Apps are an integral part of the way businesses interact with customers. Apps use various technologies and other methods for business expansion and customer retention. Modern app experiences serve as a key tool for improving user engagement and retention. Push notifications are one such method that is good at keeping customers engaged and interested in using the app. Push notifications help deliver real-time data and drive interaction.
This blog explores more about push notifications, their design, benefits, and best practices.
Introduction to Push Notifications
What is a Push Notification?
A push notification is a message that pops up in a user’s phone even when the app is not in use. These pop-up messages help re-engage users and provide timely information. It also provides regular updates of the app to the user.
Push notifications could take multiple forms, including text, clickable links, images, and videos. They are powerful tools for businesses seeking to boost user interaction and retention.
How Do Push Notifications Work?
Design of a Native iOS Push Notification
- A title which is a short, attention-grabbing description text.
- A message in the main body with all of the core information.
- Optional action buttons to let users take immediate action. This includes media content in the form of images and videos to engage users
Designing an effective push notification requires balancing conciseness with impact. Notifications should deliver clear, relevant information while maintaining a consistent brand voice.
Why Should You Use Push Notifications?
- Increased Engagement: Those who receive push notifications are more likely to come back to an app, browse products, and make purchases. Mobile app push notifications increase engagement up to 88%. 65% of users return to an app within 30 days when push notifications are enabled.
- Improved Retention: push notifications can improve user retention by 3-10 times within 90 days.
- Personalization: Targeted notifications provide a personalization aspect for mobile apps. They enable businesses to send details on personalized offers and reminders. The information for this is gathered by identifying user behavior and search patterns. This helps improve customer experience and boost conversions.
Benefits of Using Push Notifications
- Real-time communication: Businesses get to communicate with customers in real-time via push notifications. This makes push notifications suitable for sharing important updates, promotions, and offers.
- User retention: A Localytics report shows that users who receive push notifications have a 3 times higher retention than those who don’t.
- Cost-effectiveness: Push notifications are more cost-effective than other methods like SMS. A study by Leanplum shows that businesses experience 9.6 times user engagement with push notifications.
- Boosted conversions: Push notifications encourage users to complete transactions and thereby helps increase revenue. This is via methods like flash sales, cart abandonment reminders, and limited-time offers.
Types of Push Notifications
- Transactional Notifications: User actions are what typically triggers transactional notifications. These user actions could be a delivery update or confirmation of a purchase.
- Promotional Notifications: Promotional notifications typically promote products, services, or offers. These notifications include flash sales, discounts, or product launches.
- Geolocation-based Notifications: These notifications are based on the user’s geographical location. They send push notifications offering personalized deals and or details related to the user’s whereabouts.
- Rich Push Notifications: Rich push notifications consist of buttons, images, or videos. These allow users to take immediate actions like visiting a website or opening an app.
Common Mistakes Made While Using Push Notifications
Along with many benefits, businesses also tend to make the following mistakes when implementing push notifications:
- Overuse: It’s important to strike a balance when sending push notifications to users. These notifications should not overwhelm the user. This could lead to the user opting out of using the app due to excess push notifications.
- Poor timing: Timing is also essential when sending push notifications. Avoid sending any notifications at odd hours of the day, especially late at night. This could annoy users and make them opt out of using the app.
- Irrelevance: Notifications that aren’t personalized or relevant to the user are often ignored. This results in lost opportunities to engage users.
Push Notifications in Popular Industries
- E-commerce: Push notifications help drive sales through flash sales, product launches, and cart abandonment reminders. E-commerce apps that use push notifications see up to a 300% increase in retention.
- Travel: Notifications help share flight updates, check-in reminders, or last-minute deals. Apps in this industry have reported significant increases in engagement when using geo-based notifications.
- Media & Entertainment: Content recommendations, show reminders, and breaking news alerts keep users engaged with apps in the media sector.
- Healthcare: Notifications can remind users about medication schedules, appointments, or health tips, contributing to better patient outcomes.
Push Notification Best Practices
- Personalization: Users are more likely to engage with notifications that feel tailored to them. Personalized push notifications increase conversion rates by 4x compared to generic messages.
- Clear Call to Action: Each notification should have a clear and concise call-to-action (CTA). Whether it’s “Shop Now,” “View Offer,” or “Read More,” the CTA should guide users on what to do next.
- Media & Entertainment: Content recommendations, show reminders, and breaking news alerts keep users engaged with apps in the media sector.
- A/B Testing: Regularly test different versions of notifications to understand what resonates best with your audience. This can include varying the message, media, or timing.
- Opt-In Transparency: Always provide clear options for users to manage or opt out of notifications. This fosters trust and reduces the likelihood of users uninstalling the app due to notification fatigue.
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Conclusion
Push notifications offer incredible potential for businesses to engage with users, improve retention, and boost conversions. By following best practices, personalizing content, and leveraging real-time communication, businesses can maximize the effectiveness of their push notifications and enhance the overall user experience. If you’re ready to implement push notifications in your app, Cenango is here to help you every step of the way.
FAQs
A push notification is a message sent directly to a mobile device or browser. It allows businesses or apps to communicate with users even when they are not actively using the app.
Push notifications are used for various purposes, including promoting products, reminding users of actions, delivering personalized content, and keeping users informed with real-time updates.
Push notifications can be enabled by adjusting the settings in an app or on a mobile device. For example, users can go to their device settings, find the app, and enable or disable notifications.
This depends on user preference. Push notifications can be helpful for timely updates, promotions, or reminders. However, if they become overwhelming, users can opt to disable them.
It’s called a push notification because the message is “pushed” from a server to the user’s device. This happens without the user needing to take any action.
Push notifications are typically sent by businesses, app developers, or websites to engage users and drive action or provide updates.
