SAS Customer Intelligence 360 Mobile App Messages
The purpose of this blog is to describe the two main types of mobile app messages, and how they are different.
SAS Customer Intelligence 360 is a suite of digital marketing products. Within that suite, SAS 360 Engage Digital is the product that can deliver mobile app messages to mobile app users.
You may receive mobile app messages from mobile apps related to various topics like weather, home security, airlines, retail store, and so on. For example, each time I set my house alarm on or off, I receive an app message delivered to my phone because I use a mobile app to manage and monitor my home security. But did you know there are two main types of mobile app messages, and they have very different purposes and operate quite differently?
The two main types are referred to as In-App Messages and Push Notifications. Mobile app messages are delivered to a mobile app that has been installed and configured on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet.
In-App Messages
In-App messages are only received when users are actively using the app on their device. Thus, they are called “In-App” messages. If a user is not using the mobile app, they will not receive in-app messages.
To set up and configure delivery of In-App messages, a SAS 360 Engage Digital task type named “In-App Message” must be set up and executed or “published” to start the delivery.
These type of tasks can be set up only as “triggered” tasks, meaning the task has been set up to use a specific app-only event that needs to be done by a user that will trigger the mobile in-app message delivery. For example, it could be a behavior as simple as viewing a specific item on the mobile app or adding an item to a cart on the mobile app.
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It is important to note that we cannot use any external events to trigger an In-App message in 360 Engage Digital. Reason being simple – we would not know if the user is actively using the mobile app when the trigger event occurs.
Push Notifications
Push Notifications are quite different. In fact, they are messages that are delivered to mobile app users that specifically are not actively using the app.
They are designed to inform, attract, remind, or lure a user to use the app. They are sent to promote more interaction with the app and therefore more interaction with the organization that is deploying the mobile app and using SAS Customer Intelligence 360.
For example, if you installed and use an app to order food carry-out or delivery, but have not used the app in a while, the food service company could send you a push notification informing you of a special promotion of a new menu item.
This message type is designed to “push” a user back into using the app. To set up and configure this type of delivery, a SAS 360 Engage Digital task type named “Push Notification” must be set up and executed or “published” to start the delivery.
A Push Notification task can be configured either as a “bulk” or a “triggered” delivery task. Bulk refers to a (typically large) amount of messages all sent at the same time to multiple app users.
The event used to trigger a push notification task could be any event external to the mobile app, however not an event that occurs in the app itself. Again, important to note here is that a push notification is not delivered to a device when the app is in focus or being used. The push notification will be delivered only when the mobile app is minimized and running in the background.
To set up and execute these mobile tasks, SAS Customer Intelligence 360 needs to be connected and configured to work with a mobile app.
If you would like to learn more about mobile app tasks please visit the Customer Intelligence 360 User Guide.
