What do web push notification subscribers expect?
Karolina Szlachtun
We have no doubt that web push notifications work. At this link, you will find 31 statistics that prove this channel of contact with customers is effective. For example, let's take fact number 20: 35 Euros of profit comes from investing 1 Euro in web push marketing. Or that the market reach of web push notifications is 80% and is equal to the reach of the web browsers that support them: Google Chrome, Samsung Browser, Mozilla Firefox, Edge, Safari and Opera.
However, to achieve these effects, the campaign must be designed correctly. With the experience we've gathered after sending 50 billion web push notifications, for example, we can determine which moments are best for sending notifications.
What do web push notification subscribers expect?
Optimal timing is just one of the things that contribute to the success of web push notifications as a marketing tool and to maintain contact with your website visitors, i.e. existing as well as potential customers. When planning your campaign, you need to keep in mind certain principles, namely what your notification recipients expect.
Interesting information, no clickbait
By agreeing to receive notifications, customers hope to receive information that is important to them. They don't want pushy advertising, let alone attention-grabbing headlines that in reality have little to do with the content to which the internet user will be taken - and are therefore mere clickbait. Web push notifications can be targeted thanks to pre-created tags and segments, so you can adapt the content of the message to the interests of the recipient.
Information that will benefit your audience
There are interesting things happening in your business every day that you want to tell your web push recipients about. If it's an online store, it's promotions, a new collection, last days of sales, some important anniversary.
If it's a news service, you may want to inform your audience about every news that appears on the website. This is a mistake! You need to select information so as not to flood your subscribers with push notifications. Overloading them with notifications will have the opposite effect - they may block them or simply unsubscribe from your site. Choose only the information that is most valuable to your audience. Once they are redirected to your website, they will have the opportunity to read other stories.
No spamming
We say a definite "no" to sending out unsolicited messages. Although web push is not spam, bombarding recipients with a hail of notifications can undoubtedly evoke negative feelings and the impression of spamming.
Unique content, promotions, discount codes
Internet users agreed to receive notifications not in order to boost our statistics, but in order to get some benefit on this occasion. It has already been mentioned that web pushes should not be used to share every possible piece of information that your company considers worthy of attention. Let it be selected content that will make the recipient think the moment the message appears on the screen: "Oh, this is interesting!".
For a customer who regularly browses the footwear section of your online store, don't send a notification about a promotion on men's shirts, as this is not only pointless but may even discourage her from further use of the notification. Send targeted campaigns to selected audience segments, choosing the most relevant offers.
In the form of web pushes, information about promotions, discount codes intended only for subscribers, and in the case of news services - the most important information, "breaking news" will work perfectly.
Good user experience
We come to the technical issues: the notification will not look the same on every device. Browsers have their own guidelines for the appearance of web push notifications. The content of the notification should be adjusted not only to the browser, but also to the device (the same notification will look different in Chrome on Windows 10 or on Android, and still differently on Firefox or Safari, for example). It is worth keeping this in mind when designing a web push campaign and try to make the planned notification equally attractive for each user, regardless of where they receive it.
It is important to maintain a sufficient number of characters so that the text is not cut off by any browser. Additionally, remember that only Chrome and Microsoft Edge support large images that other browsers will not display. The image, on the other hand, should have a certain size and be cropped appropriately (read more here about how to prepare the image for web push notification). Do not forget about action buttons, which are also not supported by some systems and browsers.
Do you have to remember all this before you send your campaign? Fortunately not! The campaign wizard in our application automatically creates the notification preview by system and browser, so you can immediately see how the push will look in different configurations.
The right moment to send a web push
About the fact that no one likes when the phone "beeps" at night, we will not say because it is obvious. Night time is not the only time when sending notifications will be counterproductive. Depending on the industry you're in and the activity of your subscribers throughout the week, there will be a few more times when it's not worth sending campaigns.
The best time to send web push notifications will be different for every website and will depend on many factors, mainly your industry, subscribers' behavior and even season. Remember that choosing the optimal time to send a campaign is very important in terms of its effectiveness and the number of conversions.
Variety of content
You run an online store. You are having a promotion that you consider the best offer on the market and you don't want your notification recipients to miss it. So you remind about it every day, sometimes slightly modifying the message, but usually, it is exactly the same push. You think that plenty is no plague - and that's a mistake! Bombarding users with the same push over and over again is dangerously close to spamming.
But there is a remedy! If you plan to send the same promotion several times, you can tag subscribers who have already clicked on the notification to exclude them from the next sending.
It has already been mentioned that users expect useful information, but they also want to be surprised with the content. So no matter how valuable you think the information is, refrain from constantly reminding users about it.
In conclusion:
Web push notifications can bring you fantastic results, but only if you send them thoughtfully. The key to success is communicating information that your audience will be genuinely interested in, rather than a wholesale barrage of messages from you.
When selecting proposals, think about whether you or your loved ones would click on such notification. Web push is about quality, not quantity.
Remember that you can always consult with us and we will prepare a tailored web push strategy for you. Just write to us at [email protected]!
Junior Project Manager
In PushPushGo she is responsible for partner relations and new product development from the business side. As a marketing graduate with a specialization in Advertising & PR, she also provides substantive and creative support for PushPushGo marketing department.
