What are Message Actions?
Message actions add an interactive element to your push notifications. They also provide helpful tools for your app users. This includes being able to add events to their calendar, send an email or get directions to a local venue.
You can add up to three actions per push message. Each action response is recorded in your VisitApps Mobile App Studio (MAS), so you can see how many users performed each action in your push message analytics.
How Do I Add an Action to a Message?
To add an action to a message, first open up the message you wish to edit.
In the ‘What’ tab of your message, there is a section labeled ‘Actions’. This is where you will place the action draggables.
On the right hand side of the VisitApps MAS, you will see a window labeled ‘Draggables’. The purple-colored draggables are the available actions you can add to the message.If you have Polls enabled, you will also see green draggables. Select the draggable you want, and drag it to the space below the ‘Actions’ heading. Keep in mind that polls and actions cannot be used in conjunction in a message.
You can add up to three actions per message. The actions you add will automatically adjust to fill the space on the app user’s device.
Draggables - By the Numbers
- Multiple Choice: This draggable will turn your message into a quick poll.
- Open Response: The Open Response draggable will turn your message into an open response question. Users can anonymously submit any text response or feedback they would like.
- Directions: This draggable allows you to input an address. When an app user taps the address on their phone, they will be prompted to open directions in their device’s GPS system.
- Save Event: This draggable allows you to input event details. When an app user taps the event, it will prompt them to save the event to their device’s calendar system.
- Website: This draggable allows you to place a website URL as an action. When app users tap on the action, it will open up the URL in the in-app browser.
- Email: This draggable allows you to input an email address. When app users tap the email action, it will prompt them to compose an email to the designated address.
- Call: This draggable allows you to add a phone number as an action. When app users tap the call action, it will prompt them to dial the designated number.
- Share: This draggable allows app users to be able to share the message information to other apps, including: Facebook, Twitter, email or text messaging.
- Text Message: This draggable allows you to set a phone number and default body text. When a user taps on this action, it will prompt them to send the text message to the designated number. This can be used to manage contests and create other ways for you to interact with your app users.
Once an action has been added to your push message, you can edit its icon, label and details.
To change the icon, select the default icon. A text box will appear above the icon, you can replace the existing text with the code for any icon in the icon library.
To edit the action’s label, simply select the label and you will be able to overwrite the existing text.
The details of your action can be managed by filling in the available fields for the action you’ve selected.
