What are push notifications? And how do these small pop-up messages help in boosting your business?
The right push notification campaign will help complement your other marketing activities and help capture your customer’s attention.
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Recently, Google listed push campaigns as an important marketing trend that marketers cannot ignore anymore. In the age of GDPR, where customers do not appreciate being intruded on with unwanted messages or emails, push notifications work as a perfect alternative as it works on the principle of permission-based marketing. As more and more brands adopt push notification campaigns, we have put together a 15-chapter step-by-step guide that will help you create winning campaigns and drive sales. Also, check out the following:
Various definitions get thrown around; some call them actionable messages, others refer to them as rich messages, and others use personalized messages. But which of these is the fitting description? All of them. Here’s how we can break it down:
Push notifications are short messages on the customer’s mobile or desktop, nudging them to take action. Your customers are busy individuals who will likely forget about the great offers you announced a few days ago via email or the cart they have abandoned after adding many items to it.
If you want them to stay updated with the latest offers that you are offering or remind them of the impending items in their cart, a notification message can be a perfect way to communicate. With email open rates declining rapidly, notifications can be an excellent way for businesses to engage with customers and reduce churn.
The benefit of a push notification is that you can time the message and customize it depending on the situation. For example, a customer who has abandoned the cart will receive a reminder notification on the mobile device. In contrast, a customer who has not used the app for shopping for a long time can receive offers that are relevant to them.
Push service is also a powerful marketing tool. According to Invespcro, push notification campaigns can boost app engagement by 88%, leading to 48% of mobile customers making in-store purchases. However, a push notification can intrude if not done correctly. Read ahead to know how to use them judiciously and the best practices to follow to make the most of it.
Now that you know how powerful push notifications can be to your marketing campaign, let’s dig deeper to understand how these notifications work.
We have used MoEngage’s way of push notification delivery to help you understand the working better. Using MoEngage, marketers can identify the customers who fulfill the segmentation criteria and has at least one active device linked to an active push token (a unique identifier assigned by cloud messaging platforms such as APNS and FCM that helps marketers to communicate with the app customers).
Once MoEngage identifies the eligible customers with the help of frequency capping, it determines the active devices that will receive the message. Cloud messaging platforms such as GCM, FCM, and APNS receive the message and take over the delivery process. The cloud messaging platform then relays the message to the end customer’s device. Once the customer receives the notification, MoEngage’s Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) informs the server about it. This is called an Impression. You can read more about how it works in this article.
There are two notification categories – web push notifications and mobile push notifications. Push notifications can be sent from a website. You get them on your desktop or a mobile device even when the website is not open. It is compatible with Safari and Chrome and is ideal for companies that have not created an app yet. Mobile push notification is sent from mobile apps. The customer needs to install the mobile app for the marketer to send notifications on a mobile device.
Brands can use push notifications for various purposes, such as:
The difference between web push notifications and app push notifications is outreach. Web push notifications notifications notifications have a wider reach than mobile app notifications. You don’t require a mobile application to send notifications to the customer. You can send them notifications on computers, laptops, and mobile browsers. The customer must install the app to receive messages for mobile push notifications.
Read – Killer Strategies for Mobile App Re-Engagement
It is a process that enables customers to manage their short push messages by allowing or stopping the mobile apps from sending them. A mobile application must make an opt-in request during installation to ensure that the app customer has permitted them to send push messages.
Since push notifications are permission-based, the opt-in process typically involves a strategy wherein you either hard-ask or soft-ask for opt-ins. Hard-ask is when you directly ask the customer a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, i.e., whether they want to allow or block the notifications. The customer chooses their desired option, and the process gets closed.
Hard-ask is straightforward and has the highest number of opt-in rates. However, they work better with HTTPS sites. Soft-ask, on the other hand, involves providing additional information about what value or benefit the customer will receive on answering affirmatively. It comes before the hard ask. There are chances that the customer may drop off if there are too many steps involved. So, keep the soft ask visually presentable and ensure you ask at the right moment. No matter your chosen approach, ensure that your opt-in message is relevant and personalized. This could double the opt-in rates.
It is ideal for audiences who do not want to subscribe to email but want to receive the latest updates from your websites. To ensure maximum opt-ins and engagement, you must make your web push notifications a winning channel. Here are the technical requirements you must fulfill when sending push notifications.
Currently, MoEngage’s web push notifications notification service works on Chrome (version 42+ on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android), Firefox (version 44+ on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android), and Opera (version 37+ on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android). It works on all computers and laptops, regardless of operating system type.
Push notifications can be customized based on what stage of the customer lifecycle the customer belongs to and your campaign’s objectives. Here are a few notification categories that you can send to your customers:
The push click-through rates can go up to 45%, revealing a study by MoEngage on push notification campaigns across 35+ countries. Compared to other channels such as emails and SMSes, the push notification click-through rates are 7x more than emails, while the opening rate is 50% more.
Push notification services work better than other channels because they pop up on the customer’s screen, unlike emails that remain unopened for a long time. Concise messaging also makes it a more effective communication medium, and the fact that the customer enables push notifications makes it a reliable channel compared to the others.
Text messages or SMSes might seem like an old approach to reaching customers. However, it can be an effective medium to reach out to customers, especially those who do not have a smartphone to install the app. You can also automate SMS campaigns using automation tools.
The drawback is that you cannot add rich media content such as GIFs, animations, and emojis to make the text visually appealing. Push notifications let you do that. There are legal limitations, such as certain countries having a cap on the number of text messages you can send daily. Push notifications have no such limits.
Another significant difference is it’s easy to opt out of push messages than messages. While this might seem like good news to marketers, your customers may find your text messages intrusive and spam and may even choose not to engage with you anymore. This can have a significant impact on customer loyalty.
Do you know Chrome Push Notifications can increase conversions on your website by up to 9x? It is more beneficial than other channels like email and app push as the opt-in rates are higher than the email opt-in rates, and the opt-out rates are significantly less than that of mobile app push. Chrome push notification helps marketers analyze anonymous website visitors, understand them, and engage them with relevant content via notifications. This guide will tell you how chrome push notification works and how it can strengthen your marketing efforts.
In this chapter, you will learn the following:
These are undoubtedly the best way to communicate with customers and increase conversions. However, an irrelevant or spam push notification can harm your brand’s reputation and create mistrust in the minds of your customers. 85% of Android customers do not know how to disable android notifications. This might spell happiness for the marketers, but not for too long.
The above image illustrates easy tips for getting your push notifications right.
We have packed the chapter with best practices that will teach you to use push notifications correctly. You will learn the following:
Don’t worry if your notifications are not delivered despite following the best practices (refer to chapter 3) of notifications and setting the campaign correctly. There can be multiple reasons they do not get delivered to the end-users despite successfully sending it to the GCM.
In this chapter, we’ll dig deep into the probable reasons that could affect the deliverability of the messages.
Bonus: We’ve discussed overcoming this marketing challenge in the chapter.
For a detailed analysis of factors influencing push notification delivery rate, download this Push Notifications Delivery Report.
14 primary factors impact Push Notification delivery rates on Android devices. We’ve built a framework for mobile marketers that highlights the importance of each of these factors, letting you pick the best ones to optimize for.
👉 You can get the framework here.
The chapter below discusses each of these factors in detail and how you can fix poor delivery rates with a simple solution. In this chapter, you will learn the following:
Despite Push Notification being an essential way of reaching customers, as high as 40%-70% of your notifications may not be delivered to end-users.
One of the reasons for low delivery rates can be attributed to OEM-related challenges. For example, Xiaomi devices can shut down apps in the background or when the screen is off to optimize battery usage. For Vivo devices, an “Auto-Start Manager” prevents applications from being woken up to process notifications.
Challenges like these make it imperative to fill the gaps plaguing the current mobile ecosystem. Push Amplification help marketers combat push delivery challenges and engage their mobile customers more effectively. This capability allows marketers to reach more potential customer devices cut off from FCM. Brands could improve their push delivery rates by up to 20% and drive higher conversions.
Watch this webinar to understand the push notification delivery funnel and delve into the discrepancies in the push delivery rate.
Do you know up to 15% of E-commerce conversions are driven by a push notification? From notifications on the abandoned cart to transactional alerts, marketers can send customized messages to customers at a lesser cost than SMS. In this chapter, Raviteja Dodda, the CEO of MoEngage, and Nalin Goel, the VP of Product Management, take you behind the scenes of how push notifications are delivered on Android phones. Some of the points that are discussed in this chapter include:
Bonus: There’s a link to the entire on-demand webinar in this chapter. Don’t miss it!
In the age of 1:1 communication, brands have to move away from the traditional approach of reaching out to customers. If you still use the “batch and blast” approach for push notifications, it’s time to shift to personalization. Personalized push notifications can increase conversions by 4x. This chapter will quickly run you through the benefits of using customized push notifications. You will learn why personalized push notifications are more powerful batch and blast push notifications and how 1:1 personalization can strengthen your marketing efforts.
Bonus: You will find a solution that will help you to personalize your push notifications and drive conversions by 4x.
This chapter will walk you through setting up your app to send push notifications. You will learn the following:
The benefits of using push notifications include the following:
An average smartphone customer has around 26 apps, of which only 3.3% of Android apps and 3.2% of iOS apps have active customers by the end of 30 days. As a marketer, these numbers could worry you. You will have to find a way to grab the customer’s attention and engage them to drive conversions. This chapter covers how you can increase conversions with notifications. You will learn the following:
Web push notifications notifications are one of the most effective ways to bring customers back to your website after they drop off. Whether you’ve got a great offer or have discounts running for the next couple of hours, web push notifications can be leveraged to spread the word among your subscribers and bring them to your website. Be prepared for a surge in site traffic after you’ve sent web notifications to all your subscribers.
There are three ways you can use web push notifications and drive conversions for your online business:
Dive deep into these strategies and see which works best for your business.
READ MORE on How to Generate and Measure ROI from Web Push Notifications
There are certain push notification best practices that you need to adhere to to ensure that your customers do not opt out of receiving them.
Push notifications have become more intelligent and efficient. They help you to personalize your messages through better segmentation, reduce the cost of customer acquisition by deploying better omnichannel lifecycle campaigns, and reconnect with your customers using dynamic push notifications. This chapter covers the top 5 trends that can help you improve your push notifications strategy in 2023. You will learn the following:
Learn more on five of the latest developments in push notifications, how some brands are using them, and seven push notification best practices to maximize push performance here.
Bonus Content |
These use cases from different industries will show you how to use notifications to reach your customers.
Geo-fencing is creating a virtual fence around a particular geographic area (mainly around the area you operate), so you can send highly targeted and hyper-personalized push messages to consumers close to your vicinity. Imagine you have landed at the airport after a long flight, hungry and tired. Suddenly, you get a notification on your mobile phone directing you to some of the best restaurants in the vicinity. Wouldn’t you be relieved? Or imagine going to a mall with a plan of meeting a friend. When suddenly Starbucks sends you a notification informing you about the great deals available at their cafe, wouldn’t you and your friend head there? These micro-moments can go a long way in building customer experiences, and you can create them using geo-fencing.
According to Market Research Future, the global geo-fencing market is expected to grow to $2.2 billion by 2023. According to Search Engine Land, geo-fencing advertising increases the click-through rate by double compared to digital advertising. It is said to provide 20 times more ROI than traditional banner ads. Adding geo-fencing to your campaign is very simple, especially when you have a marketing automation tool like MoEngage that enables you to create such hyper-personalized campaigns.
Read the success stories of brands that have deployed MoEngage for their Omnichannel marketing.
Try MoEngage’s push notifications for FREE. Sign up now and engage up to 10,000 MAUs at zero cost.
A push notification is a message delivered to your device, usually by an outside source, that you have to open. The message can be from someone you trust or a company that contacts you for some reason. A notification is the same thing but not as urgent and may be sent by your phone to remind you of something that’s already on your calendar or in your inbox.
You can turn on push notifications by going to your device’s Settings and then selecting “Notifications”. From there, you’ll be able to enable or disable push notifications for the app you are using.