BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ.
Hold up, you only took your eyes off your phone for a few moments, HOW ON EARTH did you get that many notifications!?
Between your group chats, your significant other sending you 20 TikToks on their lunch break, and all of your apps’ push notifications, it doesn’t take much for your phone to blow up and for you to feel like you’re drowning in a sea of notifications. And at that point, you’re either ignoring them all — potentially missing out on important information that maybe you didn’t actually want to ignore — or you lose valuable time combing through them all when you could or should be working, relaxing, or being productive elsewhere.
Text messages aside, did you know that the average person receives 46 push notifications from apps per day? If you’re like many others, then you might receive even more than that. Does that mean you have too many apps or do the apps just send out too many notifications that you don’t need? Most would agree that no one should feel like they have to delete or mute apps that they use just because they get bombarded with push notifications. Sometimes, the push notifications contain information that you would actually like to see and act on, right? So where’s the disconnect?
First, what is a push notification and what is it meant to do?
Push notifications are those little messages that pop up on your phone, even when you’re not actively using an app. They’re meant to catch your eye with important information, including reminders, updates, and promotions. A notification can include a title, message, image, and URL, and even some logos or emojis to add a bit of personality. These messages are meant to keep you informed and engaged with your favorite apps.
For marketers, their key objectives for using push notifications are to:
- Increase Message Visibility
- Drive Retention
- Increase User Engagement
- Boost Conversions
- Create a Connected User Experience
- Scale with Their Business
With benefits for both parties, the question still remains: Where is the disconnect?
As a marketer, it’s important to take a step back and put yourself in the shoes of a consumer when developing a push notification strategy. It’s concerning to hear that a significant portion of people (31%) find push notifications unhelpful, while only a small percentage (18%) consistently find them useful. Remember that disconnect we mentioned? This indicates it may be between the content of the notifications and what the end-user wants or needs.
To overcome this hurdle, marketers who send push notifications should evaluate their overall content and delivery to ensure that it’s personalized and relevant to their target audience. If push notifications are too frequent or timed poorly, it’s likely that users will feel irritated, distracted, or disturbed by them, leading to the disabling or deletion of the app. This brings up a question about frequency and timing. One weekly push notification can lead to 10% of users disabling notifications, and 6% deleting the app.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, it’s essential to take into account the needs and expectations of the end user to avoid becoming one of the many apps that are muted or deleted. By considering time zone, day of week, time of day, holidays/events, frequency, industry, content, and audience you can help boost your open rate to 4x the average push notification open rate of 1.5%.
To wrap things up, push notifications can be a powerful tool for marketers to reach their target audience and keep them engaged.
However, it’s important to consider the user experience and be mindful of how often and why notifications are sent. By providing relevant and valuable information, and allowing users to opt-in and customize their notification preferences, marketers can increase engagement and build customer loyalty. Ultimately, it’s about finding a balance that respects the user’s time and attention while still driving results for the business.
If you’re looki-BZZZZ (see how annoying that is?) If you’re looking for help with your push notification strategy, give us a call!