How to encourage users to update their application?

Notify and push your users who do not have the latest version of your application to update.

Users who do not install the latest versions often miss out on new features, performance improvements, or critical fixes. An in-app message allows you to:

• Concretely explain the benefits of the update

• Address potential friction (time, utility, understanding)

• Contact the users at the right moment (opt-in and opt-out)

⇒ Benefits: faster adoption of new versions, reduction in user-side bugs and better product satisfaction

To reach users who do not have the latest version of your application and encourage them to update it, you can easily set up an In-app campaign to target them precisely !

1. Create a new In-app automation

First, you need to create an In-app automation ⇒ go to Automations tab and create a New "In-app" Automation.

2. Trigger event

Here is where you choose when the In-app message (app update) will be triggered:

• Display event: You can select the native "New session" event, that will trigger the In-app message when a user opens the application.

• Delay (optional): You can add a delay of up to 60 seconds before displaying the in-app message, but this is not necessarily recommended for this use case.

• Capping: This feature helps you to manage marketing pressure. You can determine how many times a user can see this In-app message in total. (You can also choose not to set a cap, especially in this use case if you want users to be notified frequently)

• Grace period: This allows you to define a time window, in hours or days, during which any new trigger events, on the same campaign, will be ignored after a notification has been sent to the same Profile. This helps prevent messages from being sent too close.

In the following example, the Trigger event is the New session, and we have not set any capping, but a grace period only - this means a user will see the In-App message 3 times maximum, with a delay of minimum 7 days between each display = once a week until they update the application.

3. Targeting

Add the "App version" condition to your targeting, then write the version of the application you want to target and select "IOS" or "Android" to target exclusively users who have version x of the application (or less than or equal to x version). After your segmentation, you will see the estimated reach change — this is an estimate that gives you an idea of the volume of people who meet your targeting criteria.

In the example below, I want my in-app message to display, only for the users with an app version less than or equal to 1.7

If you wish to implement this app update In-app message for both iOS and Android, you will need to create two separate campaigns: one for iOS and one for Android.

4. Timing

The timing allows you to determine a start date and an end date (optional) for your In-app message.

• Universal time ⇒ this option lets you schedule the start/end date based on a fixed UTC time, no matter where your users are located.

• Profile's local time ⇒ This option ensures your In-app messages to start/end at the same hour in each country (based on the users timezone). Recommended if you have multiple countries and time zones in your targeting.

5. Quiet Times (optional)

This feature lets you define specific days or time slots during which messages will not be shown to your profiles. For In-app channel, when Quiet Hours are enabled, messages are automatically suppressed during the selected periods.

6. In-app message edition

Check this Documentation to have more details about the In-app composer.

You can now build your In-app message:

1. Create your template and the design you want (from scratch or using an existing template)

2. Add wording for the text and the button (we recommend 1 button only, for the app update deeplink)

3. Configure the button action: Choose the "Deeplink" Built-in option as the primary action on your CTA. Then, you can copy/paste your deeplink in order to redirect users to the Apple or Android store, depending on which OS you are targeting.

7. Test your automation

Finally, we always recommend to test your In-app message. For this, you can use the “Send test” option to validate your message on real devices, with your Installation ID or Custom ID (See the guides to find the Installation ID for iOS and Android). You will need to be opt-in to mobile push notifications in order to test it.

Note: You will need to be opt-in to mobile push notifications in order to test it

And you are all set with the In-app use case! You can save the draft, or run it ✅