Push notifications - 5 ways to increase their effectiveness

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As recently as 6 to 7 years ago, over 50% of users found push notifications just an annoying distraction. Today, 70% of consumers find them useful.

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If you aren’t using push notifications in your daily communication, don't wait any longer! If you’re already using them, maybe you are looking for ways to increase their effectiveness?

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In this episode, I will share with you 5 (five) ways how to make your customers happy to see and open your notifications. And most importantly, encourage them to do the action you push them to do.

(Main content)

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Before I move on to the 5 (five) promised push notification “boosters”, let me explain what it actually is and how the process works.

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Push notifications are a form of interaction consisting in "pushing" a message from the server at a specific moment and displaying it, depending on the type of notification, in the user’s browser or directly on the user’s device.

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As in the case of SMS, initially push notifications were intended to convey technical information, but marketers consistently spoil this communication channel as well 🙂

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More importantly, push notifications may also be displayed on the recipient's screen even when he or she is not using our application or browsing our website at the moment.

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In the context of mobile marketing, we can distinguish 3 types of push notifications:

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Web push (also known as browser push) - these are notifications sent to the user via a web browser. This form of communication applies to both stationary devices (desktop web push) as well as smartphones or tablets (mobile web push). The factor that distinguishes web push notifications from the types described below is that they are sent to the web browser, not to the device.

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Mobile push - these are messages that appear on the user's smartphone (or tablet) in the notification bar and on the lock screen. They are also sent when the user is not using the application. Mobile push campaigns are an effective method of driving users back to the application. This communication channel can also be used to send personalized messages with special offers or campaigns based on geolocation.

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In-app messages - unlike mobile push notifications, these notifications require the user to use the application at a given moment, but are used to inform users about updates, attract the attention of a potential customer at the right time and at the right stage of interaction with the application. The in-app notification campaign is a great way to increase user engagement or transfer them to the appropriate application module.

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As with other communication channels, push campaigns can be sent massively or sent to a single user at a very specific time. It is the recipient who decides whether they want to interact with the push (starting from clicking on the notification) or not.

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How does it work technically? Most notifications use the Firebase key from Google, through which external systems such as MA systems can use this channel. The message itself can be interactive: e.g. deep linking, expiration date, etc. We will also notice differences between the functions of push notifications on both iOS and Android

However, it sounds pretty simple overall, right? Unfortunately, you actually have to dig a little deeper to get the Holy Grail - a.k.a. (read "ejkejej") conversion.

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So what can you do to make your push notifications more effective?

(Method 1: Maximize Deliverability)

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How to hack the deliverability of your notifications?

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Let’s be honest - do you ever once in a while wonder if your push notifications even reach the devices you send them to? Unfortunately, there is a risk of them dying in a void. What are the factors that determine whether your push will even reach your user’s screen?

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Chinese Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with Android such as Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo optimize their devices to conserve battery power. What does this mean in practice? After a while, background applications are closed or their processes are suspended. As a result, the device is cut off from push gateways such as GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) / FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging), and APN (Apple Push Notification). For this reason, push notifications are either not delivered or only a few are provided.

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Let me break it down with an explanation of how push gates work, using the example of FCM.

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The message is created in the notification editor and the request to send the message is sent to the FCM backend.

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The FCM receives the message request on the backend, generates the message identifier and other metadata, and sends it to the platform-specific transport layer.

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When the device is online, the message is sent to the device.

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The application receives a message or notification on the device.

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The connection can also be broken when your client has a poor or no Internet connection.

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Is there any way you can help it get there? Yes, but only indirectly.

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1. When choosing your provider of push technology, pay attention to whether it uses Xiaomi Push or Huawei Push gateways in addition to the standard GCM / FCM and APN gates for sending notifications.

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2. You can also ask your users to adjust their Android settings accordingly, allowing your app to send notifications without restrictions. However, if commitment is not yet your customers' strength, the results of your request may not be satisfactory.

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(Method 2: Choose your shipping time consciously)

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The second way I would like to tell you is to optimize your notifications. Not only in terms of size and their content (which I will talk about in a moment) but also the shipping time adjusted to the time with the greatest activity of your customers.

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Since you know that the subscriber has a chance to click on the notification only if it reaches him, send pushes when your clients are active on the network.

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Simple! But how to determine when they are actually active? There are several ways. At an initial stage, you can use Google Analytics. Check on which days of the week and at what times you have the most traffic on your website or the largest number of transactions. Then you will be able to estimate when your customers are active on the network and eager to "act".

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As more notifications are sent, you will have more and more data about your recipients and you will be able to see what results are generated by notifications sent on particular days and hours. By comparing this data with the statistics from your analytics you will be able to choose your business’s "best time" for each day of the week.

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To confirm your guesses, run A / B tests. This will be a more reliable solution that will allow you to make the final decision.

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What I have told you so far will not work for one specific group of users - we’ll call them “dormant” clients. Each user that is“asleep'' is wasted potential income. Often an active user becomes inactive for various reasons and as such it’s important to find out who these users are and why they stopped using your website or app before creating notifications.

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American psychiatrist Milton Ericsson once said: "The effectiveness of communication is not defined by communication itself, but by reaction." What rules us all? Emotions! The truth is, emotions rule everything, and they also support the reasoning process.

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(Method 3: Learn the Mechanisms of Behavioral Economics)

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The third way to increase the effectiveness of push campaigns is to use elements of behavioral economics. I will share with you literally a few examples. If you would like me to record a separate episode on this subject, let me know in the comments.

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I’m sure you have personal feelings on the communication and Black Friday offers. Why is this one particular day so popular? The main factor is the so-called FOMO effect.

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FOMO is an abbreviation of the phrase "fear of missing out" - the fear that we will miss something. People don't want to miss interesting, valuable deals - this also applies to shopping. On the occasion of Black Friday, a sense of urgency and exclusivity is especially built and induced. Sellers use words like “important”, “immediately”, “reminder”, “only today”, wait, fast, immediate, alert, etc. They encourage quick action. Words like restriction, exclusive to you, pass, reward, gift, and more help you achieve the same. People love to be pampered. If they feel that they are treated specially, they are more likely to click on the notification or choose your services.

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It has been said (and with good reason) that the human brain is lazy because it doesn't like analytical deliberation. The cerebral cortex, which is the newest part of this organ in evolution, consumes a lot of energy. The vast majority of everyday decisions are therefore made quickly, which is the responsibility of the oldest parts of the brain. If you want to know more, I’m going to recommend Daniel Kahneman's book "Thinking fast and slow".

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The essence of engaging, effective communication based on our laziness is to formulate the message in a concise, understandable way. So the notifications seem perfect.

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And to increase the effectiveness of your push notifications, put the customer experience at the center. For example, instead of only displaying information about the promotion for a specific product, add a button, after clicking on which the customer will be automatically redirected to the product. The so-called deep links to these products in your app will allow users to act / react to push notifications immediately and thus increase the number of conversions.

(Method 4: Verify that you meet the technical requirements for push notifications)

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Getting to know even the deepest secrets behind human behavior will not help if your push is not properly presented on the user's screen. Do you know how long the perfect push should be? I bet no. Luckily, the Redlink team researched this for us on a variety of operating systems and smartphone models

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So what is the optimal number of characters for mobile push notifications?

• up to 171 (one hundred - seventy one) characters  for text notifications
• up to 51 (fifty one) characters for text notifications with graphics
• up to 540 (five hundred forty) characters - for text notifications with action buttons; for graphics and action buttons, text is displayed the same as for the graphics itself
  
  

If you don't want to keep wondering if your push notification message will be displayed on the screen in its entirety, and at the same time you want to communicate effectively, remember these few tips:

• usually, the shorter the notification, the better (try not to exceed 171 (one hundred seventy-one) characters, and if using graphics - keep it under 51 (fifty-one) characters)
• Include the most important information at the beginning - you will be sure that even in the event of a push being cut, the user will only see the first part - this is the most important
• use action buttons and check which the recipients like best
• you can use emojis if they are consistent with your visual communication strategy - they do not shorten the length of the displayed push, but make it stand out positively

(Method 5: Stay up to date with changes to the latest versions of operating systems)

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The last way is to make an additional lockpick that will allow you to ensure the effectiveness of your push notifications in the future. Stay up to date with changes in the latest versions of operating systems. Let me give you an example.

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Did you know that the latest Android, version 13 debuted just 2 weeks ago, and with it, the way push notifications are displayed on Android devices has changed significantly?

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The changes are designed to give customers more control over notifications, reduce the mess, and improve overall Android push messaging.

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It is true that Android has long allowed you to turn off notifications in individual applications, but Google has decided to reverse the whole process. Now, when you launch the app for the first time, it will ask you to grant the appropriate permission. Exactly as before, it was the case with access to location, camera, or microphone.

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In Android 12 and all previously released versions of Android, apps were able to send notifications from the moment they were installed. If the user did not want to receive notifications from a specific application, he had to unsubscribe from them manually by going to Settings.

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With the new Android 13, a popup will appear when you open an app asking if you want to receive notifications from that particular app. You can allow (or deny) the app to send you notifications. If you ignore this notification, as an Android 13 user you will not be saved for notifications, but the application will be able to ask you for your consent again until you select the "do not allow" option.

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If your application is designed for Android 13 or later, then you have full control over when the permissions dialog is displayed. Use this opportunity to explain to users why the app needs this permission by encouraging them to grant it.

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Giving customers time to explore your app will help them understand the value of your notifications. For example, if you are running a travel app that allows customers to book last-minute deals on a budget, it's best to wait for the customer to register the account before asking them to enable notifications. Likewise, an e-commerce store app can ask for consent when a customer subscribes newsletter. 

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Once you’ve properly prepared for Android 13, use the methods I mentioned earlier. Although each of them is effective, the best results will be achieved if you combine them together.

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But it's not only the user who lives on Android alone. It is worth remembering that also in the near future, all Huawei phones will switch to their own HarmonyOS operating system.

Stay tuned and track changes that may affect the effectiveness of your actions.

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Do you know any other tricks to increase the effectiveness of push notifications? Be sure to share them with me in the comments.