The Complete Guide to Push Notifications for eCommerce

push-notifications-for-ecommerce

Do you know which marketing channel has been recently listed in Google as an important marketing trend that marketers cannot ignore? 

It is push notifications.

Consumers do not like being disturbed with unwanted messages or emails, push notifications works as a perfect alternative as it works on the principle of permission-based marketing.

Push notifications as already suggested are in trend and this guide can help you dig deeper and build winning push campaigns and boost sales.

What are Push notifications

Push notifications are a robust marketing tool that pops up on a subscriber’s mobile device in a heads-up manner. 

Push notifications help in sending timely & relevant messages to subscribers even if they are not active on the website or app.

It is a short clickable message that nudges consumers to take some prompt action. 

Consumers have a busy life and they forget about the best offers you had notified a few days ago via e-mail or about the cart they have abandoned after adding a lot of items to it.

To overcome such situations, push notifications are the best channels to communicate.

Like email, open rates are declining at a quick rate, Push notifications are the best alternative for businesses to engage with users and reduce churn.

According to Invesco, push notifications can boost app engagement by 88% and has led to 48% of mobile users making an in-store purchase. Regardless, push notifications can get intrusive if not done the right way. 

The purpose of push notifications is that you can time the message and even customize it depending upon the situation. For instance, if a consumer has abandoned the cart, you can share a reminder notification or a consumer who has not used the app for shopping for a long time can receive offers that are relevant to them.  

push-notifications-guide-cta

Types of Push Notifications

Now let’s know about the types of push notifications we have. 

Web Push Notifications

web-push-notifications

Web push notifications can send alerts on mobile as well as desktops even when users are not on your website.

With zero installations required, users simply need to give their consent in a single click to receive notifications. 

CTR rate of web push ranges between 4X to 8X of email across various industries.

Web push notifications are shared with users without creating an app as they are sent directly to their browsers. These notifications are mainly used by marketers to enhance website engagement and stimulate visitors to keep coming back to their website, in turn improving conversions.

It is easy to build web push notifications for your website and can be done even by those who have a little technical background and therefore it is a convenient tool for marketers.

Mobile Push Notifications

mobile-push-notification

Similar to web push notifications that are triggered by a product you have installed, mobile app push notifications are also triggered by existing/downloaded applications on your device. 

Such push notifications are composed and shared with the goal of boosting customer engagement. 

Mobile push notifications are also difficult to create and require developer’s support for the same.

Types of Push Notifications Campaign

Contemporary consumers click on messages that are relevant to their interests and emotions. This means that there are examples of push notifications that consumers like to receive. Let’s dive straight into them.

Rich Push Notifications

rich_push_notifications

In this, you can use rich push notifications and add images, emojis, and up to 2 CTAs in your notification.

With images and videos, you can add context to your users and can also boost the visual appeal of your notifications. 

Unlike standard push notifications, Rich push notifications are better as they allow you to add up to 3 clickable links on your notification – the notification itself and 2 CTAs.

If you have numerous landing pages where you want to send your subscribers, multiple CTAs can help you achieve that and also supports you to comprehend what type of CTA copy users find most interesting and click on. 

Another component is Emoji, it has a significant role and there are many emojis available that can be used. Emojis also allow you to ensure that your consumers receive notifications in the same emotional expression you want them to. They also exclude the use of too much text and seeing positive emojis in push notifications encourages them to click on your notification. 

Abandoned Cart Push Notifications

cart-abandonment-notification-templates-1

You must have seen sometimes consumers add a few things in their cart and leave it there for many reasons such as unexpected shipping fees, long delivery time, or payment failures. 

To retarget those lost customers that failed to complete their purchases through cart abandonment push notifications through  these ways: 

  • Schedule a series of automated notifications to be sent at the optimal duration until they complete their purchase.
  • Set up an entry trigger for each campaign, with a set of predefined logic and conditions. 
  • Create as many campaigns you need and add your prospects in the different lists you wish to target.
  • Create a dynamic list of customers who added a product to their cart but did not complete the checkout process. Each campaign can have custom audiences, based on different subscriber properties. 
  • You don’t have to nudge your visitors back to their abandoned cart, but also keep a track on how many completed their purchase and converted to customers by tracking total notifications delivered, number of clicks and the click rate for each campaign.
  • Action-based push notifications give users an extra push and urgency to complete the desired action such as “two items left in your cart. Buy before it sold out”. 

Triggered Push Notifications

Triggered Push Notifications

You can improve your consumer’s journey through triggered push notifications campaigns. 

Triggered campaigns can help you use push notifications as a proactive medium to observe your consumer’s journey. It facilitates you to push a series of automated messages based on predefined rules and real-time data collected after subscribers enter the campaign funnel.

Build various types of campaigns based on your push notifications marketing strategy – open-ended campaigns or closed campaigns. 

An open-ended campaign enables you to send a series of notifications without an exit trigger. Once the subscriber receives all the notifications in the series you’ve planned, the campaign ends.

A closed campaign is where you form a predefined goal, and once your subscriber completes the action, they exit the campaign. They no longer receive the remaining notifications in the series.

  • Personalize your automated communication: Add a human touch to your scheduled push notifications. Create different custom attributes and interact with your subscribers personally. 
  • Determine your target audience: Create custom target groups of subscribers if you have a specific set of audience in mind.
  • Define entry trigger conditions and set goals to convert subscribers based on the element clicked: This is the entry point for your subscribers clicking on any particular CSS element – which includes any link or button on a specific page or throughout the website.
  • Track each campaign with in-depth reporting: Keep a tab on the number of subscribers converted and the conversion rate. Deep-dive into each notification delivered, clicks they received, and their click rate. 

Reminder Notifications

Reminder_notifications

Sometimes the user has an incomplete profile on your portal or forgets something in the cart. 

You can send them a reminder so that consumers and you do not forget about exciting and compelling opportunities. Such reminders will delight your users and they will remain loyal to your brand. It is best for fitness enthusiasts, job portals, educational portals, nutrition sites, eCommerce stores, and many other enlightening activities.

Interest-based Geo-location Notifications

Geolocation_notification

Such notifications are perfect for nearby store alerts, homestay alerts, and many more. For instance, if you want to send your subscribers offers on music concerts in their current location, then send them updates based on their preferences. 

Another best use is for date match alerts of dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble where interest-based geological notifications play a significant role.

Mobile-friendly Push notifications

Billions of users are always engaged on their mobile phones. To take leverage of this you can send them mobile-friendly push notifications. 

Mobile-friendly push notifications authorize you to send push messages right to the users’ mobile browsers without having to invest in the building an app

You also share time-bound push notifications to develop a sense of urgency among users. You can notify about a limited-period offer, a soon approaching expiry date, limited-period flash sales, and so on. Such notifications nudge subscribers to grab the opportunity and utilize the offer. 

Measuring your Push notifications campaigns

Now after having insight on campaigns, we have now come to how to measure them. The best part about the field of marketing is you can measure every campaign that you run. 

Comprehending the effectiveness of every initiative that you take, whether it is acquisition or retention, is very important as the outcomes will shape the pillar of all your future campaigns, in turn allowing you better understand and appreciate your target audience.

It is important as if you’re not gauging your campaigns or not developing your consumer insights then it will be difficult to market or even sell your product effectively. 

To unearth the technique, take into account the following important metrics to help you precisely measure your push notifications campaigns.

  • Opt-in Rates: The number of people who sign up to receive your push notifications.
  • Click-through / Open Rates: The number of people who click on your push notifications.
  • Conversion Rates: The number of people who complete a predefined goal after opening your push notifications.
  • Time on App / Website after Notifications: The time your users spend on your platform, after opening push notifications.
  • Influenced Conversions: The number of times users manually open an app after receiving push notifications (rather than tapping on the notification directly to open the app) within a given time-frame.

Why use Push notifications and How is it better than other channels

Push notifications are important in many ways and can be used for various purposes such as:

Engaging with your consumers

Do you know an average mobile user uses at least nine-ten apps per day?

 Sometimes few apps are not opened that maybe an OTT app. 

To assure that your consumer does not overlook your app or eventually uninstall it, you must keep them engaged. In such scenarios,  push notifications to come into the role. With personalized deals, reminders, and relevant notifications, you can capture your customer’s attention and engage them on your platform.

Leading the consumer to make an in-store purchase

Push notifications can help you to link your online and offline channels and establish a seamless omnichannel experience for your customers. 

82% of smartphone users use their mobile device to make an in-store purchase. To leverage this you can send personalized push notifications to drive your in-store sales.

Retaining customers

As a marketer, you know retaining customers is a greater challenge than acquiring new customers.

However, push notifications can fix that situation. And helps in retaining new customers. 

According to a survey, sharing onboarding push notifications to a newly acquired customer within the first week can lead to a 71% increase in app retention rates.

Provide real-time updates

Whether it is to inform the user about the weather conditions or enable the user to track a package, you can send real-time updates to your user using push notifications.

You can also consider the following stats of push notifications: 

  • Push notifications opt-in rates are higher on Android in comparison to iOS.
  • In iOS, the average opt-in rate of push is highest for ride-sharing apps (79%) while the lowest for Social apps (39%). (andrewchen.co)
  • In the year 2018, the volume of push notifications sent by publishers rose more than 50 percent from January to December. Digiday, Jan 2018

Push Notifications Vs Other channels 

  • Unlike email and SMS, push Notifications are more cost-effective. Most providers offer one million free push notifications, then charge just $1 per additional million. 
  • Push notifications also have advanced features such as advanced analytics, the opportunity to launch a new market, Location-based marketing activities, Leveraging the native functionality of a mobile device.
  • The open rate of push notifications is 90%, in contrast, email-only has 23%.
  • Where the opt-out rate of SMS is 60%, push Notifications in comparison only has 40%
  • The main difference between email and push notification is that the latter will reach active app users immediately with good templates and offers mentioned in it.

Segmentation in Push Notifications

In your marketing strategy, customer segmentation has a crucial role. You can classify your subscribers and deliver relevant content based on their actions or attributes.

To acquire the absolute benefit out of your push notifications campaign, select a tool that enables you to segment based on: 

Page visits

The simplest strategy to find out your user’s intent is through their site behavior. 

Classify them based on several actions executed during a page visit, to send personalized messages. 

Segment them based on the page URL they visit, the referring URL, search keywords, referral types, query parameters, and much more.

Element clicked

Now, do you want to know how your users are interacting with your landing pages? 

For this, you can segment them based on the clicked element as it can help you in classifying them based on different click events such as cart abandonment or engagement with specific CTA buttons. 

Subscriber properties

You can segment your users based on unique user properties and then target them based on their Operating System, Platform, Browser, or User-Agent. This makes it effortless to specify the exact fit for your business goals.

Geo-location

if you want to plan a special campaign for specific geo-location, you can prepare easier tasks by segmenting your audience based on specific regions, and even further by territory.

It’s easy to include or exclude any region or territory, based on your business requirements.

You can start developing segments and trigger notifications according to your business time-zone and region, just the way you want.

JS/API and cookie

Always remember if you have Good push notifications tools then you can create your own customized segmentation. 

If you are a developer, you can segment your users based on the JS/ API variables in your code. 

Besides that, you can also regulate it based on the Cookie key and value pair stored by your website on the user’s browser.

Common Mistakes Made While Using Push Notifications 

Here are a few ways you’re using push notifications the wrong way:

Sending Too Many Notifications

 A basic common mistake that you can make while sending push notifications is flooding your subscribers with notifications. In one way it might look beneficial for a short period where you see an overall increase in the numbers. But sooner or later this will prompt more and more subscribers to opt-out. 

With push notifications, you can talk to your audience directly and in real-time. As a business, you need to understand and observe your audience, their lifestyles, and their needs to figure out the frequency of your push notifications. The frequency will vary from case-to-case, which is why you need to be more selective and particular with what messages you are sending via push notifications.

Not Automating Notifications

If as a brand you do not plan and automate your push notifications, possibilities are that your subscribers will receive them at odd hours, which may lead to the resistance between your users and your campaign.  Schedule your notifications for a certain date and time, or based on the time-zone of your audience segment. Schedule it in a manner that users don’t receive them at odd hours.

Your strategy might vary based on your business proposals. Inadequately timed push notifications will definitely irritate your subscribers, directing to fewer clicks and a higher opt-out rate.  

That when you can use push notification automation. Simply schedule your push notifications in advance and then relax. The notifications will automatically get delivered to your target audience on the scheduled day and time. So even when you will be busy in a meeting, your scheduled push notification about where to find your company’s products will be delivered to your users. 

Not Sending Onboarding Notifications

If you want to familiarize new subscribers and customers with your website then Onboard them with a series of notifications sent at different time intervals to explore different sections of your website. You can develop an onboarding funnel to keep them engaged, setting up a welcome journey that works as part of your goal.

Following the ‘spray-and-pray’ Approach

Every individual is different! Looking at your huge audience and subscribers as a homogeneous mass is the biggest mistake that most marketers committing. 

Users demand high levels of personalization from the brand. If you do not cater to users’ preferences or interest it will only lead to “notification blindness”. 

Segment your audience based on different interests and actions, and also create a target audience persona to segment them accordingly. Send only relevant messages to your subscribers based on their behavior or attributes. 

Offer them value-based messaging to entice them into clicking and engaging with your website. If some segments of subscribers do not find your messaging appealing enough, this will affect your entire roadmap of using push notifications. Therefore, it is absolutely important that you segment your audience and deliver personalized notifications for each segment. 

Not Tracking the Right Metrics

If you’re only focusing on tracking click rates, then you’re simply missing out on the actual conversions and value created by your push notification campaigns.

As marketers, you might only focus on immediate numbers but gauging and evaluating your campaigns is the only way you can truly determine whether push messaging is working for you or not.

If you have a mobile app, complement your mobile push notifications with website or browser push notifications. If you don’t have an app, don’t invest in building an app just to send push notifications. 

Instead, use your visitors’ browser to send notifications.

Wigzo for Push Notifications

Wigzo is an automated solution with an easy 15 minutes set up for all the brands to help them enhance their customer engagement with personalized Push notifications.

You can convey appropriate offers, and reminders to your consumers in real-time, even when they are not on your website which leads to higher customer retention and sales and boosts your25% overall revenue.

Look at other major benefits: 

Increase Conversion Rates

mobile-push-notification

Wigzo can boost your conversion by more than 4x with smart personalized web notifications. With 1-click subscription and no forms to fill, easily convert your visitors into subscribers.3

Automate Your Engagement

automate

Wigzo can set up automated drip notification campaigns with just 1 click and set your customer engagement on autopilot mode. Drip notification campaigns enable you to nurture your audience and convert them into customers. Wigzo provides 26% Increase in click-through rate from push notifications

Recover Abandoned Carts

Abandoned-Carts

Wigzo can capture your user’s attention with visually appealing web push notifications. You can send personalized and targeted notifications with Wigzo and engage your users. It can drive your audience to your website and boost your sales.

Wigzo has helped many eCommerce brands to increase 33% conversion of cart abandoning customers.

Live Tracking 

You can also analyze your push performance in real-time – delivery rates, open rate, click-throughs, and more, Wigzo makes sure you get an in-depth analysis of your campaign performance.

Final Thoughts

Unlike other new marketing channels, lately, push notifications have become more efficient. 

With dynamic push notifications, you personalize messages through decent segmentation, curtail the cost of acquisition by deploying better omnichannel lifecycle campaigns, and reconnect with your customers.

Based on the aforementioned details that have been outlined in this guide you can see how push notifications can improve your brand growth.

The precise push notifications like personalized content can help you boost engagement, retention, and acquisition.

Unlike text messages, It’s definitely better to use push notifications to contact your consumers but make sure you don’t share notifications too often, to them, or else they will opt-out of receiving them.

For a win-win case, enhance consumer experience and value by sending push-notifications based on the user’s location and increase business growth. 

 

Rashi Kundra

Rashi Kundra

Rashi is a literature graduate from Delhi University. She is a content writer at Wigzo. In her spare time, you will find her meditating while grooving on EDM beats.

Related Blogs