Announcements module

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The Announcements module delivers announcement guides in the Resource Center. Announcements can be used for in-app communication and notifications that are always available to users but not as direct as a lightbox or tooltip. Announcements work great for new feature releases, release notes, system events, or promotions.

The Resource Center badge and Announcements module have a notification that alerts users to the number of unread announcements. Segments can be applied to the module or individual announcements to target communications to certain user groups. Announcements use the same styling and customization features available to guides in the Visual Design Studio. Build your announcements using images or GIFs, add a text description, and finish with a link or button to more information or a guide walkthrough.

Prerequisites

  • Pendo Admin Users must add the Announcements module to the Resource Center
  • Pendo Users with Create Guides from layouts or from scratch can create new announcements
  • Active Resource Center
  • Agent version 2.18.4 or greater is required to access the Announcements module
  • Agent version 2.99.0 or greater is required to reorder announcements

For more information on how to upgrade the agent version manually, see Pendo agent settings.

 

Add an Announcements module

  1. Hover over the Resource Center list and select Add Module.

    add_module.png
  2. Hover over Announcements and select Module.
  3. Select Add Modules in the bottom-right corner. The module is now available in Draft state in the Resource Center view.

Note: You can add multiple announcement modules and segment each module as desired. You can add them at this time, or add them later by hovering over the Home View in your preview. 

Create a new announcement

  1. Hover over the Announcements module and select View Module Details.
  2. Select +Create Announcement or Add Announcement > Create New.

    Create_announcement.png

  3. In the default Layouts page, hover over a layout and select it. The announcement's details page opens in a new tab.

    announcementmodule.png
  4. Select the Content area, enter the application URL where you want to open the Visual Design Studio, or select Manage in my app and do the same, and select Launch Designer. The designer opens in a new tab. See Creating a Guide for more details.

Edit your announcement

Your editing experience is similar to creating a guide in the Visual Design Studio. Each announcement is made up of building blocks. The following building blocks are available for announcements:

  • Text
  • Button
  • Multi Button
  • Image
  • YouTube Video
  • Date
  • Custom Code

Building blocks

You can access the building blocks menu by placing your cursor inside a guide and selecting the blue horizontal line that appears. It will look like this:

activate-building-block.gif

If you want to edit any existing elements that are already in your selected layout, hover over the element to reveal the Edit icon and select it.

edit.png

Edit your announcement and save your changes once you’re satisfied with your edits.

Note: The date building block displays the earliest date that an announcement can be seen by your users. Once an announcement goes public, the date for that announcement is fixed and can't be changed. The date block is set to the current date by default, or you can set it in the Scheduling tile.

For more information about building blocks, see Add guide content using building blocks.

Add an existing announcement

Announcements were formerly known as “What’s New” guides in our classic designer. If you have existing What’s New guides, you can add them to your Announcements module.

  1. Select Add Announcement dropdown arrow and select Choose from existing in the Announcements module in the Resource Center.AnnouncementChooseExisting.png
  2. Select the existing What's New guide in the Content menu. Type to search or find the guide in the dropdown menu.
    AnnouncementSelectExisting.png
  3. Select Save to save the changes to the module. The What's New guides display immediately in the The data block is set by default to the current date unless you set a date in the Scheduling tile. module. Republishing the Resource Center is not required.

Stage or test your announcement

Before you make your announcement public to your users, stage or test it to see how your users might experience it. To do this, make sure to segment your announcement to yourself. You can achieve this by creating a rule with VisitorID equals yourself (“Yourself” refers to your actual VisitorID that’s set up in Pendo. For some, it’s an email address, and others might have a randomized alpha-numeric set of characters).

If you have a staging environment setup, change the announcement status to Staged.

Note: If you’re creating your Resource Center for the first time, you'll need to promote your Resource Center to Staging to see your announcement staged as well. 

Publish your announcement

If you’re satisfied with your announcement after you tested it, navigate back to the details page to re-adjust the segment to the correct audience.

To publish your guide, you have two options to choose from:

  • Publish your guide now by updating the guide status to Public.

publish.png

  • Schedule when your guide will go live (and, if needed, when it will no longer be active).
schedule.png

Manage announcements

Once you’re done with your announcement, you can see it listed in the Content tile in your announcements module's details page.

manage-announcement.png

From there, you can select the name of your announcement to open the details page again. You can also drag and drop announcements in the list to reorder them.

 

Frequently asked questions

Can I style an individual announcement via CSS?

Yes. You can add a custom code block to style or code as you need.

Can I localize my announcements?

Yes. If you have localization enabled, you will be able to localize your announcement just like a Visual Design Studio Guide. However, if you have media (ie. links, images, or even custom code) in your announcement, you won’t be able to localize those elements at this time.

What if I have a module with no content?

If you have a module with no content and push the updates to production, the module will not display to your end users.

Do I need to disable my old Guide Center before enabling the Resource Center?

Yes. Be sure to disable the Guide Center first before pushing the Resource Center to Production. Pushing the new Resource Center doesn’t disable the Guide Center automatically. However, you will be able to edit the Resource Center in "Draft" or "Staging" states so you can prepare for the switch as you need.

How do I disable the Guide Center from Production domains?

To disable the Guide Center, first navigate to the in-app Classic designer and select Global Settings in the top-right corner. In the new menu, select Guide Center and perform the following steps:

  1. Disable all of the sections shown.
  2. Select Save.
  3. Re-open the global settings and select Copy to Production.

disable-guide-center.png

Note: Disabling your Guide Center is only necessary when you want to enable your Resource Center in all of your Production domains. You will be able to customize and test your Resource Center in draft or staging states as needed without needing to disable your Guide Center.
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