Definition
In-app messaging shows messages to users while they're using the product: tooltips, banners, checklists, modals and announcements. Unlike email, they reach people at the moment and place they're relevant.
Good uses
- Guiding new users to their first core action.
- Announcing a feature to the people who would use it.
- Warning before a plan limit is reached.
Avoid
Interrupting people in the middle of a task, and showing the same message to everyone. Target messages with behavioural segments, such as users who haven't used a feature yet.
Measuring it
Track when a message is shown, dismissed and acted on, as events. The test of a message is whether the action it promotes rises, not how many people clicked it.