An onsite message is a series of steps that the visitor moves through: a small minimized widget, a first page with your offer or form, and a final page. In the legacy editor, each step has its own tab where you set its texts, images, fields, styling, and behavior. This article describes every setting on the visitor's steps and on the Exceptions tab, so you can design the message the way you want it.
How the step tabs work
Open a message from Onsite > Messages. The step tabs are in the flow bar at the top of the editor, after Configuration. Which steps you see depends on the preset and on the features you've turned on. A member signup, for example, has Minimized → First page → Success Page.
Each step has up to three sub-tabs:
- Settings: the texts, images, and form fields.
- Styling: fonts, colors, sizes, and position.
- Behaviour: what happens when the visitor interacts with the step.
You set the styling and behavior on the Minimized and First page steps. Later steps use the same styling and behavior, and show them as read-only with a note such as You can change styling from the First page tab.
Some settings have one value for desktop and one for mobile, for example Initial text (desktop) and Initial text (mobile). Use the device toggle in the header to switch between them. Settings marked advanced mode below only show when Advanced mode is on.
The editor doesn't show a live preview of the step. Save your changes and use Preview in the header to see how the message looks.
Minimized
The minimized step is the small widget visitors see first, if the message starts minimized. Visitors select it to open the message.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable image before final minimized version | Shows a larger image first, instead of the minimized text. Visitors select the image to open the message, or close it to collapse it into the text widget. Upload the image or enter its URL. Off by default. |
| Onsite message type | What the widget shows: Text (the default), Text and Image, or Image only. |
| Initial text | The text on the widget. The default is "Something just for you". |
| Text after completion | The text on the widget after the visitor has completed the message, for example after they've received their code. |
| Onsite message display | Overlay (the default) shows the widget on top of the page. Embed places it inside your page instead (see below). |
| Placement | With Overlay, where the widget sits on the screen: Bottom Banner, Bottom center, Left, Lower left corner (the default), Lower right corner, Right, or Top Banner. |
| Offset from minimized onsite message edge | The distance in pixels from the edge of the screen: Horizontal offset and Vertical offset. Both are 25 by default. |
| Add countdown timer | Shows a countdown on the widget. Enter a Countdown timer header and choose what to count down to under Countdown to: the onsite message's end date, the reward's validity time, or a fixed time. Off by default. |
| Add shake animation | Makes the widget shake to draw attention. Off by default. |
To embed the widget in your page, choose Embed and fill in:
-
CSS selector (required): the element on your page to place the widget in relation to, for example
#headeror.header-container. - Type: Banner, Horizontal button/field, or a vertical button.
- Behaviour: where to place the widget in relation to the element: As Child (inside it), After, Before, or Replace.
Styling
- Padding & Corner rounding: the space inside the widget, and how rounded its corners are.
- Text: the font, font size, weight, and alignment. To use your own font, choose Custom and enter the font's name or upload it as an .otf file under Choose Font for Title.
- Colors: the text and background colors, and the shadow's color, blur, and spread.
- Minimize / Close Icon Colors: the close icon's color, background, size, and position.
Behaviour
Under On click, choose what happens when a visitor selects the widget: Maximize onsite message (the default) opens the message, Redirect to landing page sends the visitor to the message's linked landing page, and Disabled does nothing.
First page
The first page is the opened message, with your offer and, usually, a form. It's where you set the styling and behavior that the later steps also use.
Texts and image
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Header and Body | The heading and the text of the first page. |
| CTA button text | The text on the button visitors select to continue. The default is Continue. |
| Enable image | Shows an image next to or behind the texts. Choose Image upload to upload a JPG or PNG file (under two MB, ideally 600 x 900 px for desktop and 500 x 200 or 500 x 300 px for mobile), or Image url to link to one. |
| Image layout | Image to the left, Image to the right (the default), or Image as Background. |
| Image border (advanced mode) | Shows a border around the image. |
| Add countdown timer | Shows a countdown on the first page, in the same way as on the minimized step. |
Data collection
Turn on the fields you want visitors to fill in. Each field has a placeholder text and a Mark as required field setting. Turn on Disable data collection to show the first page without a form.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Email, Phone number, and Social security number | Turn on Collect marketing preference with separate checkbox to add a checkbox where visitors agree to receive marketing on that channel. |
| Full name (one field) (advanced mode) or First and last name (two fields) | The visitor's name, in one field or two. |
| Address | City, street, and postal code. Turn on Include country field to ask for the country too. |
| Require Password | A password field and a field to enter it again. |
| Birth date | The visitor's date of birth. |
| Custom date field | A date of your choice, such as a due date. Enter the Database field name the date is saved to. |
| Custom text field | A free-text question. Enter the question and the Database field name (alias) the answer is saved to. Turn on Make input mandatory to make it required. |
| Custom fields | Questions with answer options. For each question, enter the question, the Database field name (alias), and the options with their Option name and Database field value. You can make the answer required, show the options as a dropdown, and allow multiple answers. Select New question or Add new option to add more. |
| Consents (advanced mode) | Consents from Customer Engagement that visitors can give. For each consent, choose whether it's required or pre-selected, and enter the Display text, Link text, and Condition text. Select Add consent to add more. |
| Require email verification to create or update contact/member (advanced mode) | The contact is only created or updated after the visitor has verified their email address. |
Opt-in and terms approval
- Mandatory opt-in: visitors must select the opt-in checkbox to continue. It's shown on some presets, such as the newsletter signup.
- Enable opt-in checkbox: shows a checkbox with the Opt-in text, where visitors agree to receive marketing. On by default.
- Display opt-in text beneath the onsite message (advanced mode): shows the opt-in text below the message instead.
- Always show terms text (advanced mode) and Additional terms text: the terms visitors accept. The terms are only shown to visitors who haven't already accepted them, for example in another onsite message.
The default opt-in and terms texts come from the site settings.
Customer Engagement contact card (advanced mode)
These settings decide what happens to the contact in Customer Engagement when the visitor completes the form.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Contact type | Whether to create a Member (the default) or a Contact. A contact can be upgraded to a member, but a member is never downgraded. |
| Store external ID | The store to connect the contact to, if it's different from the store in the site settings. For example, you can create one message per physical store and see where each contact signed up. |
| Custom tag | A tag set on every contact the message creates or updates. It can be used by contact integrations. |
| Populate custom field | Saves a value to a custom field on the contact card. Select Add custom text field to add one. |
| Stop user flow if API error occurs | Stops the message, and shows the exception An undefined error happens, if the contact can't be saved. Off by default. |
| Allow visitor to update fields that are already populated on the contact card | Lets visitors change information that's already on their contact card. Off by default. |
| Allow visitor to change fields that have existing prefill values | Lets visitors change fields that were filled in for them in advance. On by default. |
Styling
- Header and Body: the font, font size, weight, and alignment of each text.
- Button styling: Full width or Fit to text, Square or Rounded, the text and button colors, and the font size and weight. In advanced mode you can also set the button's vertical and horizontal padding.
- Onsite message styling: the message's Position on page (Center, Left, or Right), background color, corner rounding, and text and link colors.
- Widget offset from top of page (advanced mode): the distance in pixels from the top of the screen on desktop.
- Maximized / Close Icon Colors: the close icon's color, background, size, and position.
Behaviour
Under Submit button, choose Use CTA button colour from start (the default) or Greyed out until all fields have been entered.
Success Page
The success page is shown when the visitor has completed the form. Set its Header, Body, and the text on its Close button. When Reward is on, this step is called Reward Page and also shows the visitor's reward. See Rewards and sendouts (Legacy).
Exceptions
The Exceptions tab holds the texts visitors see when something stops them from completing the message. Each exception has a header and a body. Write them so visitors understand what happened and what they can do.
| Exception | When it's shown |
|---|---|
| An undefined error happens | Something went wrong, for example a contact integration request failed, and the message can't continue. |
| An existing contact/member is stopped from finishing | The visitor is already a contact or member, and the message only lets new contacts complete it. |
| Onsite message has reached the expiry date | The visitor opens the message, for example from a reminder email, after its end date. |
| Reward exceptions | When Reward is on: the reward has expired, has already been used, or has already been assigned, or the visitor already has another reward. |
| Friend exceptions | When Referrals is on: a friend is stopped because they're already a contact or member, or visits after the message's end date. |
When you turn on Reward or Referrals, check the reward exception texts. Some of them start with placeholder texts that visitors would see, such as "Friend Reward expired header".