Push Notifications Meaning: What are Push Notifications?

Push notifications are alerts or short messages sent directly to mobile devices, desktops, or web browsers from applications and websites through a push notification service interface. This is an instant way for brands to communicate with their customers. 

You can use push notifications to share the latest updates about your products/services or even send marketing messages such as the latest offers or the launch of sale events.

Here is a push notification from a clothing brand highlighting their latest arrivals -

Push notifications usually appear as small banners on your user’s mobile device's home screen, lock screen, or notification center. They are usually delivered in real time and require an active internet connection to work. The users will have a slightly different experience with push notifications depending on the operating system on their smartphones. You can read more about how the push notifications experience differs between Android and iOS users here. 

Push Notifications vs Email

While email marketing has been the most popular tool in digital marketing for the past two decades or so, it is rapidly losing its efficacy in front of more modern methods such as push notifications.

Push notification campaigns are noted to have the edge over email marketing in the following aspects:

1. Psychological Impact

• Opt-In Rates
• Ease of Subscription

2. Business Impact

• Message Delivery
• Data Collection
• Creation Process

We also did a comparison between SMS and Push Notifications which you can read here.

Now that you have a foundation of what push notifications are, let us dive deeper into their actual usage benefits.

Why Use Push Notifications?

Whether you're looking to boost engagement or trying to stay on top of users’ minds, push notifications offer a range of benefits that make them a valuable tool in today's digital world. Here are some compelling reasons to use push notifications along with some ideal examples of push notifications -

1. A positive boost to your monetization strategy

Push notifications are undoubtedly one of the most cost-effective channels to promote your products and services. For starters, they have zero implementation costs as they do not require any additional expenses to create a marketing campaign. They boast of exponentially higher KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) compared to conventional campaigns and also have the potential to reach an exponentially higher audience. 

If your app is built using Vajro, push notification services are integrated into your app. You can create, send or schedule in a matter of a few minutes. 

2. Increased user engagement 

Reach your customer 24/7

Push notifications can be used to deliver recent news and updates about your brand even without customers opening the app. This means you can reach them anytime, anywhere, with a personalized message as long as their phone is switched on and they have an active internet connection. A push notification service ensures the message is sent to users almost instantly. This is a great way to keep them hooked to what you bring to the table. This is particularly useful in delivering real-time updates such as for sporting events.

Initiate first contact

Push notifications can be used as an icebreaker with your customers. It opens up the first personalized communication channel between your brand and the customer without sounding too sales-y. You can even use humor to warm up to your customers.

3. Delivering the best user experience

With push notifications, you can target specific groups of users based on their interests, location, behavior, or other factors. This way, you can deliver personalized messages that are more likely to be relevant and useful to them. It helps in building a stronger connection with your users which can improve their engagement and ultimately drive conversions. 

Did you know that by running highly targeted push notification campaigns, you can achieve a click rate as high as 30%?

4. Creating brand awareness and loyalty

Improves recall

Push notifications play an important role in improving brand recall among your end users. It can be effectively used to convey what your brand stands for and what you can do for your users. Since customers are spoilt for choices today, you need to keep reminding them about your existence and the benefits you can offer them when they use your app. Take the case of Amazon which does exceptionally well to remind users about the value derived from their app and products. 

Drive revenue from other channels

Location-based push notifications can be used to drive revenue from your physical stores. Sending users the right messages at the right time and at the right place can push them to make a purchase. For instance, when you send a user a discount code when they reach your brand’s physical store, it will encourage them to visit the store and use the discount code to place an order. In a survey, 36% of people said a mobile location-based push notification influenced their in-store purchase.

Types of Push Notifications

There are several types of e-commerce push notifications based on their function and end goal. Here they are along with examples of push notifications in each category.

1. Informational push notifications

These types of push notifications offer general information about your brand and your products. They are non-intrusive and can be sent at any time of the day. This category can encompass a wide range of purposes and messages depending on the operational domain on the business in question.

For example, you can send an informational push notification about a new product release, weather update, market update, logo changes and so on. These work great as in-app push notifications as well. 

2. Promotional Push Notifications

As the name suggests, these notifications are used to promote your products, services, or events. The goal of this type of push notification is to drive conversions through the app. For example, you can send a promotional notification about a limited-time offer on a popular product. This is again a very very popular format for in app push notifications.

3. Transactional Push Notifications

These notifications are sent once a transaction has been made by the user on your app. The goal of this type of push notification is to ensure that your users are up to date and informed about their orders straight from the placement of the order to the feedback after delivery. 

For example, you can send an order confirmation message once the user has successfully placed an order.

4. Reminder Push Notifications

These notifications remind the user about an upcoming event or deadline. The goal of this type of push notification is to encourage users to take the desired action. 

For example, you might send a reminder notification about a product in the cart that has been lying idle for some time.

5. Geolocation-based Push Notifications

These notifications are triggered based on the user's physical location. The goal of this type of push notification is to encourage purchases via different channels. 

For example, you send a geolocation-based notification when the user is near one of your stores.

6. Time-based Push Notifications

These notifications are triggered based on the time of the day or day of the week. The goal of this type of notification is to engage the users at a time when they are most active. 

For example, you can send a “product of the day” notification to all the users in the morning.

Making the most out of Push Notifications

Customer interactions, big or small, play a great role in supercharging your brand experience, strengthening customer loyalty, and turbocharging your sales funnel. While social media and email marketing used to be the go-to channels, today's customers crave instant, personalized, and informative communication. This is where Push Notifications take over.

How to increase your push notification subscribers: Personalize your messages

Delivering a generic, one-size-fits-all message has fallen off the fad now. People always crave attention from other people (and brands) they love. Getting one on one with customers is the key here. Try sending personalized messages by just leveraging your prospect’s name and location. 

Here is a quick question- Put yourselves in your customer’s shoes, which of these two messages would you like to receive?

1. Lisa, check out our store at 36th street to avail 50% discount on your    birthday.

2. Hello, 50% discount on all products!

Clearly, 1 is more personalized and would touch you at an emotional level. It shows that the sender did their homework right and has definitely earned enough consideration from you as a customer to visit their site.

Also, be sure to send your customers messages that they care about. Hitting at the right pain of theirs can result in higher open rates and lets you engage with them more often. You can also try using the customer’s buying and viewing history to tailor your messages.

How to increase your push notification subscribers: Useful Best Practices

1. Use the power of analytics

Many brands use push notifications but never seem to leverage their true potential. They underestimate or simply do not understand the level of engagement they can generate from it.

If you’re making the same mistake, then analytics is what the doctor ordered for you. Brands like Vajro offer dedicated push notification analytics, which gives you insights into how well your notifications are performing and the different types of engagement you can draw out of them.

Are you an existing customer of Vajro? Here’s how you can access our push notification analytics.

You might also want to read our blog about the various KPIs you need to be mindful of when it comes to push notifications.

2. Send them at the right time

Sending push notifications at the wrong time can result in your messages getting ignored or, worse, your app getting deleted. Avoid this catastrophe by sending them notifications at the right time, preferably in the mornings (7 am to 10 pm) or in the evening (6 pm to 10 pm). In other words, outside your customer’s working hours.

Also, do not send notifications at night as many people sleep with their smartphones near their beds. You do not want to disturb their sleep and risk losing their trust.

How to increase your push notification subscribers: Testing and Optimizing

It doesn’t end with one unsuccessful or successful push notification campaign. You gotta keep pushing and besting yourself till you achieve the perfect results. The best way to do this is with constant A/B testing and corresponding optimizations. You should keep experimenting with different campaign styles, content formats, content tones, CTAs, delivery times, frequency, etc. Regular study and integration of your analytics data will be the second phase of this step to zero in on the most optimized delivery that works for your brand and products

How to increase your push notification subscribers: Common Mistakes to avoid

1. Bad CTAs and Messaging

Push notifications have limited space. This makes it very important to have a copy that radiates brevity. It should be concise, sharp, and to the point. It can always be tempting to reinvent the wheel and generate some fresh and catchy CTAs. But the sense of familiarity that customers get with tried-and-tested CTAs is not something you can ignore.

Your push notification should ideally have:

• A clear message
• A CTA to act on
• Designs to catch the customer’s eye (Optional)

2. You send too many notifications

Did you know that an average smartphone user in the US receives around 46 push notifications in a day? That’s a lot! Most of these users are annoyed and have disabled the notifications from that brand. Now unless you want to be a part of their hate list, you need to send your notifications at the right frequency. Here are the recommended average push notifications per week for different industries -

• Fashion - 2 to 5
• Electronics - 1 to 2
• Furniture - 1
• Cosmetics - 2 to 5
• Fitness - 2 to 3
• Art - 1 to 2

3. You send generic messages

Everyone likes attention. Your customers are no different. When you send them a generic message without researching customer data, you’ll experience low CTRs. When you keep sending generic push notifications, it can make users feel like they are being spammed. This can lead to frustration and ultimately result in users disabling your app’s notification or, even worse, uninstalling your application. And that’s why you must personalize your message. A Clevertap report states that even basic personalization results in a nearly 10% increase in open rates. Also, when you keep sending generic messages, you may miss out on opportunities to engage with your users at critical moments. 

4. You send super-long messages

You must understand that push notifications are not emails. The high CTRs enjoyed by push notifications might tempt you to move all your email campaigns to your push notifications. But they are two different mediums with two very different purposes. Emails are good when you want to convey a lot of things in one go. For instance, if you want to highlight all the key events happening in the upcoming month, you can use emails. When you share such content through a single push notification, it will lead to ignorance, as users might not be willing to read through all of the content. 

5. You are not building FOMO

Creating FOMO in the minds of people is one of the most effective ways to encourage them to take action. It doesn’t matter if you are sharing a promotional message or informing customers about a new product; you must ensure that there is a deadline for them to enjoy the benefit. Your message should always have a limited-time window and an urgent CTA that will get the users to take prompt action.

6. You are sending messages that are bland

If you are sending content that is boring, dull and doesn’t catch the customer’s eye instantly, your push notifications are no good. Users may view them but not engage with them. The inundation of push notifications on your users’ phones is not going to help your cause in any way. You must stand out in the crowd by incorporating dynamic designs and attractive images into your push notifications. Bonus if you could add a GIF or a video. Having a compelling graphic attached to a push notification can increase your CTR by at least 2-3%.

If you are an existing Vajro customer, videos and GIFs can be easily added to your push notification. Here is a detailed guide on how to do it.

7. You send the push notifications at the wrong time

We’ve saved the best for the last. As we discussed before, this is a classic blunder that most app owners make. They send out push notifications at any random time without analyzing their customers. This can lead to a lack of engagement. You need to pick days of the week when your users are most active. For instance, according to Business of Apps, Tuesdays and Sundays have the highest reaction rates for push notifications. It is also important to understand where most of your customers are from. This knowledge will help in sending the push notifications at the right time zone. 

For instance, if most of your customers are located in Germany, time your push notifications to reach them during their daytime and not yours. If it is not possible to send instant push notifications at that time, schedule them. 

Effective push notification campaign ideas

1. Remind them about abandoned carts

The average cart abandonment rate is 67.91% which shoots up to 81% on mobile phones. Cart abandonment has turned out to be a bigger pain for e-commerce companies than meeting the ever-increasing demands of the customers.

Smart companies like La Redoute use push notifications to remind their customers that they’ve left something in their cart. Here is an interesting message from them through one of their push notifications –

Hey there,

Your basket is pretty full! Come back to finalize your purchases.

Pro tip – Use push notifications not only to notify the customers about their abandoned carts but also to tempt them with awesome discounts or price drop alerts on products lying idle in their carts.

2. Out-of-stock inventory campaign

Are you a super-popular seller? Then, products going out of stock are nothing new for you. And you will replenish the stock soon. But your customers do not know that. When they see an “out of stock” message under a product they intend to buy, they are not going to keep checking your website unless they badly need the product.

This is where you need to be proactive. When the product comes back in stock, update the prospects immediately with push notifications like –

Your favorite BX Black t-shirt is back in stock

Get it before we run out (again!)

This improves your conversion rate and also shows that you care for your customer’s time.

3. Send geo-targeted push notifications

Remember the last time you went to your favorite store and your phone suddenly went beep-beep – a notification from the store you are just about to visit –

Near Smith Avenue?

The Philips headphones you added to your wishlist can now be purchased in our Smith Avenue store at a 25% discount. Use code XXYYZZ at the counter to get it.

That’s the work of a geo-targeted push notification. Brands use the location of their customers to send push notifications about the latest deals or any other information that will be handy for the buyers.

Read our dedicated blog to know about more effective push notifications campaign ideas that you can implement.

The Future of Push Notifications

Omnichannel Marketing:

With integrated marketing becoming the norm of the current decade, omnichannel marketing suites are on the rise. Brands are constantly striving to provide the right message across all their channels.

Most of them are accessed through smartphones and user behavior tends to differ quite significantly across the different channels they utilize. This provides a wonderful canvas for the utilization of push notifications as it is currently the best method to send tailored messages to your customers based on their behavior across different media.

Hyper-localized Notifications using Geo-targeting

Geo-location based push notifications are currently at a baby stage where systems are using minimal data to leverage and send relevant notifications. With continuous advancements in geo-fencing and geo-location technologies, this trend is going to boom to new heights.

Geo-location based notifications tend to provide the highest levels of personalization that a user expects from a brand and actually consider as a value-add. This combined with the marketing prowess of push notifications in general creates an invincible fusion that is bound to yield tremendous results.  

How can Vajro help?

Vajro is an instant app builder that helps you in building your dream app in a jiffy. It is a low-code/no-code platform, which means you do not have to write a single line of code. Also, when you create your mobile app from Vajro, your efforts to create and handle your e-commerce push notification strategy are drastically reduced because you can schedule push notifications or incorporate GIFs and videos in a single click.

To build your own app with Vajro’s instant app builder, contact us now!