Push Notifications – Not just for smartphone apps!

Published on: March 4, 2018 / Update from: August 31, 2018 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Push notifications – with us also on desktop (PC, laptop – Windows & Linux).

Push notifications have been used on smartphones and tablets for a long time, but can also be easily used on desktops (PCs, laptops – Windows/Linux)!

“Studies show that users who have push notifications enabled use an app an average of 14.7 times per month, while users without the service only do so 5.4 times – a difference of 171%. It’s worth retaining everyone’s loyalty with a personal, individual approach.”

Whether for sporting events, current news from around the world or exciting company news: push notifications on smartphones and tablets have long been an extremely popular means of keeping customers, followers and other interested users up to date and providing them with news.

One of the main users of the technology are mobile apps , which send news to their users on the display. According to studies, a cell phone owner receives an average of 63 notifications every day - most of them from messengers such as WhatsApp, Facebook or email services.

In addition to being displayed on mobile devices, push notifications are increasingly being used on desktops and notebooks , where the message is actively displayed on the screen for subscribers. Push notifications become the ideal opportunity for website operators to provide their target group with new content.

The developers of the current web browsers have recognized this and now support the format across the board. The only requirement for push notifications is that the addressee has actively decided to receive them.

The advantages at a glance

• Increase visibility and presence for subscribers even beyond direct customer contact or website
• Added value for the user through high individual relevance of the content
• Greater acceptance of push notifications through personalization

Design of push notifications

quality before quantity

Given the high attention of push notifications, some companies feel tempted to send as many messages as possible. This is a mistake because you run the risk of disappointing the recipients you value (they have, after all, agreed to the sending beforehand). As with newsletters, if there are too many push notifications, the sender can relatively quickly be classified as irrelevant - or even worse: spam. Therefore, care must always be taken to offer added value with push notifications. This can, for example, be in the form of

• Product presentations
• new service offerings,
  information on upcoming trade fairs/events
• industry-specific market information
• Information on newly produced white papers

happen.

Hit the right tone

The choice of characters is limited, which is why short teaser texts are required. What is important is a memorable 2-3 lines that arouse the reader's interest in further information. Personalization software can be used to reference past interactions with the recipient. Different text variants can also be tested using A/B tests.

Shipping time

If push notifications are always sent in the dead of night, they understandably receive much less attention and interaction than if they were sent during the day. But here too, the success of a message depends on the exact time. This varies depending on the industry, as the following example shows.

With the right software, the sender can ensure that their messages appear to the subscriber at the ideal time.

Choose intervals

A constant bombardment of push notifications makes just as little sense as sending them quarterly. With new customers, interest is usually higher at the beginning and then weakens. Here too, personalization software helps to take this development into account. In the case of a lot of news, it is helpful if subscribers have the opportunity to set the frequency of the news.

Inclusion of additional communication channels

Since the subscriber usually uses different channels such as websites or social media channels, it should be ensured that all communication channels are populated with the content at the same time. What is announced in the push notification must be present on the website, social media, etc. Otherwise, there is a risk of irritation for the user, which will quickly evaporate the positive effect of the push notification.

Personalization of push notifications

Individualized push notifications for mobile devices have various advantages: They reach users quickly wherever they are and offer even greater added value with their personalized content. Personalization software is used for this purpose, with which push notifications can be individualized in a variety of ways.

Functional principle: The interested party uses a provider's website or app and looks at different products or solutions. The software records every step of the customer journey. It then combines this information with a pre-formulated text on the topic, including a suitable link, and plays this out as a push notification on the user's mobile device after a previously set time interval. Alternatively: As soon as there is news on the topic visited by the interested party, a push notification is automatically generated and sent.

Consequence: The subscriber receives current information/offers from the area relevant to him, which massively increases the chance of interest/interaction/purchase.

Services for sending push notifications

A wide variety of tools can be integrated so that the messages achieve the desired effect: from tracking the results to personalization, competent service providers ensure successful management of push notifications.

• Shipping on a wide variety of formats and platforms
• Easy integration and use via various software systems (WordPress etc.)
• Shipping: segmentation according to target groups, automatic shipping, shipping confirmation, detailed reporting tools, etc.
• Services: A/B testing, conversion tracking, localization, shipping optimization, identification of segments, etc.

(1) When the website is accessed for the first time, the visitor is asked whether he would like to receive push notifications in the future.

(2) You can also subscribe to notifications at a later date. The icon is always visible. You can also unsubscribe from notifications here at any time.

At a later point in time, when you send a push notification, your subscribers will receive a message on their desktop (including smartphone, tablet, etc.) without having visited your page at the time of the notification:

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