Managing messaging more mindfully: Urban Airship unveils in-app messaging

Push notifications. On one hand, they can be awesome. Delivering exactly the information you need at exactly the right time from those apps you love. At other times however? They can be an unwelcome distraction or needless interruption.

Up until now, however, app developers have had little choice for how they push those communications to their audience.

But what if app developers had another option for communicating with you in-app? A way that allowed you to better manage how and when that app had your attention? Well, now they do. Thanks to Urban Airship’s In-App messaging.

You might also recognize that not every message is appropriate to light up your users’ home screens. Not every communication requires the immediate attention that push notifications garner. Some messages—video highlights, mobile coupons, free downloads, tutorials—are more beneficial when stored in a place where users can easily return later to consume this content at their convenience.

Today we are excited to announce next-generation enhancements that will enable you to engage your entire app audience or specific audience segments with rich in-app content. We took what we learned from progressive customers utilizing rich push, including the London Olympics, Rip Curl and ParaNorman to expand our in-app messaging capabilities, which now include rich app pages and in-app message centers. And today, as an industry-first, you can deliver rich in-app content and in-app messaging tailored to users’ location history profiles, behaviors and preferences.

With their original push notification platform, the growing Passbook integration business, and this new in-app content offering, Urban Airship has now equipped developers with a variety of ways to engage—rather than annoy—their audience. It will be interesting to see how those creatives employ these communications to greater effect.

For more information, see Urban Airship’s post on the in-app content offering.

Published by Rick Turoczy

More than mildly obsessed with the Portland startup community. Founder and editor at Silicon Florist. Cofounder and general manager at PIE. Follow me on Twitter: @turoczy View all posts by Rick Turoczy