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User’s Guide
 

Creating Mobile In-App Message Creatives

About Mobile In-App Message Creatives

An in-app message is a notification that is displayed while a user is active within your mobile app. In-app messages are triggered by the user’s activity in the mobile app.

In-app messages are often used to deliver promotional offers and to show new users popular features in your mobile app. You can personalize an in-app message (for example, by including the user’s name or other data known about the user).

When you create a mobile in-app message creative, you select a large template or a small template. The large template is phone-sized and includes an image, a header, body text, and one or more buttons. Here is an example of a creative that uses the large template:

In-App Message Using Large Template
Large In-App Message

The small template is banner-sized and includes an image and body text. Here is an example of a creative that uses the small template:

In-App Message Using Small Template
Small In-App Message

The optimal image ratio for a large template is 320:227. The optimal image ratio for a small template is 85:76.

The supported file formats for images that are included in in-app message creatives are .jpeg, .jpg, and .png.

Create Creatives

To create a mobile in-app message creative:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Content Contentthen selectCreatives.
  2. Click New Creative. 
  3. Select Mobile In-App Message.
  4. Select a template. You can choose Large or Small.

    The template for the creative appears on the New Creative page. When you click an area in the template, a pane with the available options is displayed on the right-hand side. As you enter content and select options, the view changes. The view enables you to visualize what the in-app message might look like on a user’s mobile device.

    Note: The view is not an actual preview but rather a conceptualization. To ensure that the creative renders correctly, verify it across a variety of test devices.
  5. If you are using the large template, complete these steps:
    1. Click the image block, and then click Select Image. In the Image pane, click Edit. In the Select Image window, select one of these options:
      • Select From Assets and click Edit to select a static image from the Assets repository in SAS Customer Intelligence 360.
      • Select From URL and enter a URL.
        Note: The URL must reference a publicly available image for the creative to render correctly.
      • Select From Frontify to select an image from your Frontify account. If you have not authenticated with Frontify before, follow these steps:
        1. Click Select Image.
        2. Sign in to Frontify through the authorization window.
        3. Click Allow Access to enable integration between Frontify and SAS Customer Intelligence 360.

        Use Frontify's content browser to select an image, and click Choose.

      Click Done. You can add a border and select a border color.

    2. Click the header block. In the Header pane, enter the header text that you want, and then select the font size, style, and color.
    3. Click the message block. In the Message pane, enter the message that you want, and then select the font size, style, and color.
    4. Click the button block. In the Buttons pane, select the number of buttons you want. For each button, enter a button label that consists of 18 or fewer characters, and then select the font size, style, and color. Specify how you want each button to appear.

      From the Button action drop-down list, select the instruction that you want to pass to the application so that the application knows what to do when the user taps a button. For example, for a golf application, the action might be to instruct the application to open the page on which you book a tee time.

      To link to a specific location in the application, select Link in application. Enter the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that is provided by the application developer. A URI is an instruction in the form of a string. In some cases, the URI might be in the form of a link, but in other cases, the URI represents an action to be taken.

      Note: The mobile SDK does not automatically open the app to the location specified by the URI. The developer must provide the necessary code for the app to carry out the desired action.
    5. To add personalized information to the header, message, URI, or buttons, insert a merge tag. Click Select Merge Tag.

      For information about using merge tags and variables in creatives, including syntax details, see Use Merge Tags to Personalize In-App Messages.

    6. Click the background block. In the Properties pane, select the background color. You can add a border and select a border color.
  6. If you are using the small template, complete these steps:
    1. Click the image block, and then click Select Image. In the Image pane, click Edit. In the Select Image window, select one of these options:
      • Select From Assets and click Edit to select a static image from the Assets repository in SAS Customer Intelligence 360.
      • Select From URL and enter a URL.
        Note: The URL must reference a publicly available image for the creative to render correctly.
      • Select From Frontify to select an image from your Frontify account. If you have not authenticated with Frontify before, follow these steps:
        1. Click Select Image.
        2. Sign in to Frontify through the authorization window.
        3. Click Allow Access to enable integration between Frontify and SAS Customer Intelligence 360.

        Use Frontify's content browser to select an image, and click Choose.

      Click Done. You can add a border and select a border color.

    2. Click the message block. In the Body pane, enter the message that you want, and then select the font size, style, and color.
    3. To add personalized information to the message or URI, insert a merge tag. Click Select Merge Tag.

      For information about using merge tags and variables in creatives, including syntax details, see Use Merge Tags to Personalize In-App Messages.

    4. Click the background block. In the Properties pane, select the background color. You can add a border and select a border color.

      From the Banner action drop-down list, select the instruction that you want to pass to the application so that the application knows what to do when the user taps the message. For example, for a golf application, the action might be to instruct the application to open the page that provides details about a special promotion.

      To link to a specific location in the application, select Link in application. Enter the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that is provided by the application developer. A URI is an instruction in the form of a string. In some cases, the URI might be in the form of a link, but in other cases, the URI represents an action to be taken.

      Note: The mobile SDK does not automatically open the app to the location specified by the URI. The developer must provide the necessary code for the app to carry out the desired action.
  7. Click Done.
  8. (Optional) Navigate to the Properties tab to enter a description for the creative.

    The Standard section contains basic information about the creative, such as the name, type, description, category, and code.

    • The Category field is displayed only if the properties that are available in the system have been assigned a category.
    • The Code field is needed to map treatments from external applications to the creative.

      When a treatment is imported or migrated to SAS Customer Intelligence 360 from an external application such as SAS Marketing Automation, the existing value for the object appears in the Code field. Depending on the code settings for your environment, the code value might be editable. This value is not required to be unique to be valid. If the value is editable, you can change it to match the code value for another item. Valid characters for codes are alphanumeric characters, multi-byte characters, numerals, underscores, hyphens, and periods. Blank spaces are not allowed in code formats.

    If custom properties are configured, a Custom properties section is available in which you enter or view information for your custom properties.

    For more information, see Custom Properties.

  9. Click Save. Enter a name for the creative, and then click Save.
  10. If you are ready to publish the creative, navigate to the Orchestration tab and update the status:
    • Select Mark Ready to change the status from Designing to Ready.

      Items with a Ready status can be changed back to a Designing status by clicking Return to Designing. Changing this status to Designing prevents the item from being published.

    • Select Mark Ready and Publish to change the status from Designing to Active. Items with an Active status cannot be changed back to Designing.

Use Merge Tags to Personalize In-App Messages

About Merge Tags

You can use merge tags to personalize the text of the creative for each recipient. When you enter a merge tag in a creative, the available merge tags are retrieved from uploaded customer data and are displayed consistently across tasks. For example, a creative with a merge tag that displays a customer’s name always displays a customer name when used in a task, regardless of which task the creative is used in.

You can insert a personalization variable that acts as a placeholder for a merge tag. When you create a task that includes a creative with a variable, you select the merge tag to replace the variable. This functionality enables you to use data that is specified in the task itself (not in the creative) to supply your merge tags. For example, you can use attributes that are specified for task targeting events, task triggering events, or data views.

Mobile in-app messages are triggered. To personalize a creative that is delivered in a triggered task, include a personalization variable in the creative. In the task, select both the event that triggers the task and the appropriate merge tag to replace the personalization variable.

Here are options for using merge tags:

  • You can select a merge tag or enter merge tag syntax manually.
  • You can enter a default value to use when the merge tag cannot retrieve data. For example, if the user’s identity is not known, you might replace the name with “Valued Customer”.
  • You can add as many as 10 merge tags or variables to one creative. Creatives that pre-date this restriction and contain more than 10 merge tags or variables work. However, after you update a creative, the restriction becomes active for that creative.

Insert a Merge Tag or a Variable

To insert a merge tag or variable:

  1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the merge tag or variable.
  2. Click Select Merge Tag.
  3. To add a merge tag, select one from the list. To navigate the list:
    • Click Tree to display a hierarchical view of merge tags.
    • Click Expand All to expand all of the folders. Click Collapse All to collapse all of the folders.
    • Click Table to display individual merge tags in alphabetical order.
  4. (Optional) In the Default value field, enter the value to use if the merge tag cannot retrieve data.
  5. To add a variable:
    1. Click Insert Variable from the Select in task section. The text is updated with a default variable.
    2. (Optional) The variable must start and end with braces. However, you can change the variable name by editing the content within the braces. For example, you can replace {{variable1}} with {{cart amount}} or {{user name}}.
    Note: You will replace the variable with a merge tag when you create the task that includes this creative.
  6. Click OK.

    The merge tag that you inserted retrieves data from the customer table in the data hub. Each customer views personalized content.

For more information about merge tags, see Overview of Personalizing Content.

Enter Merge Tag Strings Manually

Instead of inserting a merge tag from a list, you can manually enter the merge tag string:

  1. Enter the merge tag using the correct format.
    • For merge tags that are not journey-related, use this format: 
      %%<source>.<category>.<name>%%

      In the merge tag string, these are how the values are defined:

      • source represents the data source
      • category is the data group
      • name is the field name of the data item
    • If your task is part of a journey and you want to use a placeholder from the journey's data, use this format: 
      %%JOURNEY.<placeholder name>%%
  2. (Optional) To specify the default value for a manually entered merge tag, insert | | after name and specify a default value within the string: 
    %%<source>.<category>.<name>||<default value>%%
  3. (Optional) Override the default number formatting. By default, automatic number formatting is applied to numbers. For example, a string such as a postal code, is displayed as 25,678 instead of 25678.

    To override automatic number formatting, insert $ after the first %% instance in the string:

    %%$<source>.<category>.<name>%%

    In this example, the automatic number formatting is overridden for a postal code:

    %%$DATAHUB.customer.zip%%

Manage Creatives

Rename, Copy, Delete, and Edit a Creative

On the Content Contentthen selectCreatives page, you can rename, copy, delete, and open (for editing) a creative. To access the options, select the creative in the list, and then select the appropriate action.

  • To rename the creative, click Actions and select Rename.

    You can rename a creative regardless of its status. The new name is reflected in all messages and tasks that include the creative. If you rename a creative that is published, it becomes out of sync and must be republished.

    TipAfter you rename a creative that is included in an open message or task, you can click Refresh in the task to see the name change.
  • To copy a creative, select it and click Copy.
  • To open the creative for editing, click it or select the message and click Open Message.

    When you modify a creative that is used in active tasks, be aware of these guidelines:

    • If you add or modify merge tag variables (such as {{variable1}}), you can save the creative only as a new item.

      This restriction does not apply if you remove variables or modify other types of merge tags (such as tags that use demographic data).

    • When you re-publish a creative that has not modified a variable, published tasks begin to use the re-published version of the creative.
  • To delete the creative, click Delete.

    You can delete a creative that is published. You cannot delete a creative that is included in a task. When you delete a creative, the creative is removed from the creatives repository and from any messages that include the creative.

When you open a creative from inside a message, you can access the rename and edit options for the creative. On the Content Contentthen selectMessages page, open the message that contains the creative you want to rename or edit. Select the creative, click Actions, and then select the appropriate action. The changes that you make are applied to the original creative.

Change the Status

To change the status, open the creative and navigate to the Orchestration tab. Depending on the status of the creative, these are the options in the status list:

  • Mark Ready: Changes the status from Designing to Ready. This option indicates that the creative is ready to be published.
  • Return to Designing: Changes the status from Ready back to Designing.
  • Publish: Changes the status from Ready to Active. When you publish an item, you are prompted to publish any dependent items that are marked Ready.
  • Republish: Changes the status from Out of Sync back to Ready. If the content of a published item is changed and saved, that item becomes out of sync with the published version. Republish to synchronize the content. Otherwise, the item stays out of sync with the published version and the updates are not delivered.

    For more information, see Republishing Out of Sync Items.

  • End: Changes the status from Active to Completed. This option prevents the creative from being published. A creative with a Completed status cannot be included in a task. Only a creative that is not currently in use by a task can be completed. Ending an item stops any associated data collection and makes the item's content unavailable. In addition, any unsaved changes to the creative are lost.

View Usage Information

On the Orchestrationthen selectUsage tab, you can view which items use the creative and the items that the creative uses.

The ability to view dependencies between items enables you to see the items that a task depends on to work successfully. Usage information helps you identify how changes that you make to one item might affect another item.

Items That Use the Creative

The first section shows the items that use the creative. For example, if the creative is used in a task, the task is included in the list.

The Priority column displays the priority of like tasks that use the creative. Priority applies only to mobile spot, web spot, and mobile in-app message tasks because each of those task types might have two or more tasks that compete for the same resources. Other task types do not use prioritization.

For non-A/B test tasks, priority is on a scale of 1 through 5 (where 1 is the highest). The default is 3. An A/B test task has a priority of Test, which is higher than a non-A/B test task. An A/B test task always delivers its content.

You can change the priority of a non-A/B test task on the task’s Orchestrationthen selectPriority tab.

Items That the Creative Uses

The second section shows items that the creative uses.

  • Click Directly Related to list the items that the creative uses. For example, if a creative uses an asset, the asset is included in the list.
  • Click All Related to view directly related items as well as any items that those directly related items use. For a creative, the list of directly related and all related items is the same.

    The list displays items with a Designing, Ready, or Active status. Click Show Designing Status only to display only items with a Designing status.

To open an item, click the item. To view item details and to open the item, click View Item Details in the item’s row.

Note: HTML assets that are the content source for mobile spot, web spot, and email creatives are not listed.
Last updated: August 18, 2026