In-app messaging provides a technical capability that allows a company to communicate with users directly through their web or mobile product.
How does in-app messaging work?
In-app messaging involves displaying targeted messages like lightboxes, tooltips, surveys, banners, and other formats directly within your application while users are actively engaged. These messages can guide users through friction points, announce new features, support cross-sell/upsell initiatives, collect user feedback, and more. Because it displays messages while the user is actively using the product, in-app messages generally achieve higher engagement and response rates compared to external channels like push notifications or email.
What are the different types of in-app messages?
In-app messaging is common in both web and mobile applications and can be delivered in several formats:
Lightbox (Modal or Pop-up)
This style of in-app message typically darkens or dims the rest of the page to emphasize its content. Some lightboxes may prevent users from interacting with the underlying page until the message is dismissed. Due to their intrusive nature, lightboxes are best suited for important notifications that require user acknowledgment.
Tooltip
Tooltips are brief, informational messages triggered by user actions, such as hovering over an element. They are usually anchored to a specific element in the product. Hovers are a common implementation, appearing when a user mouses over a navigation item, interactive element, or a hotspot near a new feature. Tooltips are effective for answering FAQs or providing context for new features, but they should be tested to ensure they don't disrupt the user's workflow.
Banner
Banners are informative messages aligned to an edge of the browser window or mobile screen (e.g., top or bottom). They are less intrusive than lightboxes, as the rest of the screen usually remains interactive.
User Guides (Walkthroughs or Product Tours)
These are multi-step messages designed to guide users through a complete workflow or feature set. They can be a combination of lightboxes, tooltips, banners, and other message formats. In-app user guides are often used for onboarding new users or introducing significant new processes. Measuring completion and drop-off rates helps identify if a walkthrough is too long or if any steps are overly complicated.
Interstitial
An interstitial message ("to put between") displays between two screens or pages in a user's workflow, sometimes referred to as "splash screens." They are commonly used for maintenance announcements, important feature updates, or before loading a new section of an application. They are frequently inserted between a login screen and the application's home screen.
Survey
Typically embedded within a lightbox or banner, surveys are a form of in-app messaging that invites user interaction. Whether a simple yes/no question, multi-select, dropdown, or open-text feedback, surveys help enrich user data, gather valuable feedback, and monitor user sentiment directly within the product experience.
Who benefits from in-app messaging?
Ultimately, a company's users are the primary beneficiaries of effective in-app messaging. Through in-app guides and messages, companies can deliver timely updates, resources, and guided walkthroughs directly within the product, ensuring information is relevant and tailored to users' needs. If a product has a bug or users consistently struggled in a specific area, support teams can use in-app messages to proactively help users avoid confusion and frustration.
Companies also benefit significantly. Well-executed in-app guidance improves the customer experience, which in turn fuels positive business outcomes like increased feature adoption, higher retention rates, and reduced support costs.
Internal teams (e.g., employees using internal software) also benefit from in-app messaging. It allows new hires to undergo tailored onboarding processes with guidance relevant to their roles. Existing employees can receive customized updates about new features, security best practices, reminders for tasks, and other critical notifications. This targeted guidance, delivered where it's most needed, leads to less time spent searching for answers or filing support tickets, thereby increasing productivity.
What are common use cases for in-app messaging?
In-app messages generally serve several distinct objectives:
Information & Onboarding
In-app messaging allows companies to educate and inform users at scale. Compared to outbound email or information hosted on a blog or knowledge base, in-app messages are delivered while the user is active in the product, increasing relevance and resonance. Key use cases include:
- User onboarding (e.g., welcome messages, initial feature tours)
- Alerts about product updates and new features
- Maintenance and compliance notifications
- Driving feature adoption by highlighting underused functionality
These messages benefit from clear, concise language and often link to supporting documentation or external resources.
Delight & Engagement
In-app messaging can trigger notifications based on user actions or milestones. These behavior-aware messages can reward users, acknowledge progress, or respond to events. Examples include:
- Congratulating users on completing a key task
- Progress trackers for onboarding or feature adoption
- Gamification elements (e.g., usage streaks)
Casual, personalized language and appealing visuals tend to work well for these messages.
Conversion & Upselling
In addition to behavioral triggers, in-app messages can be triggered based on timing or user metadata (e.g., user segment, subscription tier, location). This enables various marketing and conversion use cases:
- Alerting users to an expiring trial
- Targeted upsell or cross-sell offers for premium features
- Invitations to webinars or events
This category often uses clear, compelling language, and may include urgency drivers.
Digital Adoption (for Employees)
Companies can leverage in-app messaging not just for customers, but also for their own employees using internal or third-party software. HR, IT, information security, and change management teams increasingly use in-app guidance to:
- Onboard new hires to company tools
- Communicate best practices and policy updates
- Introduce guidance around new software or features
Moving tailored guidance inside applications provides the right employee with the right information at the right time, reducing friction and boosting productivity.
What is the difference between in-app messages and push notifications?
Push notifications are messages sent by an app that appear on a user's mobile device home screen or desktop, even when the app isn't actively in use. They are useful for re-engaging users who are not currently using the app or for timely alerts. However, users must opt-in to receive them, and excessive or irrelevant push notifications can lead to users disabling them or uninstalling the app.
In-app messages, as the name implies, are displayed within the application itself while the user is actively using it. This makes them highly contextual. They serve various functions, from onboarding new users and announcing features to providing support and collecting feedback.
Quackback specializes in helping you create and manage effective in-app messages to enhance your product experience.