5 Best Examples of iOS Push Notifications to Re-engage Dormant Users

Published in

Marketing And Growth Hacking

7 min readDec 19, 2018

Why are push notifications so important today?

Did you know that the global mobile application market accounted for $108,440 million in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.2% to reach $311,249 million by 2023? Approximately 1,434 mobile apps enter the mobile app market every day.

Let’s face it, push notifications have been the best form of communication to reach users after the explosion of mobile apps. Their ability to reach users when not using the app saves you from waiting for them to launch the app and then schedule or trigger personalized communication. In fact, push notifications are a polite way to nudge users to relaunch the app and remind them how awesome you are!

But, user dormancy and eventual churn are inevitable realities. As a mobile marketer, you’re probably doing a few basic things wrong if your dormancy rates are too high or your user retention rates are too low.

Why does an app user turn dormant?

Users didn’t stick around after the free trial period
Not enough value delivered by the app
Lack of personalized, meaningful, and timely communication, i.e. no push notifications

How can apps recapture user attention and re-engage them?

An effective reengagement push notification campaign will definitely grab your user’s attention and encourage a user to return to your app. It will also remind him/her the purpose of why he/she downloaded the app in the first place. Creating top-of-mind recall with relevant messages based on your user’s captured data-points and in-app behavior is critical.

Your re-engagement efforts can pay off big time, if you keep the following pointers in mind while planning a re-engagement campaign.

Incentivize your users
Communicate clearly the value you wish to deliver to them
Send personalized and triggered messages
Remind users of what’s new

Here are 5 leading brands that are acing their push notifications game, especially on iOS:

1. Zomato

Who doesn’t love burgers? Even the healthiest of us probably did at one time in life!

Zomato sends some really good push notifications and has all the elements that a push notification should have.

Rich elements: By including a relevant image in addition to catchy content, the push notification is visually appealing, nudging users to relaunch the app
Two-fold personalization: Not only do they address users by their first names but also contextualize the messaging based on past user in-app behavior and historical purchases
Emojis: By including emojis in the content, Zomato is able to complement textual copy and add a fun element to the message
Targeting based on time: Zomato sends such campaigns generally in the evening when users are more likely to transact, adding another level of personalization in their attempt to improve conversions

Marketers can look to leverage the power of AI to further optimize send times in order to nudge users towards greater app usage and repeat purchases.

Rich push notifications will continue to remain the present and future of an intelligent mobile marketing strategy and mobile marketers, especially in the food tech space, can definitely take a “slice” or two off Zomato’s “plate”!

2. QuizUp

Heard of the quizzing app, QuizUp?

I personally like playing quizzes and testing my general knowledge across various fields. But, lately I haven’t visited this app and had even forgotten about its existence on my smartphone, i.e. I have become a dormant user.

Unlike a host of other gaming apps, QuizUp clearly recognizes my dormancy and preference for certain quiz topics based on my historical usage of the app.

So, it sends engaging push notifications of this nature to remind me of a new quiz topic arrival, completely customized to my past in-app interactions.

These iOS push notifications are effective for the following reasons:

Quirky copy: Notice how the message content creates an instant impact
Emojis: While it may seem like QuizUp overdoes the use of emojis, that’s not really the case. Their emojis are highly relevant to the content and make users at least read the entire message once completely
Hyper-personalization: The message content is contextualized based on a user’s past in-app behavior

Thanks to these engaging push notifications, not only have I relaunched the app but also ended up using multiple times post that, resulting in an increase in app usage, session lengths, and time spent in app, for QuizUp.

3. Nearbuy

I have been an active user on Nearbuy, a hyper-local online platform that enables customers to engage with local merchants. With over a million app downloads, Nearbuy aces its user engagement and re-engagement mobile marketing campaigns.

Nearbuy’s “We Miss You”flavored push notifications are a perfect example of how to resuscitate dormant users, encouraging app relaunch and in-app purchase.

This iOS push notification has everything that tempts dormant users to almost instantly re-engage with:

Emotional messaging: While the message content is limited, the creatives and tonality used are hard-hitting, nudging users towards app relaunch, at the least.
Purchase incentive: By embedding a promo code within the message, Nearbuy succeeds in playing on the user’s psyche, incentivizing the purchase.
A sense of urgency: Outlining the fact that this is a limited time offer, Nearbuy creates a sense of FOMO, nudging recipients to avail the same.

Such re-engagement push notification campaigns can be triggered and targeted at dormant users after a particular period of time, i.e. time lapsed since the last app launch or purchase. The more personalized and laser-focused the targeting along with incentivized messaging, the better the chances of reactivating dormant users.

4. Overcast

Podcasts are the best way to keep up with the world at large, especially when you aren’t into reading books.

There are a lot of podcast apps out there but I’m personally a big fan of the Overcast app and that’s how I get my daily dose of startup and tech news.

Overcast does a good job in re-engaging users by sending a push notification whenever a new episode of a user’s favorite/subscribed to podcast releases.

5. Duolingo

Salut! Comment allez-vous? Yes, I’m learning French.

Duolingo is one of the most popular language learning apps. We all know Duolingo for its incredible UX and gamification of the language learning experience.

But, their re-engagement focused push notification campaigns as part of their larger mobile marketing mix are also noteworthy.

On identifying a dip in app usage over a period of time, Duolingo sent me a push notification to remind me about my pending French lessons, nudging me to complete my daily module.

The ingredients that make this iOS push notification a great re-engagement campaign are:

Contextual copy: By customizing the message content based on users’ historical in-app behavior, Duolingo hits the nail on the head when it comes to personalization
Friendly tone: The message content has a disarmingly friendly undertone that resonates with users at first glance
Relevant details: By keeping the message content crisp and revealing how much time (a few minutes, at best) users would require to complete their daily learning schedule, Duolingo nudges users into action on app relaunch

Engage, re-engage, and engage some more!

Re-engaging your app users is an art and a crucial part of every mobile marketing strategy. Since push notifications constitute an incredibly powerful tool in an app marketers’ arsenal that drives users back to your app, it can also damage your app reputation if there isn’t an effective push strategy in place.

Before you initiate a re-engagement push notifications campaign, you need to consider the behavioral information of each individual user that has been dormant based on a unified view of the customer.

Remember you only get 1–2 shots at best to resuscitate rapidly disengaging or already dormant users before they churn completely. So, make sure your push notification campaigns are well-crafted, personalized, and tailored to nudge such users towards a favorable conversion event.

This blog post was originally published on Smartech Blog.