When you create an on site message, you can configure its behavior before publishing it. This article explains how to choose the web property, set display rules, configure triggers and manage privacy settings.
If you're using this asset for the first time, learn what on site messages are and when to use them.
If you want to customize its design, layout, and content instead, see the article about customizing on site messages.
Create a new on site message
You can create a new on site message from:
Journey Lab > Assets > On site messages
You can also create one directly within a specific Journey.
Click Create on site message and give your message a name.
At this point, you can create the message immediately and open the designer to customize its design and content, or configure its settings first. You can always return to this screen and edit them later.
Choose the web property
The web property determines which website the on site message will be published on. Before you activate the message, you must associate it with a web property in the message's Main settings. For the message to appear on your website, the web property must be active and have the Show banners and popups option enabled.
A web property represents the connection between your website and magnews, established by installing the magnews code. It allows the platform to display on site messages, signup forms, banners, and popups on your website and collect visitor interactions.
If your account already contains at least one web property, it will be selected automatically. To use a different one, open the drop-down menu and choose the web property you want.
If this is the first time you are publishing content on your website, you will see the Connect your website button instead of the selection menu. Click it and follow the guided procedure to create your first web property in three steps.
If the web property associated with the message is already installed on your website, you won't need to do anything else after activation. The message will be available immediately according to the display rules and triggers you configured.
Advanced domain configuration
When you associate a web property with an on site message, magnews automatically uses the domains configured for that web property, including the primary domain and any additional domains. In most cases, no further configuration is required.
If you have specific requirements, you can configure a list of domains directly in the message using the advanced configuration. In this case, magnews compares the domains configured in the message with those configured in the active web properties and displays the message only on domains that satisfy both configurations.
You can add an unlimited number of domains and edit or remove them at any time.
Use the following formats when entering domains:
- For
https://www.domain.com, enterwww.domain.com - For
https://demo.domain.com, enterdemo.domain.com - For all subdomains of
domain.com, enter*.domain.com - To display the message on any website associated with a web property where the magnews code is installed, enter
*
Configure rules, triggers and privacy
Display rules
Display rules determine who sees the on site message, how often it appears, and under which conditions it is shown.
For example, you can define:
- Display frequency
- Whether to show the message to recognized visitors, anonymous visitors, or both
- Conditions based on visitor behavior
- Conditions based on the current page
- Conditions based on device, language, or country
- Time ranges and days of the week
If your plan includes advanced Web Tracking features, you can also use more advanced targeting rules based on visitor behavior. Learn how all display rules work and when to use them.
Triggers
Triggers, on the other hand, determine when the on site message appears.
For example, you can choose to show it:
- When the page loads
- After a set amount of time
- When the visitor is about to leave the website
- After the visitor scrolls through a set percentage of the page
- After a period of inactivity
- When the visitor clicks a specific page element
Learn how all triggers work in detail.
Privacy
In the Privacy section, you can define how many days to retain:
- Views without a completed response
- Completed responses
A submission is considered incomplete when it contains errors or when the visitor stops filling out the form before submitting it.
If the on site message contains form fields mapped to contact fields or actions that can update contact data, make sure you select a user in the "Execute with the permissions of" field who has the permissions required to modify the contact database of the contact submitting the form.
Manage the on site message
After creating the on site message, you will access its main page, where you can manage its configuration, status, and content.
From here, you can:
- Open the designer to customize the design and content
- Edit the message settings
- Activate or deactivate the message
- Preview the message
- Copy or delete it
After the first submissions, this page will also display new information:
- The performance card, with a direct link to the on site message reports
- The Responses tab, where you can review all received submissions
Activate the on site message
When you have finished configuring and customizing the on site message, click Activate.
During activation, magnews checks that the configuration is valid. If any issues are detected, you will be told what needs to be corrected before the message can be published.
To be activated, an on site message must be associated with a web property, which determines the website where it can be displayed.
If you don't want to publish it immediately, you can schedule its activation, deactivation, or both. Simply enable the corresponding options and specify the date and time when the message should go online or be removed from your website.
Before activating the message, we recommend using the preview to verify that the layout, content, and behavior are correct on both desktop and mobile devices.
You can stop displaying an on site message on your website at any time by clicking Deactivate from the message home page.
The on site message does not appear on the website?
If the on site message is active but is not displayed to visitors, the issue is usually related to the web property, display rules, or configured triggers.
See the Web Experience troubleshooting page to quickly identify the cause of the issue.