Tooltips FAQs
Beth-Ann Sher avatar
Written by Beth-Ann Sher
Updated over a week ago

How can I be sure the Tooltip only shows on the right page?

Use the “Placement settings” on the Tooltip and ensure you refine the page targeting rules. Find out more here.

What’s the difference between overlaid and embedded Tooltips?

Tooltips that are overlaid ‘float’ over the element (like the Messenger). Tooltips that are embedded, are rendering in line with your HTML so you can adjust the layout of your page. See examples here.

I find it difficult to get the position right. How can I tweak the position of the Tooltip?

If you select Style and layout > Layout in the Tooltip builder, you’ll find settings that allow you to adjust the overlay, alignment, and offset of the Tooltip.

Can I place a Tooltip on an element within a dropdown menu?

Yes, simply navigate to the dropdown menu and then use the CSS Selector to select the element inside the menu. This will only show a Tooltip on that element when the dropdown menu is open.

Are the Tooltips permanent or do they just appear once for every customer?

Tooltips are persistent by design but will only show for users that meet your audience targeting and scheduling rules.

How do I preview Tooltips to see if they’re working?

The best way to test is to set them live with audience targeting rules that allow only you or your teammates to view them. Find out more here.

Do Tooltips work with Product Tours, Surveys and Articles in Intercom?

Yes, you can use a Tooltip with a Smart Link to start a Product Tour, share an Article or trigger a Survey. This is especially useful if you have content which you know customers would find value in revisiting or coming back to at a later time.

Do Tooltips work with Series?

No, Tooltips are not currently supported in Series.

I have a single page application (SPA). Will Tooltips work?

SPAs shouldn’t have any specific issues with Tooltips. It’s worth noting that if you’re using any dynamic elements/CSS on the page, we recommend using text selection or unique identifiers to avoid issues.

What is the use case for being able to set up multiple Tooltips in one Tooltip object?

Use Case: Product Education

When a customer has identified a specific problem area/section/page in their web application they may group tooltips together so that they can reduce the number of support queries to answer.

Example: Web Form, wizards, settings page

Use Case: Onboarding

When a customer wants to target a specific audience (eg new sign ups) they will want to create audience based rules for a tooltip group so that the content is relevant to that audience

Example: New sign ups, first 30 days, new feature in the web application

Use Case: Announcement

When a customer wants to target announce a new feature they will create support tooltips that are targeted/scheduled to coincide with that release so that the content is timely and relevant

Example: New feature in the web application, reintroduce a feature, provide product tour access

For Tooltip objects with multiple Tooltips, are there any ‘step stats’ similar to Product Tours?

Yes, Tooltips provides engagement reporting at a group level and for individual Tooltips. We define engagement as: the user has seen the Tooltip and clicked/hovered over the Tooltip to reveal the content.

We also support additional click reporting on a Tooltip if the Tooltip has content that the user can interact with (i.e. URLs or Smart Links).

What happens if a Tooltip and Product Tour step point to the same element? Will both show? Will the icons/pointer overlap?

Both would appear in this case. The tour should appear on top. It is worth noting that a Product Tour is a disruptive experience by design in that it takes over the screen with an overlay. Alternatively, Tooltips will sit static on the page until a user interaction occurs.

Tooltips are not supported in native mobile apps - what about mobile web?

Yes, Tooltips are supported on mobile web

How does element matching by text work? Is it based on the text displayed in the UI or HTML text?

Elements are matched based on the text that displays in the UI. If you can't find the text by searching on the page using CMD + F, then the Tooltip can't target it.

Additionally, text matching is exact. Therefore it will check for spaces and case sensitivity.

Can Tooltips be used in other products like Product Tours can?

No, Tooltips are stand-alone and can't be triggered or added to any other content type.

Can Tooltips be created without content?

Currently, it is not possible to create a Tooltip that doesn't contain content.


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