Being able to coordinate cross-channel campaigns aligned to a user journey is critical to reaching users in-the-moment.  

For marketing teams who use Salesforce Marketing Cloud, we’ve got great news: you can now integrate push notifications and in-app messages into the Salesforce Marketing Cloud Journey Builder through the new Urban Airship Engage app — now available in the Salesforce AppExchange!

This integration will make it easy to create and deliver targeted push notifications, web push notifications and in-app messages to app users based on user behavior in and out of your app.

Get Started Quickly and Easily

To use this integration, you’ll need to have a license to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, including the Journey Builder add-on, as well as a license for Urban Airship Engage. Once those are in place, it’s very simple to configure the integration: no development required. Here’s how:

Step 1: Map Unique IDs Between Salesforce and Urban Airship

To make sure your user-level data stays synced across Salesforce and Urban Airship, you’ll need to configure your integration to use a unique identifier. A unique identifier is simply a piece of data about a customer that’s wholly unique to them.

The unique identifier we use at Urban Airship is “Named User.” In your Salesforce instance, you’ll map “Named User” with any identifier that’s unique to a user — email address, member ID, etc.

To do this (after you’ve logged in with your Urban Airship app credentials in Salesforce) navigate to the data extension with the field that correlates with Named User used in the app. In your mobile app, when a user authenticates, there is typically a way to identify the record. It can be named anything — often, hashed email is used, or customer_id.  

To configure this integration, map Named User to the data extension used in the app in your Salesforce instance. This is a configuration screen that you’ll have to visit only once.

Step 2: Create A Compelling Campaign In Minutes

Once you’ve configured the integration, you can begin to create customer journeys directly from Journey Builder that include personalized push notifications and in-app messages.

After adding a push notification or in-app message to a customized journey, enter the targeted message copy for the push or in-app message.

You also have the option to personalize the message with Ampscript notation. Using a tokened variable to map to a data extension field—like First Name — to customize the message.

Review and confirm personalized push notifications and in-app messages.

Take it To the Next Level: Create Automated Journeys Triggered by Cross-Channel Events

One of the biggest challenges facing marketers today is delivering the right message to the right person, at the right time — in real time.

To do this well requires the ability to coordinate delivery of messages based on user behavior.

Send mobile notifications in-the-moment of greatest need, when there is the greatest chance of response.

Journey Builder allows you to create personalized messages for specific user archetypes and deliver them at the time and place that makes the most sense for the user.

For instance, you may want to send a service update to owners of a specific model of product, or alert subscribers to update account or payment info nearing the end of a license.

By integrating Urban Airship’s mobile messaging platform with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, you can leverage all the insights derived from your mobile analytics to send targeted and personalized messages that inspire action and drive connection to your brand. 

Download the Urban Airship Engage app for Salesforce Marketing Cloud today to get started creating automated, personalized mobile messaging in Salesforce Journey Builder. And contact us anytime to learn how you can add Urban Airship’s real-time mobile messaging to a cross-channel marketing strategy to reach mobile users in the moments that matter.

The post Urban Airship App for Salesforce Marketing Cloud Journey Builder: At Your Service appeared first on Airship.

Apps still have a strong foothold in your customers' lives (people are spending more time with apps than websites) but websites still offer a huge addressable audience.

In fact, a comparison of the top 1,000 mobile apps vs. the top 1,000 mobile web properties in comScore’s 2016 U.S. Mobile App Report found website audiences are almost three times the size — and growing twice as fast — as app audiences; but people spend one-twentieth of the time on websites as time they do on apps.

So websites have a bigger audience, but apps command more time.

To leverage the strengths of each of these channels, we’re excited to announce our new web push notification solution — Web Notify. (See our press release: Urban Airship Expands to Web Push Notifications, Enabling Marketers and Developers to Send Personalized, Real-time Messaging to Website Visitors.)

If you’re not familiar with them, web notifications (also someones referred to as browser notifications, Chrome notifications, etc.) generally appear in the top or bottom right-hand corner of desktop screens — or just like an app-based notification on Android devices. Web push notifications appear whether or not visitors are active on a website or web browser, presenting a greater opportunity to reach visitors.

It's fast and easy to get started with web notifications. Our Web Notify Starter edition is free to try: give it a spin! 

Reach Visitors on Mobile and Desktop Browsers

Web notifications allow brands to engage new website visitors as well as boost connections with returning visitors. Web notifications can also be personalized, just like mobile push notifications.

Brands will be able to use Web Notify to take actions like:

• Sending a message to a user who has visited their website and closed the browser

• Delivering a message or an offer to customers when they’re on a particular web page

• Coordinate messaging between app push notifications and web push notifications

Complement Existing Mobile Messaging Strategies, or Try Out a New Web-Centric Approach

With Urban Airship Web Notify, marketers can align their mobile web, desktop web and app engagement strategies to communicate with their audience on the most appropriate channel. In our Engage Composer, you can create a message one time, and choose how you want to send it — as a push notification, in-app message, message center message, web notification, or all of the above.

Web Notify can also be used on its own — whether you have an app or not. So if you’d like to take a different approach to your communication strategy with web visitors, we make that easy too.  

As with our other mobile engagement solutions, Web notifications can be delivered based on automation rules, and custom events — and you can A/B/n test messages to optimize message performance.

You’ve got questions, our experts have answers. Register for our webinar on web push notifications, and you’ll get best practices and use cases for web notification you can put to work in your customer relationship marketing, plus a chance to ask our experts your questions about web notifications. 

Unique Web Notification Use Cases & Engagement Opportunities

Brands can use web notifications to accomplish a variety of objectives, including:

• Transactional Messaging: Confirmation of important transactions such as purchase, shipping, delivery, tipping, etc.

• Educational Messaging: Informing visitors about key events, resources, new features or products/services

• Lifecycle Messaging: Welcoming new or returning visitors, incentivizing first purchase, encouraging deeper exploration of the website, thanking social advocates and retargeting campaigns

• Promotional Messaging: Highlighting special offers or limited time opportunities with the intent of driving sales — or promoting  other digital brand offerings such as an app or mobile wallet pass, like a loyalty card or coupon.

Using Web Notifications to Send Individualized Messaging At Scale

Marketers can use web notifications to deliver timely, relevant and interactive messages based on website visitors’ behaviors.

For example, let’s say a visitor has previously browsed women’s shoes on a department store’s website and has opted in to receive web push notifications. Down the road, the retailer can send a web notification about a sale on women’s shoes to incentivize the sale.  

By setting tags and automation rules, marketers can easily deliver personalized web notifications based on user preferences, actions and other customer intelligence.

Get Started with Web Push Notifications

Interested in learning more? Join us for our web notifications webinar and check out our Web Notifications Inspiration Guide for 15 high-value use cases for web notifications.

Web Notify is available as a standalone solution or as functionality integrated into our Engage solution. You’ll be able to use Web Notify to message opted-in users on all major desktop browsers, as well as on Android mobile devices.

Whether you’re looking to expand what you can do with our mobile engagement solution, Engage, or want to try Web Notify on its own, get in touch anytime to learn more and get started.

Download our Web Notifications Inspiration Guide today to:
– See use cases you can adopt and implement
– Build smarter, more engaging campaigns
– Spark your thinking about web notification possibilities

Get your copy >>

The post Introducing Web Push Notifications appeared first on Airship.

Any time someone is using your app, they’re making split-second judgements about whether or not they’re having a satisfying experience — and whether or not the app is worth keeping.

In app marketing can help you make the most of every moment spent in your app. It also has the unique advantage of reaching your customers in real-time in a competition-free environment that you control. That’s powerful.

In this post, we’re zooming in on in-app messages as an in-app marketing tool, answering FAQs and providing some examples of how top brands are leveraging this important mobile messaging channel.  

What is in app marketing?

In app marketing is any marketing campaign or message designed to be displayed within your app for the purpose of reaching an active user of your app. This is in contrast to marketing your customers see outside your app (push notifications, emails, etc.). In app marketing holds an unmatched opportunity for real-time, personalized, in-the-moment engagement with your most loyal customers.

What are in-app messages?

An in-app message is any message that users receive while they are directly active within your app.

Different people have different names for In-app messages — in-app notifications, app messages, and app notifications, to list just a few. Messages that live inside of an in-app message center are considered in-app messages as well.

What can in-app messages look like?

There are a lot of options for in-app messages. The most common types are:

Banner Notifications

The simplest type of in-app message is the “banner style notification” — a ribbon-like notification at the top or the bottom of the screen of your application.

Full-Page Displays

In-app messages can also be full-page displays that provide more screen real estate to convey your message.

Message Center Messages

An in-app message center can be a central repository for in-app messages. Unlike banners and full-page displays, message center messages stay put until they’re deleted. Users can delete message center messages — and, if you use Urban Airship’s Engage solution, so can you, either by setting an expiration date, or with a simple API call.

Can in-app messages use rich media?

Yes. In-app messages can display rich content like videos and gifs.

Can you use interactive buttons with in-app messages?

Yes — and doing so can create an even better user experience. We have out-of-the-box interactive buttons and emojis available for use — or you can create your own custom buttons.

When do app users see in-app messages?

That depends on how you set them up. It’s possible to create a banner, full page display or message center message that goes to everyone who opens your app.

But you can also customize when, where and how long messages display — and who sees them. Different in-app messages might be seen at different times by different app users if you’ve created targeted in-app marketing messages personalized for various segments of your audience — which we highly recommend. (More on targeting and personalization below.)

How do in-app messages perform compared to other mobile messaging channels?

In-app marketing messages reach your customers at a critical moment: while they are active in your app. That means they are already likely to be more receptive to what you have to say — especially if it’s personalized.

Our research shows that response rates for in-app message center messages are 8x the direct response rate of push notifications. The key is making in-app messaging personalized, in-the-moment, and clearly relevant.

Can in-app marketing be targeted and personalized?

Yes — depending on the provider you use. Urban Airship makes it possible to create highly-targeted in-app messages. You can segment and personalize messages based on user actions (like a first-time app open), custom events (like purchasing an item of a certain value) and more.

You can also use real-time, on-device automation to deliver in-app marketing campaigns. For example, you can display a certain message when the user navigates to a particular screen. You can set preferences for how many times a user will see a certain message — and include start and end-dates for self-canceling campaigns.

Retailers and other m commerce apps could target users based on their purchase history. Let's say someone was browsing in an app. They added a green shirt to their cart, and then purchased it. That purchase could trigger an in-app message that includes confirmation number along with a button that encourages them to share a picture of their purchase with friends on social media.

Can I track actions taken on in-app messages?

Yes. With our solutions, all in-app messaging actions are trackable. That means you can take what you’ve learned from your customer’s in-app behavior to improve the user experience for that customer — and others. Customers who use our Insight mobile analytics solution can dive even further into their data to see trends and make decisions.

Can I send in-app messages and push notifications at the same time?

Yes. You can send an in-app message on its own — or along with a push notification to drive your users who are opted in to open the app and see the message.

Can I deep link from in-app messages?

Yes. You can deep-link in-app messages to send users to wherever it makes the most sense for them to go — whether in your app or on your mobile web site.

For example, maybe you want to do a full-screen in-app message for a last-minute ticket offer. Your in-app message can include a deep link right to the landing page in your app where they can purchase the offer — or a page on your mobile website — that allows your customer to take action right away.  

Do I need to write code to create in-app messaging?

No. Whether they are straightforward text-focused banner messages or rich HTML5 full-page displays, in-app messages provide marketing and content teams an easy to way to communicate key news without making a code update.

In Urban Airship’s Engage Composer, you can create in-app messages just as easily as push notifications. (See more about creating an in-app message in our Docs.)  

What kinds of messages is in-app marketing best suited for?

In-app messaging helps you make the most of in-the-moment opportunities to connect with your users. The use cases are limited only by your imagination. But many of our customers find in app marketing especially useful for:

Onboarding

A short series of in-app messages that help welcome your users to the app is a great way to demonstrate the value and ease of use of your app. The first time a user opens your app is the best opportunity you have to communicate the unique value proposition of the app. Walgreen’s does a nice job explaining the value of opting in with its welcome tour on first app open.

Feature Introduction

The moment a user is in the app is the best moment to let them know what else they could be doing to get the most out of the experience. This could take the form of a “Quick Tip” style message to direct your user to a feature you think (perhaps based on their behavior, profile or other indication) they’d value.

Promotions

When a user is in the midst of interacting with your app and your brand, they’re more likely to be receptive to special offers or promotions. Offers that are individualized are even more likely to earn engagement. When the US Open used this approach for a special offer on tickets — segmenting based on location and previous in-app behavior — they achieved a 32% conversion rate. (Download the case study here.)

In-app marketing messages are also ideal for promotions for your brand’s overall mobile experience. For example, segment all app users not opted-in to push notifications and encourage them to consider (or reconsider) opting in. Show and tell them what they’ll get if they do — early access, special deals, etc.

Providing Utility

Giving users updates on their account or recent purchases is another fantastic way to use in-app messaging.

For example, you could remind a user that they have a credit to spend with you — and how much they have. Put that together with a button pair “View Details / Shop Now” and you have an experience that feels very personalized and has high utility.

Our mobile messaging solution Engage (which you can try for free anytime) is best known for its push notifications capabilities. But that’s just one of the tools built into it. It also enables in app marketing campaigns with an out-of-the-box in-app message center and in-app messaging. Along with Reach, our mobile wallet marketing tool, our solutions help you deliver messages to 100% of your mobile audience — in real time, at the right time.

Ready To Get Started?

• Learn more about our Engage solution, which includes push notifications, in-app messaging, and message center. It’s got plenty of out-of-the-box, ready-to-use features to get you up and running quickly. When you’re ready to test it out, you can get started for free.

• To get more ideas on how to use in-app messaging check out our In-App Campaigns Inspiration Guide and our Message Center Inspiration Guide.

• To dive in on the nitty gritty details of creating in-app messages in our Engage composer, browse the In-App Messaging Topic Guide in our Docs

• Check out our cheat sheet, In-App Messaging Explained for even more on in-app marketing messages.

The post In App Marketing FAQs: How to Deliver Real-Time, Personalized Mobile Engagement Inside Your App appeared first on Airship.

Last Wednesday we shipped our final SDK 8.0.0, just hours after Apple finalized iOS 10. Since then, our services team has been working closely with early adopters to get their apps updated in the App Store in time for the public release of iOS 10.

We’re excited to give you the tools you need to integrate powerful rich media — including images, videos, GIFs and sounds — into your mobile engagement efforts through the newly designed Urban Airship Message Composer.

Mix it Up: Combining Rich Notifications and Interactive Buttons

One possibility we’re particularly excited for mobile marketers to explore is mixing rich notifications with interactive buttons — an out-of-the-box feature we released with iOS 8.  

Interactive buttons offer marketers and customers alike some major benefits.

• More — and more nuanced — opportunities to connect: For example, you can offer your mobile audience multiple opportunities to interact with the information you’re providing, giving your campaigns greater nuance and more opportunities to connect.
   

• Drive urgency: Interactive buttons can alert customers to sales and deals they want to take advantage of or be reminded about, and help move them from browsing to conversion. For example, retailers can fine-tune push notification responses with custom buttons that say “View Cart,” “Remind Me in 1 Hour,” or “Skip Sale.”
   

• Make content easy to share: Encourage app users tell their friends about a soon-to-expire sale by offering a social sharing button directly from the rich notification.
   

• Understand what your customers want (and don’t want) more quickly: Button pairs provide double the user paths — and double the user preference data to improve future retargeting results. For example, in the Engage UI you can configure an “Opt-in” button and set a tag you can use to target users with special offers (or other campaigns).

Go for It!

We can't wait to see how enhancements to the look and feel of a traditional push notification shift the landscape of mobile user behavior.

So what are you waiting for? Get started today:

Get the technical how-tos you need to get going:  For those eager to test out the impact of rich notifications you can find all the documentation to get started in our September Release Notes. You can also find our Interactive Notifications Primer which outlines how to get started with interactive buttons in our Docs center.

Get inspired: Check out our Rich Notifications Inspiration Guide  and our Interactive Notification Inspiration Guide. Both are packed with unique messaging use cases that showcase the benefit of using rich media and interactive buttons in your mobile messaging strategy.

Want to talk through your iOS 10 push notification options with an Urban Airship expert? Contact us today and let’s brainstorm!

The post Rich Notifications Plus Interactive Buttons: A Compelling Combination appeared first on Airship.

There was a lot to love from a consumer’s perspective, much of which we’ve recapped below, but what remained a bit muted was just how much broader Apple is making the opportunity for developers enabled by new operating systems including watchOS 3 and iOS 10. And arguably, that’s the larger opportunity as no matter how many of your customers want to rush out and get the latest models, they’ll all have the newer operating systems much more quickly.

Today, we’ve published release notes for our SDK and API, as well as our latest inspiration guide for what we believe will be one of the biggest opportunities — Rich Notifications. Get the guide and read-on for additional details.

Apple Watch Series 2

Apple Watch started shipping 18 months ago, and since then we’ve seen it become the #1 smartwatch brand and #2 watch brand in world based on sales, just behind Rolex, despite only shipping for eight months of 2015. “It’s the best way to get notifications so you don’t miss that urgent phone call or message,” said Tim Cook.

What is really exciting – especially for innovators looking for ways to improve life for consumers – are all the capabilities now available for developers. Starting with the activity data that can be gathered from users to improve their fitness regime, apps can now use sensor data (heart rate, accelerometer and gyroscope) to power advanced app functionality that better understands a user’s context and provides additional motivation for healthy lifestyles.

For consumers who want to leave their phones at home, Apple Watch now includes built-in GPS capabilities making it possible to track location and distance without access to a cellular signal. For outdoor enthusiasts and apps with location based functionality, this is a powerful new ability to address customers in the moment and avoid a heads-down experience previously tethered to smartphone screens.

Apple’s Most Powerful Smartphone Ever

Beyond the new finish and elegant design of iPhone 7, there are some powerful new capabilities that will change users’ everyday experiences. The quintessential Apple Home button has been redesigned and is now no longer mechanical but force sensitive. It’s more more responsive and customizable, providing unique feedbacks for actions, messages, notifications, ringtones, and other apps with its new Taptic Engine. Additionally, similar to the iPhone 6S, the Retina Display also includes 3D touch functionality which creates a dynamic, interactive canvas that allows users more control over how they experience the mobile moments of their lives.

If you’ve eschewed larger screen sizes of the Plus models, iPhone 7 may have you rethink the bulkier trade-off. iPhone 7 Plus includes two 12 MP cameras for wide-angle and telescopic photos capable of 2X optical zoom and 10X software zoom. For both models, the new camera system is a huge advancement with the image signal processor chip providing twice the throughput of previous versions, performing 100 billion operations every time it takes a picture and all in 25 milliseconds.

Both iPhone 7 models feature the new A10 Fusion 64-bit four-core processor chip, which Apple called the most powerful chip ever in a smartphone. Not only will this allow low-power apps to run on two high-efficiency cores that run at one-fifth the power, saving battery life, the sheer available power will enable apps that simply weren’t possible before. For example, with A10 Fusion, Adobe Lightroom can offer 90% of the raw editing capability available from a desktop in the palm of your hand, and “nothing proves performance like 400 flying monkeys” in Oz: Broken Kingdom.

The Broadening Developer Opportunity

While new devices always epitomize bright-and-shiny yearning, perhaps the most game-changing capabilities Apple is enabling are at the operating system level to increase the reach, function and impact of apps. Not only will watchOS 3 apps be able to leverage the multiple sources of sensor data to provide more powerful smartwatch experiences, developers can look forward to speeds that are 7X faster.

Apple is also opening up third-party access to SiriKit and HomeKit – providing developers tools to extend their app to operating system-level functions that enable more intuitive, streamlined user experiences. With SiriKit, apps can now embed voice-enabled commands into the interface design of any app. HomeKit includes the ability to control and manage specific home automation accessories from more than 100 HomeKit enabled products expected this year alone.

This largely untapped opportunity will surely result in an explosion of innovation around how mobile serves as the remote control for the Smart Home and more broadly advance the Internet of Things (IoT).

Messages Will Mean More to Your Users and Your Business

Beyond net-new opportunities to integrate your app more broadly throughout the entire iPhone experience, you may have heard how excited we are to support developers efforts to leverage Rich Notifications. Not only do we have the data to prove a substantial lift in response rates associated with this new push notification format, it is going to open up entirely new ways for developers to extend app functionality to the home screen. Don’t just take our word for it:

“iOS 10's new Rich Notification capabilities will allow us to better showcase offers from retailers, brands and restaurants, while delighting customers with a richer digital savings experience and convenient functionality, such as images of purchased gift cards that can be redeemed right from the notification itself,” said Marissa Tarleton, CMO, North America, RetailMeNot, Inc.

“As consumer engagement is increasingly mobile-led, it's more critical than ever for businesses to adopt the latest capabilities that help ensure better results and a first-class user experience.”

To help you imagine the possibilities of how Rich Notifications can deliver a richer, more relevant and actionable experience to your app users, we’ve created a Rich Notification Inspiration Guide. Take a look to quickly understand how to implement Rich Notifications with Urban Airship Engage and tell us how you’d like to use these new capabilities or ask us more about what’s possible.

We’d love to talk with you about the many ways you can leverage Rich Notifications and other mobile marketing and customer growth opportunities. Get in touch anytime at contact@urbanairship.com or give us a call at (855) 385-3155.

The post Apple Taps Consumer Demand and Broadens the Mobile Opportunity for Developers appeared first on Airship.

At Urban Airship, we pride ourselves on staying ahead of the technology curve to provide our customers with the tools to engage their mobile audience and build strong brand relationships with target consumers.

Today, we've released data that shows how powerful media can be when used to engage app users in the mobile moments that matter. Rich Notifications add a new dimension to push notifications through images, video and animated GIFs allowing marketers to take storytelling to a new level and evoke emotional states in their customers that plain text cannot.

Combined with interactive buttons, Rich Notifications capture mobile users’ attention and offer multiple ways to respond to push notifications, providing more data for personalization and creating brand new experiences for users.

A 50+% Increase in Direct Opens

Our industry-first support for Rich Notifications across both iOS and Android platforms means marketers can gain greater response and engagement using rich media, while taking advantage of an even bigger opportunity to create powerful, streamlined customer experiences with more app interactions and content delivered to the lockscreen.

Related: How To Create Rich Push Notifications in 7 Easy Steps

But don’t just take our word for it. A recent look at performance data shows the impact of rich media on engagement levels.

Our data science team analyzed the results of nearly 5 million messages over a recent two week period and found that notifications with an embedded image — big picture style on Android platforms — can generate as much as a 56% higher direct open rate on average than notifications without images.

Fifty-six percent increase. That’s huge (find out more).

Use the Power of Pictures to Tell a Story

We are in a new age in customer communications, where the always-on nature of mobile allows marketers to engage their users in their time of need. Push notifications have been a cornerstone technology enabling marketers to send messages with incredibly high utility.

Related: Rich Notifications Inspiration Guide: Get ideas and tips for using rich media to connect with your customers – and improve the ROI of each push notification you send. 

Now, with Urban Airship’s cross-platform support for sending interactive Rich Notifications, mobile app engagement takes on a whole new meaning. It’s now possible to tell a story with images, video, sound or animation, to grab the attention of a curious mobile consumer, meeting them in their mobile moment with valuable information to strengthen the brand relationship.

Move customers from consideration to conversion with rich images, GIFs and how-to videos.

Meet Consumers in their Mobile Moment

The shift to mobile has impacted the things we care about and expect to control through a mobile device. We can now access photos, videos, data files and news, all with a click.

What are these mobile moments and how can we, as marketers, take advantage of the power of rich media in a moment to grab a user’s attention?

The answer lies in understanding where your user in terms of their relationship with your brand, and what they have already indicated about their interests, through interactions both within and outside the app.

In other words, what would you like to communicate with your customers, and how could pictures, videos, or other rich media help? 

Here are some ideas (get lots more in our Rich Notifications Inspiration Guide):

– Send a push notification to a customer who is exploring your product with a video snippet of exactly how the product works  

– After they order a product, send a push notification showing them a map of where their product is on its journey to them

– For customers who've requested to be alerted about their favorite sports team – or breaking news – send a video replay or news coverage they can play right from a push notification

Instacart’s big picture Android notification personalizes order delivery updates with a real-time map of the delivery driver’s location.

Gather Insight with New Consumer Interactions

Every user action, such as taps on interactive buttons or the media itself, will enrich your user profiles in real time and can trigger conditional follow-on automation.

For example, a hotel could send a receipt image with simple thumbs up / thumbs down emoji buttons to rate their stay. They could then ask satisfied guests to share their experience with friends via social, while unsatisfied guests could be directed to an in-app survey where they can provide additional details on what the hotel could do better.

Here are some other options for using our 25+ OOTB interactive buttons to level up your mobile strategy:

• An event could send attendees a picture of their mobile ticket with “Add” and “Remind Me Later” buttons.

• News organizations might find audio or video culled from social media drives more interest in unfolding events than a standard wire photo, and adding “Follow” and “Share” buttons to amplify engagement and reach.

• A retailer might send a product category image (furniture, for instance) with an offer to receive notification about deals in that category via “Opt-in” and “Share” buttons.

And, with a bit of custom work, brands can even add custom button pairs.

For instance, a retailer might determine an offer and product image with “View Details” and “Add to Wish List” buttons perform best for products customers recently browsed, whereas users showing deeper levels of product engagment get a demo video and “Add to Cart” button.

Streamline field operations while giving customers personalized, secure white-glove service.

Evoke Emotional Response to Messages through Media

When iOS 10 is released to the public next week, Urban Airship will be ready with full support for sending Rich Notifications to both Android and iOS devices — the first to provide that functionality to customers. When combined with the new user interface for the Engage Message Composer, creating and sending all messages — push notifications, in-app messages and message center — is now easier than ever.

But the real story today is in the potential for visual imagery and audio to tap into consumer’s natural curiosity, giving marketers the ability to answer burning questions — even before a consumer has to ask.

Get Started With Rich Notifications

Ready to learn more?

• The API docs are all ready to guide you through the process 
• Here’s the necessary SDK update to get in on the testing process
• Use our Rich Notifications Inspiration Guide for ideas on how to put rich media to work for you brand
• Get answers to the top 10 FAQs mobile marketers have about rich notifications
• Make sure your rich notifications get everywhere they need to go – fast – with a content delivery network

The post Rich Notifications: Use the Power of Pictures to Further Mobile Engagement appeared first on Airship.