Push notifications are a style of clickable pop-up messages that applications or browsers send to users on a device or via the browser itself.
Users might receive these message at any time. Some notifications may come while users are in app or on a website. Other notifications may come while the app/website is closed.
For the most part, push notifications are short automated messages designed to nudge users to take some type of action.
Marketers and business owners can optimize notifications so they lead to an increased click thru rate and higher conversions on different devices, including web, desktop, and mobile.
You can also take advantage of them to boost conversion volume. This post will spell it all out for you.
I’ve also included some examples from different business niches. These varies examples will give you a better idea of how this fresh new technique can be used in different settings.
How Push Notifications Lead to Conversions
Whether you use them on mobile or a web browser, you’ll be able to get your message across to customers in the most convenient and timely way.
In a recent case study, push notifications were shown to increase conversions by up to nine times. At that success rate, this channel is more beneficial than many others, email included.
The best part: push notifications are extremely flexible. They are ideal for all types of marketers:
- You can easily integrate push into a brand’s desktop browser using many industry-leading website builders, so that notifications are delivered even when the user is not on the website
- Similarly, you built push notification functionality into any mobile app
- You can use them to send messages and alerts to users in real-time
- They can include rich media content, such as GIFs, images, or videos
- You can personalize content within the notification to drive specific actions from users
…the benefits go on.
How To Use Push Notifications For Marketing
Now that you know what they are and how they work, it’s time to learn about the different ways this tactic can be beneficial to your marketing campaigns.
Keep Users Updated
Push notifications can help you boost conversions by keeping your users updated on your latest offers.
You can also use them to remind customers of any items they left in their shopping cart, which makes for a great cart recovery tool.
And, with today’s declining email open rates, this method of communication will prove extremely beneficial in helping you reduce customer churn for your business.
Send Perfectly-Timed Messages
With this approach, you can perfect the timing on your messages. By delivering messages at the very well selected moments, you will maximize the odds they will convert.
The most common push formats include transactional messages, educational messages, and promotional messages.
And to reiterate, your company does not need to have a mobile app to benefit from push notifications. You can set pushes up right on your company website. This way, you will be able to get your message in front of your target audience when they are most likely to engage with it.
3. Send Personalized Messages
Pushes can be highly personalized. With this capability, you can send the right message to the right individuals at the ideal time.
Generally speaking, when sending these notifications, it’s best to follow personalized email message best practices for maximum results.
Thanks to the ability to personalize the notifications, you can target them to the exact place where the customer is in their buying cycle / journey.
When you can send relevant messages to the right people at the right time, you are maximizing the possibility of converting them into paying customers.
4. Enhance User Engagement
Push notifications can also be an extremely powerful for boosting audience engagement.
According to a study released by Invesprcro, push notifications can lead to an 88% boost for in-app engagement. The same study revealed that almost 50% of mobile users make in-store purchases after receiving a push notification message.
As part of your efforts to boost engagement among users, you can broadcast messages to all of your subscribers or target segmented users. Alternatively, you can opt for auto-triggered notifications at a user level.
Either way, your messages will drive a sharp increase in user engagement on your website or mobile app.
Influencers often use push notifications to teach their audiences about new products. This means that marketers can facilitate and profit off the success of influencers by personally sending a push notification on behalf of them.
This tactic can lead to an unbelievably successful engagement level in many cases!
5. Increase Sales On Desktop and Mobile Devices
Push notifications are a great way to lead customers to make purchases.
They are used by a lot of brands to help bridge the gap between their online and offline marketing channels. With the combination, marketers can create a seamless, customer experience across both desktop and mobile devices.
The majority of smartphone users make in-store purchases from their mobile devices. This means you can use personalized push notifications as a powerful tool in helping you boost sales for your business.
Several tactics that work well to increase in-store sales include:
- Offering discounts through push notifications on mobile and desktop devices
- Highlighting promotions as soon as they begin — or to give customers an early look before the official announcement
- Integrating push notifications with your favorite online course platforms to update customers as soon as new course is available
To make it work, you need to be sure to avoid overdoing it. Don’t just send a constant flood of promotional push notifications to your followers.
Make sure that for every promotional push notification you send, you also send your followers free content such as new YouTube videos, podcasts, TikTok videos, blog articles, and other content.
While this might not build immediate sales, it can help to increase a loyal following of evangelical marketers and brand ambassadors.
When these loyalists share branded content and create their own UGC about your brand, it will reach others who could become easy converts.
6. Boost Customer Retention
Marketers know that acquiring new customers is MUCH more costly than retaining a loyal buying base.
Push notifications can help you retain more customers, so you can increase conversions without spending more money.
Studies show that marketers can increase in-app retention rates by up to 71%, simply by sending an onboarding notification to newly acquired customers within the first few days.
Many other customer retention techniques are much less effective, more complex, and require larger investments of capital.
However, push notifications offer a highly effective and simple method of customer retention that cuts variable marketing costs and helps your brand make more money.
7. Encourage Ratings and Customer Feedback
Push notifications can also help you encourage ratings and feedback from your customers.
Start by messaging customers to request feedback or review your products or services. Some of them may very well take the bait immediately and take action.
You can also build a long-lasting partnership with customers who have a lot of followers on social media, aiming to make them a brand advocate. Try to go for social platforms like Instagram and TikTok that work better when it comes to Nano-influencers.
This way, you can take proactive measures to bring users back to your website or app after they drop off. This is also a great way to collect data so you can improve your product, service, content, or marketing strategies in order to maximize your conversions and sales.
Brands That Use Push Notifications to Increase Conversions
Here are a few examples of popular brands that use push notifications as a way to boost conversions and sales.
JetBlue
Like many other airlines, JetBlue uses push notifications to keep its customers updated and remind them when to check in.
The company sends pleasant reminders the day before the customer’s flight is scheduled to depart. There are also in-flight status updates with high-value, practical content that helps to improve the customer’s flying experience.
Vegis
This is an eCommerce store based out of Romania that focuses on healthy food products for health-conscious people.
The website benefits immensely from push notifications, particularly because they sell perishable products with a limited shelf life, so they use push notifications to get instant reach and update customers with hundreds of products that are added to the website on a regular basis.
PetFlow
This retail brand is a great example of how to use web push notifications to boost conversions. The company sends personalized messages to customers as a way to boost engagement, drive more traffic to their pet stores, and increase sales.
Best Practices for Using Push Notifications
Yes, push notifications lead to conversions. However, as effective as these messages can be, they can also get very intrusive when not done right.
It’s important to learn how to use them judiciously. In order to do so, you must follow these best practices:
Be Concise
Keep in mind that push notifications are short. Always aim to keep your language clear and concise.
Don’t be afraid to get creative. Ideally, you will use your copywriting skills to make full use of the limited characters available to you. This way, you can craft an impactful message that will get your readers to take the desired action.
Use the Right Context
Context is just as important as the content of your message. Together, they will help improve the click-through rate of your push notifications.
Make sure you take the demography, location, situation, etc. into consideration when crafting your push messages. Otherwise you might as well be sending Easter greetings on New Year’s Eve.
Work on Your Timing
Always aim to avoid disruptive practices with push notifications, such as disturbing them in the middle of the night or spamming them very early in the morning. Neither of these gaffs will win you any conversions.
Take time to understand what works best for each of your users, so you can set the timing for your automatic notifications accordingly.
Get the Frequency Right
Push notifications give you a powerful way to communicate with your customers, but you need to use this opportunity wisely.
If you send too many notifications, you will annoy your customers without a doubt. Annoyed customers are more likely to uninstall your app or simply block / opt out of future communications..
So, make sure you send messages sparingly, and only when absolutely necessary.
Use Emojis
Emojis are a great way to infuse your push notifications with warmth and richness. I encourage you to use them in push notifications.
That said, be sure you only use emojis that are culturally and contextually suitable, and only use them when it’s the right time and message.
Do your best to avoid using too many of them. Otherwise, you could drive users to opt-out of your push messages.
Conclusion: Push Notifications Can Benefit Your Business
I hope by now you are convinced of the benefits of using these tricks to improve your conversion rates.
Push notifications are short and concise – perfect for getting your message across quickly and soliciting action.
They can be personalized and infused with various types of engaging media, making them the ideal tool to boost engagement and get more of your customers to convert.
Feature Image Credit: Pixabay Free for Commercial Use License
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
This guest post brought to you courtesy of Return On Now, Professional Austin SEO and PPC Services Company.
Ron Stefanski
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