Push notifications may have been viewed mainly as a mobile marketing tactic, but such is not the case anymore. Today, push notifications have formed become an integral part of marketing tactics on the web and mobile to engage and convert consumers.
Look around yourself – tell us one brand that sends you to push messages daily without fail! Chances are there are a lot of many of them. A 2019 Invesp survey states that push notifications can boost app engagement by 88%. Further, sending push notifications can increase your app retention by 3-10X.
Push notifications are a core aspect of direct marketing, lead nurturing processes, and customer relationship programs. But not all is hunky-dory in the push world. Firstly, the messages can appear to be intrusive and annoying.
Many consumers may not subscribe to push simply because they don’t want to receive any communication from the brands. Some like the good old-fashioned emails that they can open and read as per their convenience and desire.
The shortcomings of “push” nudge the marketers to innovate a little harder and come up with successful push strategies. This guide on push notifications highlights all the critical reasons why push notifications should be your preferred channel of communication. No wonder – there are so many industries across the globe that have embraced push notifications with open arms.
Now that push has been around for around almost three years and more, it is high time that all businesses implemented it to get more conversions. But for that, you need an effective push notifications strategy in place. The steps include:
E-commerce Push Notification Strategies
1. Set up the campaign goal
Don’t ever beat around the bush. Your push notifications should be able to drive the consumer’s attention and nudge them to take action on your online store. For instance, if it is a purchase that you want the subscriber to complete, don’t shift the focus on promoting an ongoing sale. Define a goal, and stick to it.
2. Plan the campaign
If you’re thinking of shooting a generic blast message to an untargeted group of people – stop, ponder, and reflect. The first step is to segment your subscribers so that you can send a personalized message. Customer segmentation is crucial to formulate different messages as per the users’ context. Then, set the right frequency for your campaign. Don’t irritate your users by sending too many messages in a short span – like five messages in 5 hours. Go easy on them with clear & contextual communication.
11% of millennials think poorly-timed notifications are a big turn-off! They are not wrong. The right approach is to incorporate the local time of the user (when they’re most likely to be active) when setting up the push notifications. Lastly, make it easy for them to opt-in or opt-out of the push notifications. Sometimes, you have to let go of your customers.m
3. Use crisp and clear messages
The success of your push campaign also heavily depends upon the messaging and language used. Knowing your target audience, their profile, and the level of formality in communication are crucial. Ideally, all your push notifications must have a succinct message. For instance, instead of using ‘Subscribe to our site notifications for daily offers & updates,’ you can use – ‘Subscribe now to get the best deals.’
4. Automate the campaign
You can’t manually sort out your data before launching a push campaign. One wrong interpretation of user data and you could lose your chance of converting that consumer. With marketing automation support, you can fuel your push notifications by setting up user criteria and automatically segmenting them based on their website behaviors. Automated, AI-based web push notification tools like Wigzo can help you achieve this feat!
5. A/B testing the campaign
To resonate better with your target audience, please A/B test and optimize your campaigns for better results since you can’t do much about how the notification will be received on the desktop, test other elements that it is comprised of.
Use A/B testing to understand which words, phrases, length, timing, etc. works well for your push notifications. Optimize your message before launching it. Your push notification messaging strategy matters a lot.
6. Analyze the campaign performance
Before any campaign, you must lay down the metrics (CTR, un-subscriptions, website traffic, sales generated, etc.) you intend on analyzing once it is over. Otherwise, how else would you define the success of your push strategy?
Dos and Don’ts of Push Notifications
The push strategy, if implemented well, can garner great results – such as 12-15% CTR, conversions as high as 2%, and an average of 7-10% opt-in rates on the browser. But before you run off to create a push strategy for your business, you must keep in mind a few dos and don’ts regarding the push for the better.
Industries who have realized the power of push
The e-commerce industry is the top implementer of the push strategy; if you look around yourself, you will find almost every online store doing its best to engage and convert new customers. Awok, GoldenScent, Nykaa.com, Mr. Button, Flipkart, etc. are some of the few examples.
Then there are content-based websites such as Inc42 and The Washington Post that empower their customers with fresh news and events through push notifications. Ince42, for instance, was able to give a boost to their average daily website visitors. This is quite splendid given how difficult it is now to engage with the consumers.
Following are mentioned some of the best practices that you must follow while writing and crafting push notifications for e-commerce:
- Keep it simple: You need to use the words wisely to be able to create an impact since the characters available are limited. Keep the title crisp.
- Create urgency: We’re talking about real-time consumption with push notifications. Your notification must create urgency for users to take action.
- Use emojis: expressions have found a new home with emojis. Push notifications that use emojis have shown a 4.51% increased open-rate in comparison to the notifications without it.
- Always use icon or logo: this one is an excellent practice in general. Using the logo on notifications creates a brand image on your clients’ minds.
- Notification Image: Make notifications more appealing to the eye by incorporating a large image. It is observed that using just the right image can lead to an increase in CTR by up to a whopping 62%.
- Your CTA matters too: okay, so the user has read your notification, what needs to be done next? That’s what your CTA or Call to Action button be telling the user. Guide the user on what needs to be done next.
A quick look at the push campaign checklist before the launch
By now, you have an idea on what are the best practices to adhere to while dealing with web push notification for your business. Before you hit that send button, you need to go through the checklist below and see if you have everything checked.
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- Check the Title
- Ensure that the Message is in sync with the chosen title
- Don’t forget to mention the Call to Action text
- Check of the landing page provided is the right one
- A logo is a must
- A crisp image that syncs with the text
- Provide an expiry date, if you have one
Wrapping up
Frederic Voyer, CEO, Swaaap.com aptly puts it – “Push notifications have been the main factor in ensuring that the users in our community are engaged and actively interacting with each other to meet each other’s business needs.”
Push notifications can be a game-changer for engaging your audience non-intrusively. To make the most out of them, keep experimenting with different campaigns, and incorporate what works the best for you.
Wait no more! Power-up your digital retail brand with push notifications now. 
