5 Hacks to Send Better Web Push Notifications

The amount of information, required or inessential, everyone has at their fingertips today is unprecedented. Our inboxes are stuffed with newsletters and the apps installed in our devices are one too many. People tend to filter and forget. That’s not what any business wants for their brand or product.

But just as Gotham got the hero it deserved, you too have yours! Browser or web push notifications are silent yet engaging. It’s virtual, yet highly effective. And it works on both web and mobile browsers. Wielding them the right way makes them an even more powerful engagement and conversion tool.

Here’s how you can create engaging communication with browser notifications and win top of the mind recall.

Making opt-in a walk in the park

The opt-in window is the touchpoint which decides whether the user will allow your website to send them notifications. Here are two crucial yet easy ways to ensure that your visitors turn into subscribers:

1. Transparency: The best way to gain the trust of your users is through transparency. Ensure that your opt-in window clearly states what the users can expect from the push notifications they’ll be receiving. On the other hand, make it easy for users to opt out of push notifications too. If they don’t see a simple way out of it, they’ll get irritated and you are likely to lose valuable customers or even brand advocates.

2. Timing and placing it right: The easiest way to get a higher opt-in rate is to time it briefly after the user comes to your website. However, if you have a website but you plan to send notifications only for your onsite blog, place the opt-in only on the blog pages.

Content copy that works

Since push notifications have a character limit, it’s important that you create a communication that succinctly delivers your entire message. Do not leave anything to the user’s imagination. Apart from that, clearly and crisply define the action that the user needs to take. For instance, notifications with a call to action like “Shop Now”, “Claim”, “Play” or “Grab it” see higher click rates.

Preview and review maketh web push notifications perfect

Previewing your push notifications ensures that they are flawless. You don’t want to make a blunder, say a spelling mistake, and end up sending out the notification to all your subscribers. Of course, it makes you look bad. Or sometimes, push notifications look different on a mobile device from that on a web browser. So, follow the very simple and quick ritual of previewing your push messages before sending them out.

Segment your audience

A sure-shot way of annoying your subscribers is to send them notifications that don’t interest them. To improve user engagement, dig deep into their onsite behaviour. Identify what engages them. Are they fashionistas? Are they partial towards footwear? Do they shop when there’s a sale?

So identify and segment your subscribers to send relevant notifications. Else, you’ll only resonate with a certain percentage of your audience and the rest will be unpleasantly surprised.

Once you’ve mastered this, it becomes progressively easier for you to engage a larger chunk of your audience and keep them asking for more!

Scheduling notifications

Make your work easier and save your precious time by scheduling your notifications. For example,

1. A welcome onboard message for new subscribers the moment they allow/sign up for push notifications from you

2. A little present for those subscribers who return to your website after a long interval

3. Updates for gaming sites: “Feed your pet.” or “Your Pokemon is ready for battle.”

Localise and schedule push notifications for users from different time zones. No one wants to be woken up by a push notification in the middle of the night, no matter how overwhelmingly amazing your deal is. Also, remember to set expiry timelines for notifications that communicate breaking news or a time limited offer. You don’t want to annoy your subscriber with a notification that might be delivered after a sale is over, for instance.

Studies show that subscriber sign ups through push notifications have jumped up a whopping 40% as compared to other marketing channels. So, implement the above hacks to improve your push notification results without being annoying. Happy pushing!

Originally published on The Marketer’s Last Mile — the PushCrew Blog.

(You can signup and start using PushCrew Web Push Notifications for free here.)