Creating a Push Notification Campaign

This guide describes how to use Iterable to create a push notification campaign.

# Table of contents

# Setting up your mobile apps

Before sending push notifications, work with your mobile engineers to configure your iOS and Android apps. For more information, take a look at the following resources:

• iOS:

  • Setting Up iOS Push Notifications
  • Iterable's iOS SDK
  • iOS SDK Release Notes

• Android:

  • Setting up Android Push Notifications
  • Iterable's Android SDK
  • Android SDK Release Notes

# Sending a push notification campaign

To send a push notification campaign, follow these instructions:

1. Set up a new campaign.

   • Navigate to Messaging > Campaigns and click Create New Campaign.
   • Fill in the necessary details for the campaign, and choose either Blast or Triggered for the campaign type.
   • For Message Medium, select Push.
   • Select a send list.

     IMPORTANT

     In order for users to receive a push notification campaign, their user profiles must have a device token associated with your mobile app. Iterable's mobile SDKs populate these tokens when users run the app.

2. (Optional) Select which mobile apps should receive the push notification campaign.

   If you have multiple mobile apps, and you only want a subset of these apps to receive the push notifications for this campaign, enable Selective Push and select the mobile apps to include in the campaign:

   

   If you do not enable selective push, Iterable sends the push notification campaign to all push integrations defined in the project, regardless of whether or not they are assigned to mobile apps.

   NOTE

   Define mobile apps in Settings > Mobile Apps. For more details, see Setting Up iOS Push Notifications and Setting Up Android Push Notifications.

3. Select and edit a template.

   As part of the campaign setup process, create a new template or edit an existing one. As you edit the fields in the push template, the Template Preview will update. Use the Apple and Android icons to switch between the platforms.

   Use Handlebars expressions to reference data contained in a user profile or triggering event. For example, in the Title field, {{messageTitle}} references a messageTitle field on the triggering user event or user profile. If both the user profile and the triggering event have the field in question, the triggering event takes precedence.

   Provide values for the following fields, as necessary:

   

   • Template Name

     • The name of your template

   • Message Type

     • The channel associated with the template (as defined in Settings > Message Channels and Types)
     • This allows users to unsubscribe and subscribe to certain types of push notifications but not others.

   • Title

     • The title text for the push notification

   • Push Message

     • The body text for the push notification

     • Badge (iOS only)

     • The badge count the app should show after receiving this push notification

     • This field can contain a Handlebars expression that references a badge count stored on the user's Iterable profile. For example, {{badgeCount}}.

   • Sound

     • The name of the sound file to play when the push notification arrives
     • For the sound file to play, your mobile engineers must bundle it in your mobile applications.
     • For more information, read Setting Up iOS Push Notifications and Setting up Android Push Notifications.

   • iOS Deep Link

     • The deep link that should be passed to your iOS app when a user taps on the push notification
       • For information about handling deep links on iOS, take a look at Iterable's iOS SDK.
       • Deep links can also be passed to an app through the push payload.
       • If present, this value overrides the On Tap action.

   • Android Deep Link

     • The deep link that should be passed to your Android app when a user taps on the push notification
     • For information about handling deep links on Android, take a look at Iterable's Android SDK.
     • Deep links can also be passed to an app through the push payload.
     • If present, this value overrides the On Tap action.

   • iOS 10 Attachment URL

     • Link to a media file that should accompany the iOS push notification

   • Android Attachment URL

     • Link to a media file that should accompany the Android push notification

   NOTES

   • In the push notification preview on the template editing screen, click an image-bearing push notification to expand it and view a larger version of the image.
   • For more information about rich push notifications, read Rich Push Notifications on iOS and Android.

   • iOS Category

     • The custom category name that iOS should use to determine the set of action buttons to display with the push notification
     • The app must explicitly support this category name.
     • For more information, see Apple's Declaring Your Actionable Notification Types document.

     WARNING

     Do not use a category and action buttons (discussed below) simultaneously. A category overrides any action button definitions. In general, use action buttons since they require less up-front configuration.

   • On Tap

     • The action to invoke when a user taps the push notification

   • Action Buttons

     • Action buttons to show with the push notification
     • To use action buttons on iOS, add a Notification Service Extension to your app project. For more details, see Iterable's iOS SDK on GitHub.
     • Read Push Action Buttons for more information.

   • Push Payload

     • Additional JSON data to send with the push notification.

     • This data will be available for your apps to process as necessary.

       

   • Wake App (iOS Only)

     • Causes the app to wake up in the background to perform a background update

4. Save the template by clicking Save Template.

5. Preview the template by clicking Send Proof or Preview With Data.

   On the Preview with Data screen, enter an email address and click Load User Data to preview how that user's profile data impacts the rendering of the push notification.

6. Continue by clicking Save & Continue To Review.

7. To activate a triggered campaign, click Activate Campaign. To send a blast campaign, click Send Campaign Right Now or Schedule Campaign for Later.

8. After launching the campaign, you'll see its Campaign Analytics screen, where you can view statistics about the campaign. For more information about these analytics, read Push Campaign Metrics.