Ensure your audience or page rules are set up with the correct logic. For example, if you're combining multiple negative rules ('is not', 'does not contain'), you'll almost always want to separate them with an 'AND', not an 'OR'. And if you're using an exact match "URL is" filter, you'll need to ensure you've included the full URL, including the https:// part and any trailing slashes. You can see more guidance on setting up your filters effectively here.

Did the user receive it on the correct page initially, then navigate to a different page after? If an in-app message isn't engaged with (clicked on or closed) it will persist across pages and remain popped up when they navigate to the next page, until they engage with it. Try checking the user's "Recent page views" on their profile page, and compare the timestamps to the message receipt timestamp.

If you've just set the message live, note that the people in the audience will need to come online and trigger the event after it goes live in order to receive it. It will not send if they triggered the event prior to the message going live. You can put the event in the Audience rules instead of the Triggers to capture past events.

Did you pair an event trigger with an audience rule of the same event? When combining triggers and rules, the targeting rules must have been satisfied at the point of triggering the event, as the event trigger won’t update the user instantly in the same request. For example if you want to send a message only the first time a user triggers a purchased-item event and not for any subsequent purchases, you would use a count of 0 (i.e. users who have never triggered the event before) as it won't update to 1 until the next request.

Do you need an event trigger, or could you target it as an audience rule? The "Triggers" section (When to send / Where to send) is optional, so you don't need to include an event on every message, unless you need to ensure it only sends when a user takes a specific action.

Does the user have other pending messages sending at the same time? Multiple messages will show as a red badge on the Messenger icon, so they're not inundated with too many pop-ups at once. You can check the "Recent content" on the user's profile page to see what messages they received around the same time.

Is your Chat or Post's content set to "Sent as: Badge"? These will always send as a badge notification, unless you change it to "Snippet" or "Show the full message".

Was the Post edited, and originally sent as a "Snippet" or "Badge" to users prior to the change?

Did the user have other pending messages at the same time the Post was sent? If multiple messages attempt to send at the same time, the Post will send as a red badge notification instead, so they can view their higher priority messages first. They will need to open the notification in their Messenger for it to be registered as an 'Open' in the message stats.

Typically the open rate for Posts sent in full should be above 90%, and often above 95%. But if the user had other pending messages, or if a user navigates away from a page in the short gap between when the message is sent to them and when it is automatically displayed, the message might not be marked as opened.

If you are seeing an open rate drastically lower than 90%, try testing receiving the Post as an end user on your site, and open up your browser's console to capture any errors on the page. In some circumstances, a page error could prevent the Post from displaying properly.

Does it have a "Fixed" Audience type? Fixed messages cannot be set live again once they're stopped, since they only send to users who match at one point in time, and that time is now in the past. You'll need to duplicate your message and set a new version live.

Was there a stop date on the message? If that date is in the past, you'll need to update or remove the stop date so it can send again.

If the "▶️ Set live" button is greyed out, you can hover it to see a tooltip explaining why it cannot go live. Or edit the message to see if any red errors appear on any of the sections, with an explanation of what needs to be fixed.

Did they actually receive it before it was paused, but didn't engage with it (click on it or close it) so it remained popped up the next time they visited your platform? You can check the "Recent content" on the user's profile page to see the timestamp of when they received the message, and compare it to when the message was paused.

If you're noticing this in the Help Desk when a user responds to the outbound message, check the timestamp of when the outbound message sent to them (at the bottom of the first message), as they could be replying to a message they received some time ago.

Do you have multiple similar messages running? It's possible they received a similar looking message that is not paused. You can click into the message they received from the "Recent content" on the user's profile to confirm which outbound message it was.

Has the user come online since it went live? Users will need to actually come online in order to receive an in-app message. You can check the "Last seen" value on the user's profile page to see when they were last online.

Is it a fixed/static message? Users match for fixed messages at the time it goes live, so a user who matches the criteria now may not have matched the criteria at the time it initially sent.

Is there an event trigger or URL rule? Users will need to trigger the event or visit the URL after it goes live, as well as match the audience rules, in order to receive it. They may show in the audience preview if they match the audience rules, but this doesn't take into consideration whether they will visit the URL or trigger the event required to receive it.

What channels are you targeting under "Show first on" in the content section? If it's set to "Show first on web" but the user is only active on mobile, they won't receive the message until they visit on web.

Does the message have a start date or stop date, and has the user been online after the start date & before the stop date?

Does the message have custom scheduling hours to only send at certain times? Note that in-app messages send in the end user's timezone, so they will have needed to be online during those scheduled hours in their timezone.

You can also use the message matching tool to determine why a user isn't eligible to receive your message.

Chats, Posts, and Banners

Surveys

Product Tours