Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn have recently increased the amount of in-app engagement they’re embedding in their web applications. From guided tours to feature announcements to surveys, the three have gradually started to include in-app engagement as a powerful tool to shape user behavior. Why is that? My guess is that they’ve discovered what we already know, in-app engagement is extremely efficient at shaping user behavior.
It’s important to note that the three web behemoths are extremely strategic about when they choose to interrupt your experience with an in-app messages. They’ve used data analytics to determine what we call “Key Moments of Truth” (important moments during a user / customer’s lifecycle). By knowing the critical moments in their user’s experiences, Google, LinkedIn and Facebook can strategically test messages inside the application to better each experience and thus increase their customer’s Life Time Value (LTV). Furthermore, in-app messaging allows them to provide the right message at the right time based on the user’s attributes and behavior
Below are examples of in-app messaging that Google, LinkedIn and Facebook have executed.
1. Google: Guided tours to onboard new users of Google Docs
New users of Google docs get a guided tour of key features and functionality. By doing this, Google provides an excellent onboarding experience at a fraction of the price.
2. Facebook: Call outs for new features
When Facebook recently launched new features for managing groups, it delivered a timely and relevant in-app message to users who managed groups.
3. Google Maps: Tour of the new maps
When Google Maps recently re skinned their web application and released new features, it took users through a guided tour of the application. However, they didn’t just point out the already known functionality of the maps, instead they developed an interactive tour that demonstrated to the user just how powerful Google Maps could be.
4. LinkedIn: Teaching users how to use the “Who’s viewed my page”
In April of 2014, LinkedIn launched a new version of the “Who’s viewed me” that was significantly different from the old. To orient users to the new page, they built a guided tour that walked users through key part of the page. This made the transition, for it’s users painless and ensured that LinkedIn not only kept customer satisfaction high, but also re engaged users.
