Sparks Messaging Channels

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Chris Dunne, Digital Marketing Manager

If you’re using Sparks to automate personalized messaging for learners, there are five channels currently available: Email, SMS, Push (via webhook) and an in-app widget.

Here’s a quick overview of each option:

Email

Email is perhaps the most important and widely used communication channel in corporate space; this is no different with Sparks. The majority of our customers focus a lot of energy on their email communication, making sure they are personalizing both the subject line and content for each learner.

As marketers know, email is one of the best ( if not the best) channel in terms of ROI. It’s easy to track, and despite some people talking up the demise of email for the last 10-years, evidence suggests email use is growing. It’s an important channel for Sparks.

SMS

Sparks allows you to personalize messaging and send it out via SMS when required. This option has not been as widely used yet due to needing learner mobile phone numbers, which many organizations don’t have. However, if you do wish to harness SMS as a messaging channel, it has amazing engagement rates.

Push via a Webhook 

This is a more technical option that allows personalized messaging from Sparks to be pushed to external platforms via a webhook. Webhooks are widely used by online platforms as a means of sharing payloads between applications and is available in Sparks.

Slack

Most of you will have heard of Slack, and most probably use it within your company. It’s an amazing product that has grown rapidly into a main player in company communication. Therefore, it was important we made this the first platform that Sparks integrated with to easily send personalized nudges to folks via selected channels and DMs. We have other platforms such as MS Teams on the roadmap.

In-app Messaging 

Last, but not least, is something we have in closed testing; in-app messaging. With a couple of lines of Javascript this option gives learning platforms (think Moodle, Stream LXP (formerly Curatr), Canvas etc) an option to push relevant nudges / content and updates to users – based on xAPI data – as they’re using the platform.

Use cases could include personal messaging while onboarding new users, providing positive encouragement as someone works through content or pushing additional resources to those who are high flying through a course. All messaging is private and personalized for the logged in learner.

Existing Platforms 

If you already have a platform you use, such as Mailchimp or Constant Contact, a further option could be to trigger messaging to send from that platform, providing they have a suitable API, when given a trigger is met within Sparks.

And that’s it so far… Five different channels you can use to nudge learners via the Sparks platform, and a further option if you just need the actual trigger to initiate delivery from an existing platform.

If you’re interested in learning more about Sparks and its capabilities within your business, get in touch.

About the Author

Dave supports Learning Pool (formerly HT2 Labs) in the development of new ideas and innovations. Through ideation, rapid prototyping and early validation, Dave’s mission is to explore innovative ways to support digital learning and to enhance the overall learning experience.