19 Best Practices for Push Notifications That Drive Engagement
This story originally appeared on the MAF blog.
Looking to take your push notification strategy to the next level?
Look no further!
We’ve got you covered with our extensive list of 19 best practices for push notifications complete with real-life examples from popular apps and games.
1. Make it Personal
Personalization is the go-to practice in all things mobile, and push notifications are no exception.
Need proof?
According to a recent study by OneSignal, personalized push notifications have a 259% higher engagement rate than non-personalized notifications.
Personalization is based on segmentation, so in order to create tailored push notifications, it’s vital to separate users into different groups by certain criteria. For example, location, gender, and in-app behavior. Of course, if you manage to get even more specific data like names, use it.
2. Be Relevant
Not every message needs to reach every user.
Let’s say a sports app sends out a notification about a tennis match to a user who uses it exclusively to stay on top of football scores.
Fail.
To avoid a similar scenario, it’s important to continuously leverage your app analytics to get insights into your users’ behavior and target the right audience.
3. Provide Exciting, Real-Time Updates
People like to be among the first to find things out.
Of course, if it’s something relevant to them.
You can take advantage of this behavior by delivering notifications that inform users about app updates or new content.
Let’s take an entertainment app as an example. It can send notifications to users who have previously watched a particular show, informing them that a new episode is now available. Similarly, a music app can notify users about the release of a new album by their favorite artist.
4. Acknowledge User Actions
Deep down, we all appreciate receiving some kind of acknowledgment.
You can leverage push notifications to create this positive experience for your users. Brands frequently do this by responding to user actions.
For example, a travel app can thank users for leaving a review and let them know how many people have seen it. A sports app, on the other hand, can pat users on the back for their activity and invite them to check out their results.
5. Utilize Urgency
Want your users to take immediate action?
Create a sense of urgency and take advantage of their FOMO.
But, it’s extremely important not to overuse this strategy. Don’t spam people’s phones with info that isn’t genuinely time-sensitive — do it only when you have a legitimate reason. For example, shopping apps can use this method to remind users about the final day of a sale.
6. Offer Deals
Offering deals is a tried-and-true strategy for grabbing the users’ attention.
Naturally, this method is most used by e-commerce apps, but it can be applied to different apps that contain IAPs or subscriptions. For example, a mobile game can offer a discount to users who often visit the game’s store but have yet to make a purchase.
To ensure the success of these discount offers, make sure to craft push notifications that effectively highlight the benefits and provide a clear call-to-action (CTA).
7. Remind Users to Finish an Action
Sometimes, users leave apps before finishing the goal action.
The best example of this is cart abandonment in e-commerce apps.
Sometimes, this occurs because something interrupted them in the process, or they decided to postpone it for later. But in the majority of cases, it happens because the user was feeling indecisive about the purchase.
Whatever the reason might be, these users could use a little push.
Send them a notification that will encourage them to finish the action right away. In the text, you can suggest they forgot about it or offer them a little extra something that will make them change their mind. For example, free shipping or a small discount.
Read the Full Article on MAF’s Blog — Click Here
What’s next in the article 👇
8. Invite Users to Claim Rewards
9. Keep it Short
10. Don’t Shy Away From Using Emojis
11. Stay True to Your Brand Voice
…& More
