When you write a message, you're likely trying to do one of three things: start a conversation, get your users to do something right now, or help them understand your product more deeply. 

The two types of "In-app" message are designed to fit those jobs. You can set your message to arrive any way you like: upfront in full or through a less disruptive snippet.

Maybe you want feedback about a specific feature or to invite your customers to ask questions, for example. Your check-up messages should definitely be chats.

When you’re sending a very short message, or you need an answer from your customers fast, be sure to deliver your chat in full. 

For longer messages, or when you don’t need a response right away, you should send your chat as a snippet (which shows the first few words of your message).

For example, you can send a message that offers people help choosing a product as a snippet. Then your website visitors can open your message at a time that suits them.

Pro tip: To entice people to open a snippet, make the first few words engaging and indicate what your message is about. Try leading with a question you know your customers want answered.

Choose a post in the 'small' format when you want your customers to take a specific action. Maybe you want them to read a help article, watch a how-to video or create their first project, for example. It’s likely that most of your onboarding messages will be notes.

A post in the 'large' format gives you more room to play with, so it’s useful for telling a longer story that really matters to you. Maybe you want to walk your users through a guide, announce a new price plan or promote an important new feature, for example. They’re also great for product updates that require longer text, or large images and video.

Pro tip: A large post takes over your customer’s full screen but they won’t see the full story straight away. Your message should entice them to scroll down and find out more.

Full posts take over your customer’s screen entirely and immediately. Only use them for very important announcements, when you definitely want to interrupt customers. For less pressing announcements, we recommend notifying your customers with a snippet.  

To keep your customers informed without the need for a response, select 'None' as the Reply type:

Note: You must have Android SDK 9.0.2 or iOS 5.3.0 or higher to send posts without a reply in your mobile app.

Depending on the content of your message and the audience you're targeting, different formats will work better at different times. You can optimize each message by A/B testing two options, then choosing the one that works best. For example, you might see whether more customers take action on an onboarding message, when it's delivered as a snippet or in full.

When you don’t have time to manage a lot of conversations, let your customers reply to messages with fun and expressive reactions instead. Messages that encourage action pair best with reactions rather than text responses as your customers can focus on your call to action, rather than replying to your message.

Chat and Post messages work the same for your iOS and Android app. Here’s how they look on mobile:

If you use Fin AI Agent to resolve common questions, you can let it respond when customers reply to your auto messages, and attempt to resolve the conversation automatically.

Below your message click "Add follow up action”, then 'Let Fin respond':