Many publishers and advertisers are still catching on to the benefits of push notifications, even though they have been around for a while.
Think about it. You’re used to getting push notifications on your smartphone. Every time you get a breaking news update, an Amazon delivery, or a special offer from a business — that’s a push notification sent directly to you, personalized to your specifications.
So, we know push notifications work, and it’s not like there’s a big learning curve for consumers. In fact, 72% of consumers have enabled them. Now it’s time for publishers to get on board with multichannel messaging, so they can experience the benefits of push notifications on other channels, too.
What are Push Notifications?
Push notifications are messages to users to drive revenue, build audience relationships, and get users back into the mobile app or website. For maximum user engagement, a push notification campaign should grab a user’s attention with a quick-to-the-point alert and call to action. Though these customized messages function differently on a mobile device or desktop browser, they serve the same purpose: using push notifications engages users. Both forms of opt-in communication require consumers to manually sign up for or agree to receive the alerts.
Mobile push notifications appear as one-on-one messaging for user engagement directly on the tablet or mobile device. Similar to text messages, push notifications pop up on the user’s screen, though exact placement varies based on user preference and device configuration. Sending push notifications is a great way for a mobile app to drive attention and traffic to its updates, products, or services.
Meanwhile, web push notifications are short messages that are sent to a user’s desktop. Similar to mobile push messages, a web-based push notification gets a user to visit the website and interact with the content there. These messages often show up in a corner of the user’s screen, inviting them to click through an article or landing page. For example, a news site might offer breaking news alerts, so that a user can get updates in real-time. Or an e-commerce site might send push notifications for a big sale, to announce a new product line, or undo cart abandonment. Any alert is a great way to get users to visit the website.
Both web and mobile push notifications are short and sweet nudges get potential customers to take some action with a site or app. They are vital to any marketing campaign. Let’s explore why.
The Benefits of Push Notifications
To provide some inspiration, here’s what you need to know about the biggest benefits of push notifications.
1. Reach audiences when they want, where they want
Want to send real-time updates about breaking news, trending stories, or newly-launched products to your readers? Both publishers and advertisers can implement push notifications to drive user experience. Using push notifications can help you do that by pinging personalized content to users’ screens when they are already active on their channel of choice by simply showing up with new information.
This immediate distribution also helps publishers cut through the noise and stand out from the competition. Unlike on social media where users’ feeds are flooded with brand messaging and distracting posts, push notifications are direct — helping you build 1:1 relationships with your audiences. In fact, many publishers have consistently driven over 20% user engagement each month with push messages.
Push notifications aren’t just for internet-savvy audiences like millennials and Gen-Z audiences, either. As a 2020 survey found, 53% of baby boomers find push notifications for breaking news to be useful, and 40% use push notifications to access regional news stories. That’s a pretty timely benefit for publishers, considering local news outlets have seen increases in traffic and subscriptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The San Francisco Chronicle, for example, saw a 150% increase in traffic, and the Tribune Publishing network saw a whopping 293% increase in online subscriptions. A strong push notification campaign brings means excellent conversion rates!
With the right push notifications platform, reaching audiences in the right place at the right time is a breeze. The platform should be able to automatically analyze your published content, match it to unique audience profiles, and send relevant content to each user based on their interests.
And you can just provide easy opt-in forms for readers to request these push notifications, helping you build trust and deliver value.
2. Engage users with highly curated content
Push notifications are similar to email — one of the most engaging channels available — in that they are direct-to-consumer and curated specifically to each user’s preferences and behaviors. And at the same time, push notification campaigns can be sent at scale so publishers can increase brand awareness, customer retention, and conversion rates without breaking the bank.
For example, publishers might send notifications to:
- Send thoughtful reminders that retarget readers or customers who were close to completing an action, such as signing up for a subscription or starting a free trial
- Alert users about upcoming events, special offers, game updates, or local weather predictions
- Reach readers with timely news updates that match their content preferences
3. Drive traffic back to your website
Ultimately, you’ll want your push notifications to drive people back to your website or mobile app and continue engaging with your content. Gaming platform GoGy games, for instance, wanted to find new ways to engage its 10-12 million monthly users. So the company launched automated push notifications, alerting users about trending and relevant games on its site. It also scheduled notifications in advance, reaching users when they’re most likely to click according to their time zone.
As a result, GoGy was able to drive tens of thousands of more users to its website each day — with low bounce rates and long session durations to boot.
“They’re looking for something personalized, and the popularity of the game is also very important,” said GoGy owner Tal Hen. “They want to play what everyone’s playing and that alone has helped drive click-thru rates up substantially.”
4. Increase revenue through monetization
The benefits of push notifications go beyond just driving organic engagement. They can also be a powerful monetization tool for increasing revenue and providing value to advertising partners.
That’s actually a big selling point for brands: Push notifications provide guaranteed impressions since users are sure to see these notifications that pop up on their screens. An athletics apparel brand, for instance, could sponsor a sports publication’s push notifications to reach target audiences with calls to action about new products and special offers. Moreover, using personalized offers in push messages is an effective way to enhance user experience, cultivate audiences and build loyal customers.
Customers are cool with it, too. A recent study we conducted with Mantis Research found that roughly 75% of adults are open to seeing relevant push notification ads.
Push the limits of your marketing strategy
Push notifications aren’t just for mobile apps. They’re a super engaging yet largely untapped channel that publishers can use to increase engagement and revenue. By adding push messaging to your marketing strategy, you can build direct customer relationships and generate more revenue.
That’s exactly what Jeeng is here to help you do. Our push messaging platform empowers publishers to deliver automated and personalized alerts — and even pair this with campaigns across other high-engagement channels like email.
Feeling the pull towards push notifications? Contact us today to get started.
