that can be sent to users within your app, guiding them to specific points of interest. These notifications can be used for different purposes, such as promoting new features, presenting special offers, or facilitating user onboarding. By leveraging In-app messages, you can effectively engage with your audience and steer them towards important aspects of your application.
Use Journey Optimizer to create In-app notifications, and configure experience options, including the message layout and display, text, and button options.
Use cases
In-app messages work best when you want to guide or influence users while they are already engaged with your app, taking advantage of that moment of active attention.
When not to use
In-app messages depend on an active session, so they are not suited to every scenario. Consider another channel in the following situations:
- The user is not actively using the app, since the message will never be displayed
- The message is a critical or time-sensitive issue that requires reaching users outside the app, such as an outage or security alert
- The communication is regulatory or legal and requires a read confirmation that in-app messages cannot provide
- The goal is account reactivation or a win-back campaign for inactive users who are unlikely to open the app
- The message is a high-volume transactional update, such as an order confirmation, that is better suited to email or SMS
- Overuse could lead to banner blindness, where users start ignoring messages that appear too often
- Users may be offline or without app connectivity when the message is meant to be delivered
Additional resources
- Create in-app messages - Learn how to create and configure in-app messages for mobile applications.
- Configure in-app channel - Set up your in-app messaging channel with proper mobile app configurations.
- Design in-app content - Customize in-app message layouts, styles, buttons, and interactive elements.
- In-app for web - Discover how to create and deliver in-app messages for web applications.
- In-app channel tutorials - Explore step-by-step video tutorials on in-app messaging features and best practices.
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For complete understanding, this information should be combined with the documentation on this page. Neither source is intended to stand alone; the page describes the feature, while this section provides additional context that helps disambiguate terminology, intent, applicability, and constraints.
- TL;DR: This page introduces the In-app messaging channel in Adobe Journey Optimizer, explaining what In-app messages are, when they work best, and when to consider another channel.
Intents:
- Understand what In-app messages are and how they engage app users
- Learn the purposes of In-app messages, such as promoting features, presenting offers, and onboarding
- Identify use cases where In-app messages work best
- Recognize situations where another channel is more appropriate
- Navigate to configuring, creating, designing, and reporting on In-app messages
Glossary:
- In-app message: A notification sent to users within your app, guiding them to specific points of interest such as new features, special offers, or onboarding (product-specific)
- Banner blindness: The effect where users start ignoring messages that appear too often, a risk of overusing In-app messages (product-specific)
- Active session: The condition In-app messages depend on; the user must be actively using the app for the message to be displayed (product-specific)
Guardrails:
- In-app messages depend on an active session, so they are not suited to every scenario.
- Do not use In-app messages when the user is not actively using the app, since the message will never be displayed.
- Do not use In-app messages for critical or time-sensitive issues that require reaching users outside the app, such as an outage or security alert.
- Do not use In-app messages for regulatory or legal communications that require a read confirmation, which in-app messages cannot provide.
- In-app messages are not suited to account reactivation or win-back campaigns for inactive users unlikely to open the app, nor to high-volume transactional updates better suited to email or SMS.
- Overuse could lead to banner blindness, and users may be offline or without app connectivity when the message is meant to be delivered.
Terminology:
- Canonical name: In-app message — Acronym: n/a — variants: In-app notification, In-app messaging channel
- Synonyms: “In-app message” = “In-app notification”
- Do not confuse: “In-app messages” (delivered within the app during an active session) ≠ “push notifications” (an external channel dependent on push tokens)
FAQ:
- Q: What is an In-app message? — A notification sent to users within your app, guiding them to specific points of interest such as new features, offers, or onboarding.
- Q: When do In-app messages work best? — When you want to guide or influence users while they are already engaged with your app, taking advantage of that moment of active attention.
- Q: Can In-app messages reach users who opted out of push? — Yes; they work entirely within the app, independent of opt-in status for other channels.
- Q: When should I use another channel instead? — When the user is not in the app, for critical/time-sensitive alerts needing to reach users outside the app, for regulatory messages needing read confirmation, for account reactivation, or for high-volume transactional updates.
- Q: What is the risk of overusing In-app messages? — Banner blindness, where users start ignoring messages that appear too often.