Implementing in Native Apps

When to use Mobile Web vs SDK

Web integration is a good fit if:	SDK is a good fit if:
The mobile app uses webview for many of its screens	The app primarily uses native components (vs webview)
You want to leverage CSS for formatting or styling your surveys	You want to use native-only survey triggers such as number of launches and days since install
You want to leverage browser-based events, such as scrolling or tapping specific elements, to trigger survey/poll triggers
You want to use URL-based targeting
You want to use JavaScript callbacks to customize the functionality and provide client-side integrations
You want to use web-specific capabilities such as All At Once (e.g., Feedback forms).

Cross-channel By Design

A single Pulse Insights survey or poll is designed to work across browser-based and Native SDK-based experiences. For example, you can configure a single survey to deliver across both native mobile and browser-based channels. Many targeting criteria are also inherently cross-channel:

Of course, Pulse Insights also supports creating channel-specific surveys. For example, if you want the native mobile survey to include an invitation but want web-based surveys to appear directly within the page (without invitation), you might opt to create two channel-specific surveys instead of one shared survey.

Key Similarities & Differences

While there are many similarities and shared features across web and native apps, there are key differences in how the channels work. The following list, although not comprehensive, aims to convey the most important differences that should be considered when managing cross-channel campaigns.

Survey Creation

Similarities:

The majority of features are compatible across web and native SDK channels including:

• Survey invitations and text

• Question types (open-ended, single choice, multiple choice)

• Question branching

• Polls (the ability to show results to end-users)

Differences:

Web-based executions enable some features that rely on browser constructs such as:

• Custom Content cards, which use HTML to display links or other content, usually at the end of a survey

• Using images for answers

• All-At-Once mode, which displays multiple questions at a time

Targeting

Similarities:

Many targeting features are shared or managed centrally in the Console across web and native SDK channels including:

• Eligible dates

• Device Type eligibility

• Page/URL/View conditions

• Previous answer targeting

• CRM targeting (based on Context or Device Data pushed to Pulse Insights)

• Sample Rate

• Behavior (e.g., whether to show again if the user closes the survey)

• Global Frequency caps

Differences:

Mobile Web

Some web targeting features rely on browser-specific technologies including:

• Browser-based event listeners, such as click, scroll, and content in view triggers

• Browser-based visit counters and session depth counters

Native SDK

Some SDK features rely on channel-specific technologies including:

• Days since app was installed triggers

• Number of cumulative launches triggers

Display

Widget Types

Mobile Web

Browser-based executions leverage CSS and DOM manipulation to seamlessly insert surveys into the user experience using a number of widget formats:

• Full screen overlay

• Bottom bar

• Inline (managed in the Pulse Insights Console via CSS selectors)

• Docked widget

• Top bar

Native SDK

Native mobile supports fewer widget types and uses native mobile components (such as input fields):

• Full screen overlay

• Bottom Bar

• Inline

Docked Widget and Top Bar widgets are NOT available for Native SDK.

Styling Options

Mobile Web

Web-based executions use CSS which can be served dynamically at runtime from the Pulse Insights Console.

• Accounts can have one or more shared themes – CSS that formats surveys for various question types, widget types, and device types. Additionally, web supports overriding the theme at a survey-level.

Native SDK

SDK styling is more limited; you can configure approximately 50 properties, such as font color and size, using SDK Themes in the Console:

• Styling is not driven by CSS, but uses native components and formatting instead

Data Integration

Data Out Similarities:

Pulse Insights pushes data to CRMs and Enterprise Data Lakes via back-end callbacks and file-based integrations. These integrations work universally, regardless of the channel that collected the data.

Data Out Differences:

In addition to the back-end integrations mentioned above, web-based executions also enable client-side JavaScript callbacks. These are often used to integrate web analytics, A/B testing integrations, and other client-side technologies.

Data Ingestion:

Channel-specific methods exist to ingest user information in Pulse Insights such as:

• Device Data

• Context Data

• Pseudo-anonymous CRM key

Reporting

Data from browser-based, native mobile, and API-based channels all flow into the same reporting. Some reporting fields are specific to the channel such as:

• Browser

• Browser Version

• Completion URL