Implementing MobilePush in Marketing Cloud

Introduction 

Mobile Studio implementation with Twopir Consulting, I felt it was the perfect time to share my insights, lessons learned, and best practices on deploying one of the standout features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud: MobilePush. This powerful tool allows marketers to directly engage users through mobile app push notifications, enhancing customer experiences in real time. However, despite its potential, I’ve noticed that resources bridging the technical side of MobilePush implementation with its conceptual design are relatively scarce.

My aim with this guide is to fill that gap by providing a detailed walkthrough of MobilePush’s core functionalities, the four-step process for activation and integration with Marketing Cloud, and the key challenges that come with it. Whether you’re looking to leverage push notifications for better engagement or facing hurdles during setup, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and insights needed to successfully integrate and optimize MobilePush for your marketing strategies.

What is MobilePush?

MobilePush is a powerful feature within Salesforce Marketing Cloud that enables marketers to engage with their customers through mobile app push notifications. Here are its key functionalities:

1. Push Notifications:

Marketers can send targeted and personalized push notifications directly to users’ mobile devices. These notifications can include alerts, updates, promotions, and more.

2. Silent Notifications:

Allows sending notifications to the app silently, without alerting the user. This can be useful for updating content or syncing data in the background.

3. In-App Messaging:

Enables displaying messages within the app itself, providing a seamless user experience without needing to open a separate notification.

4. Bluetooth Beacons and Geo-location:

Utilizes Bluetooth beacons and geolocation to deliver contextually relevant messages based on a user’s physical location or proximity to specific points of interest.

5. User-Friendly Interface:

Once properly configured, MobilePush is designed to be intuitive and easy to use for Marketing Cloud users. Marketers can quickly send one-off notifications or integrate them into larger customer journeys using Journey Builder and Automations.

6.CloudPages Integration:

Directs app users to specific pages within the app or CloudPages (landing pages within Marketing Cloud) using OpenDirect links included in push notifications.

Implementing MobilePush in Salesforce Marketing Cloud involves several steps to ensure seamless integration and effective use of push notifications in your mobile app. Here’s a concise guide broken down into four main steps:

Step 1: Provision the App for MobilePush

Before you can start sending push notifications, you need to prepare your mobile app and gather the necessary credentials:

• For iOS:
  1. Ask your developers to create two iOS Apple Push Notification service SSL Certificates (one for sandbox and one for production).
  2. Save these certificates as they will be needed for integration.
• For Android:
  1. Retrieve the Legacy Server Key and Sender ID from Google Firebase.
  2. These will be required for configuring push notifications on Android.

Step 2: Create the Marketing Cloud Connect App

Once you have the required credentials, proceed with creating the Marketing Cloud Connect App:

• Navigate to Mobile Studio → MobilePush → Administration in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
• Select ‘Create App’ and upload the APNS Certificate for iOS.
• Add the Google Server Key for Android.
• Enable optional settings such as Custom Sound, Custom Key, OpenDirect, and Interactive Notifications.
• Optionally, add a Mobile Push Icon.
• Note down the Access Token, App ID, App Endpoint, and Account MID provided by Marketing Cloud. These details will be needed for SDK integration. 

Step 3: Integrate the Marketing Cloud SDK

Next, integrate the Marketing Cloud SDK into your mobile app:

• Share the relevant SDK (Software Development Kit) for both Android and iOS. with your mobile app development team.
• Provide them with the Access Token, App Endpoint, App ID, and MID obtained from Marketing Cloud during app creation.
• Refer to Marketing Cloud’s Mobile Push Notifications Implementation Guide for detailed integration instructions.
• If necessary, create additional attributes in the MobilePush Demographics table within Marketing Cloud to capture specific user data. 

Step 4: Test:

Testing is essential to ensure that push notifications work correctly and deliver the intended user experience:

• Set up a testing environment that mirrors real-world conditions for both iOS and Android.
• Test basic functionality such as receiving notifications, tapping to open the app, and handling notifications in different app states (foreground/background).
• Conduct integration testing to verify that notifications are sent and received properly between your mobile app and Marketing Cloud.
• Test edge cases like network disruptions or app updates to ensure robust notification delivery.
• Monitor analytics to track metrics such as open rates and engagement statistics to optimize notification performance.

MobilePush Gotchas and Pitfalls:

There are a few things to keep in mind to make sure MobilePush is implemented successfully, even with the minimal configuration needed in Marketing Cloud and the very useful SDKs.

• The Contact Key
• System Token
• Enabling Permissions
• Importing MobilePush Contacts
• MobilePush and URLs

Best practices for successful implementation:

1. The Contact Key:

The contact key is paramount, just like it is with all the studios and builders in Marketing Cloud.

For unknown app users, the SDK will assign a random unique ID when adding contacts to Marketing Cloud. Basically, Marketing Cloud will create new or duplicate users unless you ask them to register when they download the app. Furthermore, the SDK will not automatically set the correct contact key even if you do ask your users to register.

You will need your developers to add setDelayRegistrationUntilContactKeyIsSet() for Android and sfmc_setContactKey for iOS in order to stop this from happening. When a user’s identity is verified, these features hold off on adding contacts to Marketing Cloud until you have the ability to set the contact key.

2. System Token:

As previously stated, if you do not have the system/push token, you will not be able to send a push notification. When an app user consents to enable push notifications, the OS vendor generates this token, which is checked at the time of sending by Google or Apple. If there is no token, there is no push.

Despite being easily accessible, the SFPushNotificationManager class is not included in the Marketing Cloud SDK and is sometimes disregarded when implemented. In order for your developers to correctly implement the SFPushNotificationManager class, make sure to bring this up with them and provide them with the Android and iOS Developers’ guides.

3. Enabling Permissions:

The iOS implementation necessitates an extra step: you must make sure your mobile application asks users to consent to push notifications; unlike Android, iOS does not do this automatically.

It’s also crucial to remember that the initial rollout will only include the most fundamental push notifications. Make sure your app requests user permissions and that your SDK has been updated to incorporate the following features in order to use Geolocation or Inbox messaging:

Geo-location:

• Android – EnableGeofenceMessaging()
• iOS – MarketingCloudSDKConfigBuilder() sfmc_setLocationEnabled() 

Inbox Messaging:

• Android – InboxMessageMethods
• iOS – InboxMessageMethods

   

4. Importing MobilePush Contacts:

As previously mentioned, MobilePush only adds new contacts, so unless this is a freshly created app, you’ll probably want to add current app users. Fortunately, as long as you fill in the following fields, you can import current contacts into MobilePush with ease, either to the All Contacts or to a pre-made list;

• Device ID
• System Token
• Platform
• ContactKey

If more attributes are needed, they can be added.

5.MobilePush and URLs:

It’s likely that you will want to include a call to action in your push notifications, like sending users to a particular page within your app or a landing page (OpenDirect). Although the SDK does not contain these options, your app will not automatically open CloudPage URLs, OpenDirect URLs, or URLs from inbox messaging. These options are only available in MobilePush.

Thankfully, there is a solution available with Marketing Cloud; all that needs to be done is incorporate it into the initial MobilePush setup. Your users will click on your push notification links with ease if you implement the NotificationCustomizationOptions in Android and the MarketingCloudSDKURLHandlingDelegate protocol in iOS.

Optional Settings:

With Simone’s successful test, she heads back to Setup to review and adjust the settings for Scott’s new app. From this screen, she can click Edit to enable Rich Media and a Send Blockout (1) period. She can also Add Headers and Add Footers (2) on this screen as well.

Why use these options?

Enabling rich media allows you to add images and video to your notification, which can increase the likelihood that customers will open your message. Who wouldn’t want that?
Send blockout windows are used to restrict push messages from being scheduled from Marketing Cloud Engagement during a certain period of time, typically late in the evening to early morning. Why? To keep customers happy, not annoyed. No one wants to be woken up at night about a burger of the month. Especially if the store isn’t even open to satisfy those late-night cravings!
Standard headers and footers are a great way to add brand consistency to all future push notifications. Creating standard headers and footers gives Simone peace of mind that all messages sent from MobilePush, regardless of who on her team sends them, are clearly branded as Scott’s Restaurant and Bar and have the correct links.

Summary:

Marketing Cloud MobilePush is a favourite feature in Marketing Cloud due to its intuitive and easy-to-use nature once set up correctly. With increasing mobile device usage, implementing MobilePush enables marketers to connect with their customers at the right time effectively. Implementing MobilePush isn’t just about leveraging a tool; it’s about transforming your approach to customer communication. By embracing MobilePush, businesses can deliver relevant content directly to their audience’s devices, fostering stronger connections and increasing conversions. As you move forward, consider the insights and best practices shared here to optimize your MobilePush campaigns and achieve meaningful results in your marketing efforts.