Embedded messages are messages displayed inline in your mobile and web apps, using native interfaces. They're designed to fit seamlessly into your app experience — no overlays, popups, or push notifications necessary — and they're visible to users based on real-time, per-user eligibility.
This article provides a quick overview of embedded messages, and then describes how to get started creating embedded message campaigns.
NOTE
To add Embedded Messaging to your Iterable account, talk to your customer success manager.
In this article
What are embedded messages?
Embedded messages are inline, personalized, eligibility-based messages that your apps and websites can display using out-of-the-box interfaces provided by Iterable's SDKs, or using custom message interfaces of your own design.
Inline, native message interfaces
Iterable sends embedded messages to your apps as data, not as pre-rendered HTML. So, to display an embedded message, you'll use native interface components, styled to match your app's look and feel. And you can place them wherever you like in your apps or on your websites.
Embedded messages can appear as banners, carousels (shown above), notifications, cards... or anything else you can imagine!
There are two ways to display embedded messages:
-
Out-of-the-box display components – Iterable's mobile SDKs provide pre-built, customizable embedded message components: cards, banners, and notifications.
Your engineers will need to integrate these existing components into your apps, but they won't need to build the components themselves. This can help you get up and running with embedded messages more quickly.
-
Custom message interfaces — Out-of-the-box components are a great way to get started quickly, but sometimes you'll want more control over how your messages are displayed. In these cases, use custom message interfaces.
Custom message interfaces are designed by your designers and built by your engineers. And, of course, their content is still powered by the campaigns you create in Iterable.
It can take more work to build a custom message interface, but you'll have maximum flexibility to build a message display that perfectly matches your app's interface and style.
Driven by real-time eligibility
Embedded messages display to users based on real-time, per-user eligibility.
When a user arrives at a screen in your app or a page on your website that displays embedded messages, you can show them the highest priority embedded messages for which they're eligible (allowed to see).
A user is eligible for an embedded message campaign if they're selected by its eligibility list — a standard dynamic list built on segmentation criteria of your choosing.
Iterable evaluates user eligibility in real time. As the data on a user's Iterable profile changes over time, so does their eligibility for the embedded message campaigns in your project. When your app or website fetches a user's embedded messages, it receives the messages for which the user is eligible at that exact moment.
And, since Iterable can use silent push notifications to tell your app when to fetch embedded messages (for example, when the signed-in user's eligibility changes), you can be confident that you'll always show your users the most relevant, up-to-date, high-priority embedded messages.
Placements and prioritization
Your apps and websites can contain many embedded message placements — places where embedded messages are displayed. Every placement can appear in one or more of your apps and websites, and every campaign you create is associated with a single placement. With placements, your apps and websites will always display your embedded messages right where they're most useful.
When a user is eligible for multiple embedded message campaigns that all target the same placement in your app, you can use message priority to ensure that you display the highest priority message or messages.
Personalized
You can personalize embedded messages using Handlebars, data feeds, Catalog data, and snippets — just like you can with other types of campaigns.
Measurable
As a user interacts with embedded messages, Iterable saves these activities as system events on their Iterable user profile. For a birds-eye view of your embedded message campaigns, take a look at Campaign Analytics and Messaging Insights, which both show various Embedded Messaging-related metrics.
SDKs and APIs
To retrieve and display embedded messages in your apps and websites, and to track engagement events, you can use Iterable's mobile SDKs or make direct calls to the new Embedded Messaging API endpoints.
Get started with embedded messages
To get set up for embedded messages, follow these steps:
-
Add a subscription channel and type for embedded messages to your Iterable project
As with other types of messages, embedded messages are associated with a subscription channel and type in your Iterable project. To learn how to set these up, read Adding an Embedded Message Subscription Channel and Type to Your Iterable Project.
-
Define placements and decide how they'll display messages
Each "place" in your app that can display embedded messages is called a placement. Before your engineers can add embedded message placements to your apps and websites, you'll need to define those placements in Iterable, and decide what types of content their messages will display. For more information about these topics, read Defining Placements for Embedded Messages.
-
Configure your apps and websites to retrieve and display embedded messages
Before you can send embedded message campaigns, you'll need to work with your engineers to update your mobile app and website code to fetch and display embedded messages. To learn how to do this, read Configuring Your Apps to Retrieve and Display Embedded Messages.
-
Create and test an embedded message template
Now, the fun part — start building your embedded message content. Embedded messages use templates, just like other types of messages in Iterable. For more info, read Creating Embedded Message Templates.
-
Define an audience with an eligibility list
Before you can activate an embedded message campaign, you'll need to define who is allowed to see it. That's what eligibility lists are for. To learn more, read Defining Eligibility Lists for Embedded Messages.
-
Create and activate a campaign
Now, you can use your template and eligibility list to create and activate an embedded message campaign. To learn how, read Creating Embedded Message Campaigns.
-
Monitor user engagement
Finally, you'll want to monitor user engagement with your campaign. To learn how, read Monitoring Embedded Message Campaigns.
Permissions
To work with embedded messages in Iterable, you'll need various permissions:
| Action | Required permission |
|---|---|
| Create embedded message subscription channel and message types | Setup and Manage Channels |
| View embedded message placements | View Channels |
| Create embedded message placements | Setup and Manage Channels |
| Manage embedded message placements | Setup and Manage Channels |
| Create embedded message templates | Create and Manage Templates |
| Create embedded message eligibility lists | Set up and Manage Segmentation and Lists |
| View embedded message campaigns | View Journeys, Campaigns, and Experiments |
| Create embedded message campaigns | Draft Journeys, Campaigns, and Experiments |
| Activate embedded message campaigns | Manage and Launch Campaigns |
| View Messaging Insights | View Reports |
| Save views in Messaging Insights | Create and Manage Reports |
Developer docs
For developer-focused docs about Embedded Messaging, see:
- Embedded Messages with Iterable's iOS SDK
- Embedded Messages with Iterable's Android SDK
- Embedded Messages with Iterable's Web SDK
- Embedded Messages without an Iterable SDK
Want to learn more?
For more information about some of the topics in this article, check out this Iterable Academy course. Iterable Academy is open to everyone — you don't need to be an Iterable customer!