Please note: Site messages are only available with a Professional subscription. Lite and Plus packages do not have this feature.
In this article, we will explain what 'Site messages' are, how to create your first 'Site message', and how to integrate a 'Site message' into your automation so that it is displayed to your MailBlue contacts.
What are Site messages?
Site messages are lightweight notifications that appear on your website. They only appear for your contacts, or a segmentation of your contacts. They are not shown to anonymous visitors.
By default, Site messages are displayed as 'First message' in the bottom right corner of your website. You can adjust the position on your website yourself to; bottom right, bottom left, top left, or top right. The position of Site messages is globally determined. Any changes to the position of a Site message will affect other Site messages.
When a contact clicks on a Site message, it will expand into a 'Detailed Message'. When creating a Site message, you can customise the display of 'First message' and 'Detailed message'.
Personalisation tags are available to use within a Site message, so you can address a contact by their name, for example. You have access to personalised information such as dates, geographical information, regular contact fields, and webshop deep data.
Requirements
Site messages require our Site Tracking option. This means you need to install this to display a Site message to your contacts. If you have not installed this yet, you can read this article to get started.
Creating a Site message
Just like SMS messages, Site messages can only be sent as an automatic action. Create a new automation or select an existing automation to use. In this article, you can find out how to create an automation.
From the automation, you can select the action 'Send a website message' under the submenu 'Send options'. Click on 'Create a Site message' to create your first Site message.
You can specify within the automation on which web pages you want to integrate the Site message. You have the option to display the Site message on any web page or only on a specific page. You can use an asterisk (*) if you want the Site messages to be displayed on every page.
Give your Site message a clear name that provides a logical description for you or your team. The name of the Site message will not be visible to your contacts.
After creating a name for your Site message, you will be directed to the Site message design screen.
Site Message design screen
You can switch between the 'First message' and the 'Detailed message' at the top left of the design screen. The 'First message' is the version of the Site message shown to your contacts. The 'Detailed message' is the version of the Site message shown to your contact after they click on the first message.
Editing the text of the Site message is easy. You can click on the text in the Site message itself to edit it. You will also have the option to add an emoji.
In the right menu, you will have various options to customise the formatting of your message.
In 'Layout', you can see the layout of the Site message. You can choose from four options: simple, simple with a title, simple image, and image with title. To edit the image for layouts, click on the image in the template. You will then have the option to select an image from your image library or upload a new image.
In 'Theme', you can customise the style of the Site message. You can choose between 'Basic', 'Coloured', or 'Dark stripe'. If you select 'Coloured' or 'Dark stripe', an additional 'Highlight colour' colour picker will appear in the right menu. You can use this to adjust the effect to the website.
The 'Initial effect' adjusts how the first message will be displayed when contacts see it. You can choose between 'Slide in', 'Fade in', or 'None'. When switching between effects, a preview will be shown.
After customising the first message on your website, you can click on "Detailed message" at the top left to personalise the message.
'Detailed messages' are larger and come in two formats. You can switch between these two styles using the dropdown menu in the grey right panel. Detailed messages can be displayed as 'Pinned' or 'Floating'.
- 'Pinned' messages appear in a fixed position on the right side of the browser on your website, overlaying any additional content on your website.
- 'Floating' messages appear as a modal in the centre of your website in the contact's browser window.
You can customise the title of the detailed message, adjust the message text, upload an image, and include a button with a link. Text can only be formatted in the centre, but buttons can be centred, left-aligned, or right-aligned.
You can also customise the button colours on your website.
After customising the detailed message for your site, click on the green 'Done' button in the top right corner of the website to return to your automation.
Sending a Site message
Site Messages are sent in the same way as an SMS or an email within an automation. When a contact enters the automation and encounters the 'Site message' action in the funnel, the Site message will be queued to be displayed.
The next time the contact visits your website (or the specific pages you indicated when creating the Site message), the Site message will be shown to this contact.
Sending Multiple Site messages
It is currently not possible to recall a Site message that has already been sent to a contact. This option will be available soon. However, if you edit the Site message that has been sent, the contact will see the latest version of this message.
When a contact receives multiple Site messages, they will 'stack up' vertically until the contact dismisses them.