Push Notifications: The Small But Mighty Messages That Matter

With the growing amount of apps, websites, and online services we use daily, staying informed without being overwhelmed is a challenge that can quickly become disorienting. Push notifications offer a direct and efficient way to get timely updates, without needing to constantly keep an eye on everything.

These short and simple messages often have a well-planned strategy behind them. As a marketer, that can make them a challenge to craft. Sure, they’re short, but there’s an interactive component you don’t otherwise have when writing for a TV spot or print ad. Even a banner ad, which is still asking for the user’s click, it’s not as personal as a push. These notifications get you right in front of a user’s eyes, on their device, so they’ve got to be quick, concise, and informative.

This article will take a look at the whole process of push notifications, from understanding their fundamental purpose and inner workings, to mastering their setup, implementation, and optimization for a better, more targeted user experience.

What Are Push Notifications?

Starting with the basics: Push notifications are a way for applications and websites to send users updates, alerts, or reminders in real time. Instead of people needing to always check for new information, with push notifications, the information finds them.

These notifications aren’t limited to any one type of app or service, either. Push notifications can cover a wide range, from a breaking news alert, food delivery status, an appointment reminder, or a direct deposit confirmation. They’re quick and practical, designed to be immediate and attention-grabbing, with the goal of ensuring people don’t miss the important updates that matter to them.

How Do Push Notifications Work?

The process behind push notifications involves several key aspects and moving parts. It all starts with the marketers behind an application or website who want to send the notification. They craft the message and prepare it to send out. The mode of delivery is typically a Push Notification Service (PNS) specific to your operating system (like Apple’s APNs for iOS or Google’s FCM for Android) or web browser.

When you install that app, or the website you’re visiting asks for permission, your device registers with that relevant PNS. The application or website then sends the notification data to the PNS, which in turn routes it to your specific device. Finally, your device receives the notification and displays it to you, often with a sound or vibration (or recognizable haptic).

Different Types of Push Notifications

Push notifications are a simplified, streamlined, and stripped way down to receive important information on a device without opening up the app or site. They appear in various forms in order to meet different needs. Here are the ones you’ll most often see:

Alert Notifications

These are by far the most common type, delivering immediate information like news headlines, social media updates, or direct messages, and usually appear as banners or pop-ups on your screen.

Badge Notifications

Badge notifications are small icons in bubbles that appear on your main screen’s app icons. They indicate the number of unread messages or pending actions within the app they’re on.

Sound Notifications

Sound notifications accompany visual notifications with a specific sound to capture your attention and get you to take action. Much like the haptics, these can be useful to let users know which application is notifying them, without having to look at their device.

Rich Media Notifications

Going beyond simple text, rich media notifications can include images, videos, or interactive buttons, providing more context and allowing for quick clicks directly from the notification itself.

Location-Based Notifications

These are triggered by your device’s location, and offer up relevant information or reminders when you’re in a specific geographic area, like a nearby attraction or travel tips.

Benefits of Push Notifications

Staying Informed

This is the area where push notifications truly shine. They’re one of the best ways to provide timely updates on important events, news, or information you want your users to know.

Increased Engagement

Apps and websites can re-engage users who haven’t signed in for a while by reminding them of new content, features, or unfinished tasks through push notifications.

Personalized Experiences

Push notifications can easily be tailored to a user’s preferences and behavior, delivering relevant and useful information that they want to see, not just filling their alerts with generic junk.

Improved Efficiency

Before push notifications became commonplace, the need to constantly check a device for updates was annoying and tedious. These notifications save users time and effort, offering up a few short sentences with everything they need.

How to Set Up Push Notifications

Setting up push notifications can vary slightly, depending on whether someone is using a mobile device or a desktop browser, and what the app’s settings offer, but it’s generally a similar process:

Mobile

When users install a new app, one of the first things it’ll ask is for permission to send them notifications. They can usually choose to allow or deny, and also manage those preferences later in their device’s settings menu if they become too frequent or invasive. Users can also customize which apps can send them notifications, as well as the style of those notifications, like banners, sounds, and badges.

Desktop

When users visit a website that supports push notifications, the browser will usually ask for their permission to send them updates, and they can grant or deny that request. If they want to go back later and manage that website’s push notifications, they can find the settings within the browser’s preferences, often under “Privacy and Security” or “Notifications.” This is where they can see a list of websites that have asked for permission, and manage what they’re allowed to send them.

Push Notification Strategy Tips

With push notifications, you’ve only got a small window and few words to get your message across. To make the most of them, consider these strategies:

Personalization

Generic notifications are less likely to be effective, so customize yours to individual user preferences and typical behaviors, making the user feel seen and cared about.

Segmentation

Much like personalization, but on a larger scale, group your users based on their interests, demographics, or past actions. By doing this, you can send more relevant notifications to specific audience segments.

Timeliness

The right timing is a big part of push notifications. Send them out at the moment when users are most likely to engage with them, and don’t forget to consider time zones and user activity patterns, too.

Value Proposition

Make sure your notifications provide genuine value to the user and not just useless attempts to keep their attention. That may work in the short term, but vital updates, exclusive offers, or helpful reminders are information people generally welcome if they want your services.

Push Notifications: Best Practices

Obtain Clear Consent

Always ask for explicit permission before sending push notifications, and clearly explain the type of notifications users can expect. Skipping that step can be seen as invasive and untrustworthy, and create a negative association with your brand and product.

Don’t Overdo It

Be mindful of frequency and avoid sending too many notifications, as this can lead to user fatigue and opt-outs.

Make Them Actionable

When possible, include clear calls to action within your notifications. If not, you may get a user who wants to take that next step, but isn’t sure how, and gives up soon afterwards.

Test and Iterate

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of notifications, messaging, and timing to see what resonates best with your audience.

How to Measure Push Notification Performance

Tracking core metrics is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your push notification strategy, but to truly grasp the impact they’re having, it’s best to go beyond the basics. Realize, for example, offers in-depth features like comprehensive analytics dashboards, which can provide you with deeper insights into metrics like user engagement and conversion paths that were initiated by your notifications. Taboola Push takes it a step further, allowing you to send notifications to both browsers and mobile devices, at the frequency you choose, to grow your audience and gain their trust. This multi-pronged plan helps you develop and refine your approach for better results.

Here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) to track over time to gauge the effectiveness of your push notifications:

Open Rate

Open rate is one of the most important metrics to see how your notifications are performing. This shows you the percentage of users who open or interact with your push notifications, and is key to evolving your approach to what’s working and what isn’t.

Click-through Rate (CTR)

CTR tracks the percentage of users who click on a link or call to action (CTA) within your notification.

Conversion Rate

A conversion rate indicates how many users completed a desired action after receiving a push notification. This could be anything from making a purchase to signing up for a service, or whatever your end goal is.

Opt-Out Rate

Just like keeping track of how many people click through and take action, the opposite is true, too. Opt-out rate monitors the number of users who unsubscribe from your push notifications, and is equally important for identifying the potential issues within your strategy (and working to fix them).

How to Optimize Push Notifications

When you have accurate and complete performance data to guide your efforts, you can increase the efficiency of your push notifications for better results. Here are just a few ways:

A/B Testing

This lets you experiment with different content, timing, and calls to action to see which variations perform best. This method takes a lot of the pressure off choosing just one final option, too, as if it were a billboard or something more permanent.

Refine Segmentation

Don’t just send your ad out into the world and hope for the best: Continuously analyze your user data to create more targeted and effective audience segments, and keep on refining based on what you learn.

Improve Personalization

Users might be more likely to click if they know the notification was tailored to them. Use the insights you’ve learned from the data about your users’ behavior and preferences to deliver more relevant and engaging content that makes them want to click through.

Analyze Delivery Times

Even the most meticulously crafted messages can flop if the timing isn’t right, so the time you send out your push notifications is a major piece of the puzzle. When you take a good look at your users’ activity patterns and engagement metrics, you can better determine the most effective times for grabbing their attention.

Key Takeaways

Push notifications are a small but powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. They’re excellent for delivering timely information and engaging with users, and by gaining a more nuanced understanding of how they work, the different types, and best practices for implementation, you can keep on perfecting them.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How can I ensure my push notifications are personalized and engaging?

It all comes down to data. Start by taking the data you have about your users, like their names, past interactions, and stated preferences. This information is a goldmine when it comes to customizing the content of your messages, and shows users that you’ve taken the time to create the best experience possible.

Next, instead of generic blasts, go for notifications that feel directly relevant to the person receiving them. Craft your notifications with compelling content, incorporating rich media like images or GIFs that can capture attention more effectively than plain text alone. Keep them short: Remember that messages should be concise and benefit-driven, clearly communicate value to the user, and always include a strong CTA that prompts a specific action. Finally, don’t settle: Always be analyzing the performance of your notifications, and evolve it based on what’s working best with your audience.

What are the best practices for obtaining user consent for push notifications?

Your first instinct might be to get the consent page in front of users’ faces as soon as they visit your site or download the app. But, take a step back for a minute, and know that it’s entirely possible to get users on board with push notifications in a way that’s both respectful and doesn’t disrupt their privacy. Not only that, but it’ll boost your brand’s reputation with them if you’re transparent and up-front with everything.

The opt-in process should be straightforward, with soft prompts that blend in naturally, rather than intrusive pop-ups. Be sure to clearly explain the perks of opting in, letting users know what kind of notifications they’ll be getting. Think about how these alerts will improve their experience and lives, like timely updates, exclusive deals, and personalized content.

Once they sign up, it’s also important to provide users with quick access to manage their notification settings when they want to change them, including options to completely opt out or adjust the types and frequency of the notifications they’re getting.

How can I avoid push-notification fatigue and keep users engaged?

Push-notification fatigue is really common due to the number of apps people use, but also probably the easiest to avoid in the first place. Don’t just bombard users with notifications, and remember that less is more. Really get to know your audience by segmenting them, so your notifications hit home with what they care about, rather than clogging up their notifications with junk, focusing on fewer but more impactful alerts.

Let users tweak their notification settings, too, so they can choose what they want to see and when. Make sure every notification is going to be worth their time, whether it’s sharing important updates, giving them special perks, or encouraging them to interact. Once you send those messages out into the world, keep a close eye on how your notifications are performing to see what works best, always aiming for quality over quantity.

What are some effective strategies for segmenting my push-notification audience?

Luckily, there’s lots of options for this one. You can segment users based on data like demographics, behavior (such as app usage and purchase history), interests, and what content they engage with. Think about lifecycle segmentation, too, like sending onboarding messages to new users and special deals to your most loyal customers. All this helps you make your push notifications even more targeted, boosting engagement and lowering the chances of users opting out.

How can push notifications be used to improve customer support and satisfaction?

When you picture push notifications, the first thing that pops up in your mind might be messages and alerts, but don’t overlook the power that they have as a tool for boosting customer support and satisfaction, too. These are ideal for providing timely and proactive assistance, and if you’ve ever been eagerly waiting for a package or needed assistance with something immediately, you know how helpful they can be.

Push notifications are an ultra-convenient way to keep your users updated on their support requests. Instead of them having to refresh their screens or wait on hold, you can send a quick update straight to their phone or device. It’s also a smart way to stay ahead of any potential issues, and can reduce the strain on your customer service reps, too. For example, if there’s a service interruption or a recurring problem, a fast and friendly notification with a heads-up or a useful FAQ can avoid a lot of frustration, both for the user and for you.

Notifications can also check in on specific questions they’ve asked or provide personalized solutions just for them. It’s definitely more efficient, but goes beyond that — it shows users that you’re attentive, you care about their experience, and in the end, makes them want to use your services more.