When to in-app and when to email

When you're planning communications with your users, you have two main options to choose from:

1. In-app messages – a pop-up that appears in the app, usually on a specific screen or after a certain action
2. Email – a message sent to the user's inbox

Let's look at when you should use each of these channels and why using both is often the best option.

Use in-app to reach users when they're already engaged

In-app messages have 5-10 times the conversion rates of emails.

When a user sees your in-app message, it's highly relevant because they're already doing something in your app. And the more relevant and contextual you can make your message with events, the better.

For example: If a smart light user on Android opens the day-and-night scheduler, you could trigger an in-app showing how to integrate the light with a Google Home routine.

Use email for more educational content

Email is a great option for deeper, more educational pieces, or any messages that your users may want to revisit.

Here are a few communications that are best suited to email:

• A welcome email with a quick round-up of your top three features
• A monthly newsletter showcasing your newest features and app improvements
• An educational email sequence to promote heavier usage of a specific feature set

And of course, another big benefit of email is that it gives you the opportunity to pull users back into your product. After all, in-apps will never reach users who aren't using your product.

Two is better than one

Emails that follow in-apps have double the clickthrough rate (CTR) as standalone emails. So when you're planning your campaigns, always think about how you can set them up as multi-channel sequences.

Here's an example to show why this is so effective:

• You want to get users to try out a new feature in your app
• You send an in-app message, but some users close the message without thinking because they're in the middle of something
• You send a follow-up email on the same subject, which the same users now have time to read

On top of this, email also gives you the opportunity to go into more detail – maybe with an educational video or step-by-step guide. This gives you more chance to convert users who didn't convert from the in-app.

So, when in doubt, sequence.