What Are Messages?
Messages are timely communications that you can send to all of your app users. The message will be available on the user’s lock screen or notification center, and in the app’s message center. Messages are a powerful way to communicate with your app users.
Messages will be sent to users’ lock screens if they are opted-in to push notifications. In this case, when a message is sent out, the message title will display on the user’s phone lock screen or notification center. If the user opens the notification, they will be able to see the message body with more information.
You can add actions to messages, such as sharing, getting directions, saving to calendar, visiting a website or making a call
Your app users can control which messages they receive by choosing to opt-in or opt-out of push notifications. If you have the message category feature, users can also select which categories of messages they wish to receive.
How Do I Create a Message?
To create a new message, navigate to the VisitApps Mobile Apps Studio (MAS) menu and select ‘Messages’.
When you select ‘Messages’, you will see the message overview screen. This will show you statistics about your sent messages, such as ‘Messages Trend by Week’ and ‘Messages with the Most Opens’.
Select ‘Compose Message’ to start creating your new message. You will see a tab labeled ‘What’. This is where you input the content of your message.
You will see a preview of your message in the app preview as you write it. You can toggle between the ‘In-App’ view and the ‘Lock Screen’ view.
What - By the Numbers
- Title: This will be the title that displays on the message notification. To add a title, select the white space below the ‘Title’ heading.
Character count limits: - iOS devices allow between 120-160 characters in the title before it will be cut off.
- Android devices allow only 40 characters before the title is cut off. Because of this restriction, we recommend keeping your titles short, or at least ensuring the most important information is at the start of your message title.
- Body: The body of your message will display once a user opens up the message to view the message details. To add a description, select the white space below the ‘Description’ heading.
- Actions: This is where you can add actions to your message. Select the white space below the ‘Actions’ heading, and drag any of the actions in the Draggables window into your message.
- Next: The ‘Next’ button will take you to the next tab of creating your message, which is the ‘Who tab’. Select the ‘Next’ button once you have completed the ‘What’ section of your app.
Who
The ‘Who’ tab lets you designate the audience that will receive your message. You can choose between sending to different push categories or to users in specific geographic areas.
If your app has crowds enabled, you can also target specific crowds to send push messages to. This can be especially helpful with meetings apps, where multiple meeting planners want to send messages to their respective attendees. These options will allow you to segment your messages.
More information on creating and using audiences.
Select the ‘Next’ button to go to the final tab for creating a message.
When
The ‘When’ tab is where you determine when you want your message to be sent. You have two options— ‘Now’ or ‘Later’. Selecting the ‘Now’ option will display a confirmation button that says ‘Send Now’. If you select this, your message will be sent.
If you select ‘Later’, options to select a date and time will be available. You can use these to set the specific time you want your message to be sent.
Then, select ‘Schedule’. This will put your message in the queue to be sent out when the designated date and time arrives.
