Overview

Personal messages get read, clicked, and answered. Generic ones get ignored. When you start messaging hundreds or thousands of people at once, you run the risk of not being personal at all, and a one-size-fits-all message is the least personal kind you can send.

The good news is you can stay personal while messaging at scale. It comes down to three things: personalize the content, target the right people at the right time, and keep a human tone. All three apply whether you are sending Outbound Chat, Banner, Email, or Survey messages.

Personalize each message

Use dynamic variables to drop each recipient's own details into your copy. Common variables include First name and Company name, and you can go further with the user and company attributes you send to Featurebase, such as the number of projects they have created, their current plan, or how close they are to a usage limit. Details that are true only for that person are what make a message feel written for them.

Set a fallback for every variable so the message still reads well when a value is missing. For example, "Hi First name" with a fallback of "there" sends as "Hi Alex" when you know the name and "Hi there" when you don't.

Keep the style personal, not designed

Over-designed, heavily formatted messages read like mass marketing, and people give them less attention. A short, plainly written message feels like a note from a person, not a broadcast.

• Cut back on heavy imagery, full-width banners, and slick formatting when the goal is a personal, one-to-one feel

• For Email, choose the Plain or Personal template style for lifecycle messages, and save the Company style for branded announcements

• Keep the copy conversational and short, the way you would write to a single customer

Stay relevant and timely

A message is only personal if it is relevant. Use audience rules to send based on who someone is, and triggers to send at the moment that fits what they are doing.

• Target with audience rules on user and company attributes. For example, to ask for feedback on a new feature, message only users who have access to it, recently started using it, and are on a plan where it matters

• Time in-app Chat, Banner, and Survey messages with Current page URL, Time on page, and CSS selector triggers so they appear in the right context

Avoid messages that don't fit the recipient's situation, like promoting a plan someone is already on, or asking brand-new users for feedback on a feature they haven't tried. Where you can, message active users who are most likely to care.

Come from a real person

Send the message from a real teammate, not a faceless brand. Choose a From teammate whose name and photo tell the recipient there is a human on the other end. People trust a message more, and are likelier to reply, when it clearly comes from someone rather than an automated system.

Invite replies and be ready to answer

Personal communication goes both ways. Chat messages open a conversation in your Inbox, so invite questions instead of ending on a one-way announcement.

When replies come in, be quick and route them to the right place. Assign the conversation to the teammate or team best placed to help, so the customer gets a fast, relevant answer. A prompt, human reply does more for the relationship than the original message.

Do things that don't scale

Automation handles the scale; you handle the moments that matter. Set aside time to reach out to high-value or at-risk customers one to one. A short personal note or a quick video does not scale, but it leaves a lasting impression that a fully automated program can't replicate.

FAQs