Push notifications have become a part of every smartphone owner’s life. They are an important part of today’s mobile experience. They can do a lot of things; for example, deliver news, get users to take an action, show the latest sports scores, let the user know about an event, or let a person know someone has liked one of his or her Facebook posts. You push notifications only reach users who have installed your mobile app. These days, marketers and advertisers see push notifications as a key way to reach an audience at the most personal level. But how do users feel about them?
Let’s not beat around the bush, the beeping meant to alert users to notifications can be just plain annoying if you look at your smartphone and find the notification was sent for something frivolous or irrelevant. When used inappropriately, push notifications bother users and they won’t think twice about cutting off that channel of communication with your brand or business. On the other hand, users love push notifications when they are useful. If you are a sports fan, for instance, notifications about your favorite teams or players are welcomed.
Getting it wrong with push notifications can have consequences in the long run and there is a risk that users will uninstall an annoying app if you abuse the relationship. If users find your notifications irritating, distracting and irrelevant, they will uninstall your app in a heartbeat. At the very least, they will turn off notifications. But that does not mean you should avoid using them. Here are some ways you can improve your push notifications to increase your sales.
Do Not Bombard Users with Too Many Notifications
Probably the most important thing to consider as you prepare your push notification campaign is the frequency of your messages. If too many push notifications from your app bombard your users, they are likely to ignore or disable them. You need to be very careful not to flood users with more notifications than they can handle.
A well-crafted push message containing new, attention-grabbing and relevant information can remind a user to open your app. However, a user will opt-out or stop using the app completely if he or she gets too many push notifications in a day. The more push notifications a user gets in a day, the lower the open rate of those notifications as well. To solve this problem, be careful about the number of notifications you send and focus on providing the right content at the right time.
Make Sure You Ask for Permission
While many apps fail to do this,it is important that you ask for a user’s permission to send them notifications. Better yet, give them option to customize notifications to their preferences. Mobile app users are sometimes reluctant to give apps permission without a definition of the program and what they can expect from it. Make sure you address the privacy concerns your users may have as well. You will need to share with users the value of receiving notifications.
Push Notifications Should Be Useful or Interesting to Users
Push notifications have to have value for users. It should not be a notification just to push them to buy something or complete an action. Users want notifications that have useful information in them. A message that delivers value will trigger them to open the app. The problem is that you might not know what is the most useful, relevant, interesting and time-sensitive push notification for your audience. On top of that, you need to know that you need to know the best way to communicate your message to your audience.
Time Your Notifications Carefully
Timing is very important when sending push notifications to your customers. Additionally, there is no one-size-fits-all solution; it all depends on the audience your app is targeting. If you have a tourism business or news related app, your timing will be different from a restaurant or bar business. For news related apps, the best time to reach your audience is often in the morning when users want to catch up with the news of the day. If you are running a tourism business, the best time to target your customers is during the weekend, when they are most likely to be planning their next vacation. An equally important piece of advice to keep in mind: adjust delivery for the user’s time zone.
Test and Improve Your Push Notifications
One of the easiest ways you can improve your push notification click through rate is by testing and improving the program. To improve your push notifications you have to invest time and resources into study and research. You need to understand how users are reacting to your push messages. Figure out how many users are turning off Push Notifications. Test a number of notification variants in each push notification campaign to determine which works best. You can use the insights you gain in future push campaigns in order to improve clicks and conversions. Testing you push messages helps you figure out what type of notifications resonate with your users. It is important to regularly test the effectiveness of your overall push strategy.
Diversify Your Messaging Strategy
Push notifications are only one of numerous messaging types that you can use to engage your audience. And to succeed in your marketing campaign, you need to diversify your messaging strategy. A few other formats you can use include: in-app notifications, social posting and email. Wise marketers or advertisers will take the time to maximize their strategy for all these messaging types to create a more personal and appropriate engagement strategy.
Conclusion
When it is all said and done, a great push notification should be attention-grabbing in nature and lend itself to immediacy. It should be able to generate interest for the user to open the app – without being pushy or intrusive. As a result, you will improve the lifetime value of your customers and the long-term revenue of your business.
Images: ”Assistance Support Help Care Giving Concept /Shutterstock.com“
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