With Autolaunchers, you can automatically launch topics for specific types of users. Autolaunchers will launch once the rule or segment is met. For example, you can use this feature to launch a topic only to new users, with a segment based on a rule about the account creation time.



In this article, we'll discuss the autolauncher feature.


Before you create an Autolauncher

To play your guides and messages automatically, you need to follow these requirements:



If you have that covered, proceed to create an autolauncher following the steps below.


To create an autolauncher:


1. Go to the Sites tab and choose a site you want to create an autolauncher for.



2. Go to the Automation tab.

3. Click the + Create new autolaucher button to add a new autolaucher.



4. It will open a form to fill in with relevant data. Assign the topic that you want to link with the autolauncher.



5. Define your audience. Start with deciding if all rules must be met (AND) or just some of them (OR) (A). Then, you can choose an already existing segment. But you can also add additional parameters with the +Add parameter button (B). You can add up to 20 parameters (you can add a maximum of 3 Segments).

If a Topic has its availability set to a certain Segment/s, this needs to be the same in the Autolauncher audience. If the Autolauncher audience is not duplicated, the Topic will launch, but it will not be visible. This is unnecessary if you are using the latest version of the Beta Player.




If you have more than one condition, you must define them separately. For example, if you want to target two users by their UID, you must specify each in the new parameter dropdow.


6. Now, you can add user environment rules. You can add an Element and Current URL rules with AND/OR conditions. You can add multiple parameters, e.g. you can add a parameter targeting a specific element and a parameter with the current URL rule. Please remember that the Autolauncher will launch only if these conditions are met.




7. Within the Element rule, you must manually provide a CSS selector of the element.



8. Within the Current URL rule, you need to provide a part of the URL or the whole URL.



9. For Play as part of Campaign. You can read more about this featue in our in-depth article, Autolauncher Campaign.



10. Choose a Number of plays - how many times the autolauncher should play the selected topic. By default, the autolauncher is set to play only once. If you want to launch the autolauncher several times, you can enter a specific number. If you want to play it again and again on a loop, enter 0.



11. With Play again after, you can set up an autolauncher to play the topic multiple times. This setting allows you to set a minimum time interval to start the topic again. If you set it to 24 hours, the autolauncher will launch again after the 24 hours interval.



12. Check play only if the topic wasn't completed. Checking this option (checked by default) will make the autolauncher play only if it wasn't completed (the user didn't go through the whole walkthrough to the end).



13. You can also check the option; Allow users to dismiss this autolaunched Topic by checking "Do not show again." Choosing this option allows your users to opt out of the autolaunched topic. If the user has chosen to dismiss the autolaunched topic, the topic will not be launched automatically in the future, whether the user has completed the topic or not.



Now, if you want to, you can take advantage of advanced activation rules.


14. You can select a Language. The autolauncher will activate only when InlineManualOptions.language is set to the appropriate language code (ISO 639-1 code, e.g. en for English).



15. You can select a Device. The autolauncher will activate only on a particular device category. Choose from All devices, Mobile or PC (desktop.)



16. You can also set up URL Match. Please note that if you set up the rules above in the User environment, you don't need to set up the URL match again here. User environment settings allow you to create multiple rules with AND/OR conditions and add element visibility.


  • Pattern - Autolauncher is activated only when the URL matches this pattern. Enter absolute URL with * as a wildcard: e.g. ://.example.com/*, :///some/path, :///?aa=&bb=123#xxx. This option can be used for a simple URL match where * is used as a wildcard.
  • Match (regex) - Enter a regular expression that should match. Match (regex) allows you to add more complex conditions for the URL where you want the Autolauncher to appear. Read more about Regex if you need more information on how to define conditions with it.
  • Not match (regex) - Enter a regular expression that should not match.



17. With scheduled publishing, you can set up auto-publishing and auto-expiration dates.




18. If all set, confirm adding the autolauncher with the Create button.



19. With the Create and deactivate button, your autolauncher will be created but inactive (paused). You can use this feature to create drafts.


When to use autolaunchers?

With autolaunchers, you can play your walkthroughs and messages automatically. The following use cases are some examples of what you can accomplish using Autolaunchers:


  • Welcome new users with a special one-time message
  • Tell returning users about your new features
  • Target key clients with invitations and offers
  • Notify customers about upcoming changes
  • Send personalized messages based on user behaviour


Troubleshooting autolaunchers


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