Push notifications are personalised notifications with clear CTA displayed on mobile apps and websites. You can get them on desktops or even mobile devices, even if the website is not open. A relatively new marketing channel, it lets you reach out to your prospects without knowing any of their contact details.
It’s a great way to stay on your customer’s mind all the time. However, it only works for SSL or https websites and mobile apps. There are workaround tools to make it work on http websites too, but that's something i haven't checked myself.
Apple Safari was the first one to provide browser push notifications to its users. It was later followed by Google Chrome that started providing support for both desktop and android.
How do Push Notifications Work?
To make your browser push notifications work, you first need to take permission from users. So, when a new visitor visits your website,they will be greeted with an opt-in box. If they click on allow,they will get added to your subscriber list.
Now, you can start sending them notifications from your website.You can customize your message and specify an URL as well. These messages will always arrive in real-time and your browser does not need to be open.
Whenever a subscriber clicks on it, they will be directed to any URL you want.
Mobile push notifications work similarly, except that they can be hyper-personalised based on the app user's activity, behaviour and many other factors.
Advantages of Push Notifications for Marketers
Here’s a comprehensive list of browser push notifications:
1: Reach Out to New Leads: Browser push notifications help you to reach out to new prospects who are not part of your database.
2: Re Engage New Visitors: It helps you reconnect with visitors on your website who have not shared their contact details with you.
3: Opt-In Rates: Browser push notifications have a higher opt-in rate as opposed to email forms. It is easier to unsubscribe compared to emails so it has become very popular.
4: Opt-Out Rates: It has a very low opt-out rate, making it even more powerful than email marketing.
5: Prompt Delivery: Unlike delays in email marketing due to server loads, browser push notifications are prompt. The moment you push, “send notification now”, it gets delivered to everyone’s devices immediately.
6: Higher Conversion Rates: With high opt-ins and low opt-outs, it is only natural that this method has a high conversion rate.
How to Optimize Push Notification Campaigns?
If you want to improve your RoI and profits from marketing campaigns, you have to optimize your push notification messages and ensure the audience segmentation is upto date. Once done, the push notifications will be hyper personalised and will lead to a better customer experience. Here’re a few things you need to do for ensuring highly personalised push notifications:
#1: Optimize your Copy
Push notifications have a character limit. That means you have to make the most of what you have. Writing effective copy is the only optimization possible. The purpose of the copy is to get more subscribers to click. You have to write copy that converts.
Be clear in your communication. Don’t make them think. Your message should be crystal clear. Be very concise and crisp. Use scarcity to create a demand that will motivate subscribers. You can also use social proof to drive your point across to your prospects.
But make sure that your claims and information are correct. After all, people can check the authenticity of the information provided in an instant.
#2: The Right Message at the Right Time
Everything is instant when it comes to browser push notifications. It is sent out in an instant and requires an instant response. So your timing is crucial. Sometimes, marketers forget to take the time-zone of their subscribers into account while sending out notifications.
If you want your audience to experience a greatly personalized experience then you need to be precise. You need to understand that your subscribers are spread around the globe or located in a single time-zone. You have to be very particular about the timing when sending push notifications.
Another thing about timing is that you want your subscribers to read the message. Do not miss-time it. Your subscribers might ignore it because they were busy working.
#3: Optimize your Frequency
Send too much and you might be labeled as pushy, send too little and subscribers will forget you. What to do? Strike a balance. Do not intimidate your subscribers by repeatedly sending out notifications.
Put yourself in their shoes. How much are you comfortable with? Optimal frequency for browser push notifications is hard to find due to lack of data. So you can only arrive at the optimal amount through trial and error.
#4: Segmentation
If you are a marketing automation user, you can use segmentation to send personalized notifications. You can dig up information about what each subscriber likes or dislikes. Accordingly you can craft messages for every segment.
This way, you engage more and hence generate more leads.
Keep a Track on the Important Metrics
Click rate is your most common metric to track. This will help you know how many clicked on the notification when it arrived.
However, relying on one metric will not cut it. Focus on your goals and find out how they are doing. Are you meeting your sales goals?
Tag your notification URLs with UTM parameters and go through Google Analytics data. Find out how many people arrive at your website through your push notifications. Go further, see how many convert into prospects and eventually become customers.
The Way Forward
Browser push notifications are still at a nascent stage and there is much more to come. As a result there are not many metrics or other features that complement this technology. However, it is still a highly effective marketing channel for marketers. Marketers may also fall for standalone push notification tools which allow marketers to send push notifications.
But isn't it another tool and channel to manage in your MarTech stack. We suggest, its best to use a marketing automation system which provides push notification facility.
If you are looking to add web push notifications to your arsenal then do send us an email at [email protected] to schedule a meeting.