App and web preference centers

You design the appearance of app and web preference centers in the Settings section of your Airship project, your developer adds it to your website or app, and your users access it like any other page within your app or website. How it works:

• Design a preference center — Preference centers are made of page sections, each with an optional title and description. They can be displayed as an individual page in your app or website, or embedded in another page.

  Add the text and sections you want in the page, and select at least one subscription list per section. You may also customize subscription list names and descriptions to override those from your project settings.

• Developer — After you save the preference center, copy its ID and give it to your developer so they can make it appear in your app or website. See the Adding a preference center to your app or website on this page for additional information.

  After the preference center has been added to your app or website, you can change the design in the Airship dashboard at any time. Your saved edits are published in real time, no developer work required.

• Update — When a user changes their opt-in status for a Subscription ListAn audience list of users who are opted in to messaging about a specific topic. Users can manage their opt-in status per list using a preference center. in a single-channel app or web preference center, their status is updated for the respective device or browser. For multi-channel, preferences are updated at the Named UserA customer-provided identifier used for mapping multiple devices and channels to a specific individual. level per channel type.

Creating an app or web preference center

Design the preference center in your project settings. For a single-channel preference center, select Mobile App or Web for the Type. You can create a maximum of 50 preference centers per project.

1. Go to Settings » Project configuration » Preference Centers and click Manage.

2. Click Create preference center.

3. Provide the preference center details:

   • Name and Description — These appear in the Airship dashboard only. The preference center ID is automatically generated based on the name.
     • An ID will not generate for a name that contains only numbers and/or special characters.
     • If the name starts with a number and/or special characters, the generated ID omits the leading numbers and/or special characters.
     • Uppercase letters in the name are converted to lowercase in the ID.
     • Special characters in the name are converted to underscores in the ID and only appear if followed by numbers or letters.
   • Type (Single-channel preference centers only) — Options: Mobile App, Web, Email.
   • ID — You can enter your own ID instead of using the auto-generated one, using letters, numbers, and underscores. The ID must start with a letter and end with a letter or number. You cannot change the ID later.

4. Click Save and continue.

5. (Multi-channel only) Select a layout: Group your lists by channel, or manually group lists under headings you create. After selecting Group by channel, click a channel to set up first. If a multi-channel preference center is organized by channel, Email automatically appears first.

6. Configure the appearance of the preference center.

   

   Title and Description

   • For apps, these appear in the navigation bar at the top of your preference center. If you do not enter a title, the default title Notifications appears.

   • For web, your developer can control how these appear (or do not appear) in the preference center on your website.

   • For email, the title is a level-one HTML heading (<h1>), and the description is an HTML paragraph (<p>). They inherit whatever styles apply more generally from the surrounding page.

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   Opt-in prompt
   Add a message that appears in the preference center on devices that have notifications disabled for your app. Clicking the button opens the settings for your app. App and Web preference centers only. See: Notification opt-in prompt.

   If creating a multi-channel preference center grouped by category, you must select an App and/or Web subscription list in the Page section before the opt-in prompt is available to add.

   Click Add , customize the following defaults, then click Save. A preview updates as you make changes.

   • Title — Default text: Notifications are turned off.
   • Description — Default text: You will not receive any notifications from this app..
   • Button text — Default text: Enable notifications.
   • Button description — Provided for for accessibility. Default text: Opens the settings for your app..
   • Icon — Optional. No icon is present by default. Enter an HTTPS URL for an icon image. See also: Personalizing media URLs.
     If your Airship plan includes CDN support, you can also upload media or select from previously uploaded media.

     1. Select Upload and click Insert Media.

     2. Select Choose file and select a file to upload or select from previous uploads.

        • The default sort order is most recent upload first.
        • You can search by file name or keyword.
        • A file preview appears after upload or selection. Select the play icon () to preview audio and video files.

     3. (Optional) Add or edit keywords for the file to help organize your uploads.

        • Enter a term in the search field below the preview and select from results, or select Add keyword: [term].
        • Select the clear icon () to remove a keyword.

     4. Select Insert selected media.

     

     See also Media library. Contact Support  if you are interested in enabling CDN media hosting.

     Icon image may not render in preview. Open your app to review its appearance.

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   Page section

   • Header and Description — Optional. These appear above the subscription lists you add to the section. You may want to group related lists under a single header for better organization of your preference center.

     • For web, your developer can control how these appear (or do not appear) in the preference center on your website.
     • For email, the header is a level-two HTML heading (<h2>), and the description is an HTML paragraph (<p>).

   • Subscription lists — Search for and select a subscription list. Repeat to add multiple lists.

     • Click next to a list to edit the list name and description, or to remove the list from the section. Edits to the name and description appear in the preference center only.

   Click Add another section to add multiple page sections. Click to reorder or remove page sections.

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   For multi-channel preference centers:

   • Additional channels — Click Add, select a channel, and complete configuration. To remove a channel, select its tab, then click in the top right corner of the configuration and select Remove channel.

   • Customize channel names — Change how channel names appear in the preference center.

     1. Click Settings and select Channel names.
     2. Enter custom names for channels.
     3. Click Save.

7. Click Save and publish.

While creating or editing a single-channel preference center, you can change its name and description. Multi-channel preference centers have additional options.

• Single-channel — Click , edit the name or description, and click Continue. The changes are saved once you click Save and publish.

• Multi-channel — Click Settings , select Preference center details, edit the name or description, and click Save. More options:

  • Select a different layout — Discard your current preference center and return to the layout selection step. The preference center is still discarded even if you select the same layout.
  • Archive preference center — Archiving a preference center removes it from the Airship dashboard only; it does not affect its usage in your app or website. Archived preference centers count toward the maximum of 50.

Adding a preference center to your app or website

Your app or web developer must update the SDK and place the preference center widget in the desired area in your app or website, referencing a preference center ID. If including a notification opt-in prompt for Web, your web developer must code an action for the button.

For details on implementing a preference center in your app or website, see our platform SDK docs:

• Mobile
• Web

Linking to an app preference center

For web preference centers, you can copy and paste the link for its page on your website. For app preference centers, you can link to its page within your app as:

• An ActionA configurable behavior that occurs when a user interacts with your message, e.g., opening a web page. for push notifications and in-app messages in the Content step in a Message, Automation, A/B Test, or Sequence.
• An action when creating content for Rich PagesA landing page or Message Center message in your app that can include HTML, video, etc. and In-App AutomationMessages that are cached on users’ devices and displayed when your users meet certain conditions within your app, such as viewing a particular screen or opening the app a certain number of times. using the WYSIWYG editor.

Managing preference centers

Your preference centers are listed in Settings » Project configuration » Preference Centers.

• Filter — Published preference centers are listed by default. Click Archived to see all archived preference centers.
• Sort — The default sort order is most recently modified first. Click a column header to sort by name, ID, date created, or date modified.
• Edit — Click . You can edit the preference center name, description, and design. Your saved edits are published to your app, website, or email web page immediately.
• Duplicate — Click and enter a new name, type (required for single-channel preference centers only), ID, and description. The name field is the original web page name with copy appended. Then click Continue, complete your design, and publish the page.
• Archive — Click . Archiving a preference center removes it from the Airship dashboard only; it does not affect its usage in your app or website. Archived preference centers count toward the maximum of 50.