Message template for push notifications

Push notifications are messages that pop up on a user's smartphone or computer screen. They consist of short text containing important information: the start of a promotion, order status changes, account transactions, and more. The purpose of a push notification is to prompt the user to take action immediately.

Thus, despite their brevity, push notifications should be as clear as possible. Users should understand what will happen after clicking on the notification: which page of the website or which section of the application they will be directed to.

In this article, we will explain how to create a template for browser or mobile push notifications on the Altcraft Platform.

Step 1. Go to the Templates section and click on Create in the top panel. Select Push Channel as the template delivery channel.

Step 2. Configure the basic template settings: name, description, access groups, and tags.

Step 3. Fill in the notification fields. Our platform supports both standard push and rich push notifications. What are the differences between them?

Standard push notification consists of the following elements:

• Title — notification subject. Recommended length: 15-30 characters, including spaces.

• Message body — notification text. Recommended length: 120-140 characters, including spaces.

• Icon — image with the company logo. Size: 192x192.

For rich push notifications, three more elements are added:

• Banner — an image to attract user attention. You can read about banner sizes for different platforms in this article.

• Click-through link — the user will be redirected to this link if they click on the push.

• Button — when clicked, the user will also be redirected through a link. However, it may differ from the click-through link. The button encourages the subscriber to take action, so it's in your interest to make it original and as clear as possible.

Standard push message

To create a template for a standard push, you need to fill in just four fields. First, enter the title, message body, and the URL where the icon is located:

Next, configure the links. Please note that only SSL links can be used in push messages, i.e., links starting with https://.

If you need the subscriber's status to change to "Confirmed" after clicking on the link, check the box in the "Use as confirmation link" field. You can then add this push template to mailings for profiles with unconfirmed subscriptions.

The link in the message is wrapped in a tracking domain. In this case, when you click on the link, you will first be redirected to the link wrapped in the tracking domain, and then to the original link. This approach allows you to collect statistics on link clicks. If you do not want to collect statistics in this template, check the box in the "Do not wrap links for tracking" field. However, it is worth noting that when this option is activated, you will not be able to use deeplinks.

Deeplink is a link that, when clicked, takes the user to a specific section of the application. You can configure such links a little further down: separately for Android and iOS devices.

Rich push message

When creating a template for a rich push notification in our platform, a special editor is used. In it, you can add banners, buttons, and also adjust settings depending on the user's browser or operating system. To start working in the special editor, save the current changes and follow the link "try the β editor".

In the basic settings, enter the title, path to the icon, and message body. Specify the link for redirection. Only SSL links, i.e., links starting with https://, can be used in push messages.

If necessary, change the link type from regular to adaptive. Such a link is used to redirect the user to different URLs based on their platform. Here you can specify different links for the web browser, Android, and iOS devices.

Next, you need to configure the push message for each browser or OS separately. Advanced settings are available for the following platforms:

• Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Mail.ru, Yandex, Samsung browsers;

• Android and iOS operating systems.

Here you are again offered to specify the link for redirection. You can change it depending on the platform. For example, if the user opens the push from the Chrome browser, use a link with one UTM tag, and if from the Yandex browser, use another. Note that the link for a specific platform will overwrite the general link you specified earlier.

For some platforms, there is also the option to add a banner. To do this, enter the URL where the image is located.

For Chrome, Yandex, and Samsung browsers, there is a feature for additional buttons. For each button, the link is configured separately, allowing you to redirect the user to various pages of the website or sections of the application depending on their click.

Step 4. Save the notifications by clicking the "Save" button on the top panel. Now you can use this template for sending push notifications.