1. User Guide
  2. Inform
  3. Create

Create Alert

To create alerts in MoEngage:

  1. On the left navigation menu in the MoEngage dashboard, click Inform, and then click Alerts.
  2. On the Alerts page, click + Create Alert.
    create alert.png

You can create alerts using the following steps:

Alert Details

In the Alert Details section, define the details of your alert using the following fields:

  1. Specify an Alert Name: This field is used to identify the Alert and is mandatory. This field can contain a minimum of 5 characters and a maximum of 256 characters.
  2. Reference ID: This field is used to identify the Alert using your Reference Name and can be used to identify the alert as an alternative to Alert ID. This field is not mandatory and can contain a minimum of 5 characters and a maximum of 256 characters.
  3. Describe the alert in the Alert Description:
     This field is used to describe the purpose of the Alert:
    • Tags
      Select the predefined tags or add new tags to identify your alert. This dropdown contains tags that can add context to your alerts. These tags can describe the purpose of the alert, such as transaction OTP, order confirmation, and so on. Once added, tags allow you to filter Alerts in the All Alerts section. For more information, refer to Tags.
    • Teams
      This field is used to select the Team associated with this Alert from the list of Teams. This field is enabled during Alert creation if your organization has “Teams” enabled. For more information, refer to Teams in MoEngage
  4. Configure relevant channels
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    Information

    The channels need to be configured before creating an alert. Refer to SMS Settings, Email Settings,  Push Settings, and WhatsApp settings for configuring these channels.
    Choose the channels on which the alert has to be sent, and define the content for the chosen channels in the next step (content creation) of alert creation. You must select at least one channel for alert creation. If you select more than one channel, you must define content for both.
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    • SMS:  This option allows you to send an SMS alert 
    • Email: This option allows you to send an email alert
    • Push: This option allows you to send a push alert. The following Target Platforms for Push are available:
      • Android: This option allows you to send a standard Android push alert.
      • iOS: This option allows you to send an iOS alert. The following Message type- iOS options are supported:
        • Push Notification: This option allows you to send a standard iOS push notification. Use this for general announcements, marketing offers, or alerts that do not require real-time, persistent updates on the user's lock screen.
        • Live Activity Only: This option allows you to engage iOS users exclusively with a real-time Live Activity without a standard push fallback. This is ideal for highly interactive, in-the-moment experiences.
        • Live Activity with Push Fallback: This option allows you to prioritize a Live Activity for iOS. A standard iOS push notification is sent as a backup to ensure the message reaches the user.
      • Web: This option allows you to send a standard web alert.
    • WhatsApp: This option allows you to send a WhatsApp alert.
  5. Set Channel Sending Order(Channel Fallback)

    If you choose more than one channel for Alert creation, you can configure whether the alerts should be sent in parallel or sequential. When more than one channel is selected, the following channel-sending order options are available:

    1. In parallel: You can send alerts in parallell for only two channels.
    2. In sequence (on Sender Failure): You can specify the Default, first, and second Fallback channels to be used when there is a failure to send using the Default channel. Channel fallbacks are employed in the case where:
        • There is an error in the request payload for the default or first fallback channel. For example, when the recipient details or personalization attributes are not present in the request payload for the channel
        • When the request returns a 4xx or 5xx error when submitted to the vendor for the particular channel. For example, invalid authorization details would result in a 401 error returned by the vendor, and this would be considered a failed-to-send error for the channel for which the delivery is being attempted.
        • Vendor rejections for requests for channels would also lead to MoEngage using the fallback channel to send the Alert. For example, if your credit limit is exhausted for the vendor account, the vendor could reject the request to send the Alert. In such a case, MoEngage would use the fallback configured to send the Alert.

      For example, if the default channel were Push, the first fallback WhatsApp and the second fallback SMS and an Alert would be sent to a customer. If there is a failure in sending the Push (say if the user does not have an active Push token), then the Alert will be attempted using the WhatsApp channel. If there is an issue in sending using the WhatsApp channel, the SMS channel will be tried next.
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    3. In sequence (on Delivery Failure): You can specify the Default channel and a Fallback channel to be used when the Default channel fails to deliver the alert. You can use the Delivery fallback configuration to set up the wait time window before switching the channel. In the Try successful delivery for _ before making a new attempt field, enter a value between 1 minute to 60 minutes. If the default channel fails to deliver the alert, the system makes a new attempt to deliver the alert using the Fallback channel after the wait time is over.

      For example, if the default channel is SMS and the fallback channel is Email and the wait time window is 5 minutes. If there is a failure in delivering the SMS, then the Alert will be attempted using the Email channel after 5 minutes.
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  • Create Content

    This section defines the content for the Alerts to be sent.

    SMS Content Email Content Push Notification Content WhatsApp Content

    You can create the content for the SMS campaign using the following options:

    1. A blank template where you fill in the required details for all the fields.
    2. A custom template that pre-populates the data from the templates uploaded to MoEngage using the SMS Template APIs.

    Create Content using a Blank template

    Choose the blank template and follow these steps to create the content for the SMS campaign:

    The following fields are available in the SMS content creation section for Alerts.

    1. SMS Sender

      Choose the SMS connector (service provider) for sending the SMS Alert using the SMS Sender dropdown. This dropdown displays the list of configured SMS connectors (service providers).
      If you have configured Dynamic Sender Routing, you can select the created Conditions from the dropdown. After selecting, the system displays the list of senders used in the selected condition.
      SMS SENDER.png

    2. Template ID

      This field is mandatory if the SMS connector (service provider) chosen falls under DLT regulations (India region).
      For more information, refer to DLT regulations.

    3. Message

      This field contains the message that would be sent to the user. You can personalize your message by clicking the Text personalization to the right of the message editor. Refer to Personalize your Alert for details.

    4. Shorten URL and Track URL

      This section displays URLs present in the message body. For selected URL(s), the URLs are shortened using the MoE domain(<to add MoE domain>) and sent to users.

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      Note

      Click tracking would only be enabled for URLs where Shorten & Track URL is enabled.

    Create Content Using Custom Templates

    You can choose one of the uploaded templates in this section to send Alerts using it. For more information, refer to SMS Custom Templates.

    Add a Locale

    To localize the Alert in various languages, click +Locale at the top right corner of the content creation step. You will have the option to add a new locale or add an existing locale to the campaign. You can copy the existing content from the default locale or create a new message altogether for the locale added. For more information, refer to Localize campaign message.

    Preview your SMS

    The preview of how your SMS Alert will look on the user’s device is shown on the right of the content creation section, as illustrated below.

    SMS_Preview.png


    Testing your SMS Content

    The test Message section will help you test the message content by sending a test message. This will help you ensure the message is conveyed in the desired manner. This step is optional and lets you test the content of your Alert by sending it to a specified mobile number.

    To test the SMS Content, enter the mobile number in the format <country code><Mobile number>. For example, the recipient's mobile number should be similar to +14083636XX or 1408363XX
    The test results are populated in the Test alert stats screen below.

    Test_SMS.png


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    Note

    If you have personalization attributes in your content, you can see how they are rendered by sending a test from the Test Request Details in Step 3 using an API. The test Message section will not render dynamic values for personalization attributes. For example, {{user}} would be sent as {{user}} for the test message, but in the Test and Live Alert, these will be replaced with the value for this attribute passed in the channel payload of the request.

    In the case of failure, the Test alert stats screen contains the failure reason as shown below.

    Test_SMS_Failure.png


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    Note

    The Test Message option available here is different from the Test Request Details present in the Publish step of Alert creation. The Test Message section helps you test your content, while the Test Request Details will send a test request with the payload information to the API and show you the API response.

    Publish

  • You can test your Alert before publishing to check if the integration with the API is working fine and to view the actual SMS and Email as they will be received by your users. For more information, refer to Test Your Alert.
  • To publish your Alert, click Publish. This publishes your alert and generates an Alert ID that can be used to uniquely identify your Alert. You can also use the Reference ID that you entered to identify your alert.
  • You will now be taken to the Alert-Info page, where you can see the request details and message previews. You can also switch to the Analytics and Logs sections.
  • Now that your Alert is published, you can use it to send Alerts to your users using the Inform Service API.
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    Information

    The following checks will not be performed for Alerts on any channel: Delivery Controls (Frequency Capping and Do Not Disturb), Unsubscribe (only email), Complaints (only email), Bounces (only email), Opt-in preference (only SMS).

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