So, you have an app and a rapidly growing user base. What can you do to ensure your existing users continue to engage with the app whilst rewarding them for their loyalty?

Welcome to the wonderful world of push notifications! You may have been bombarded by push messages on your personal mobile device and found yourself growing frustrated and perhaps disabling the notifications. This may be the case with some apps – push is a powerful tool and if used improperly it can do more harm than good for your app’s reputation. However, if used properly, push can be incredibly effective. The purpose of this article is to give a greater understanding of what push notifications are and how you can get the most out of them.

PUSH RESPONSIBLY

The problem with push is that you run the risk of taking control away from the user. You don’t want to provide an invasive feature that throws reminders and discounts at the user until the once pleasant alert tone is ringing in their ears. To counter this, we strongly recommend that you provide settings and preferences that allow the user a degree of control. Your user should see push notifications as a choice that they have made to keep in touch with their favourite app, not as an unexpected inconvenience that has latched itself onto a newly downloaded application. By giving users the power to manage whether or not they receive push messages, you avoid the risk of users deleting your app just to kill this one feature.

At the most basic level, push preferences MUST allow your users to turn the notifications off. While pushes exist to convey helpful information it is unrealistic to expect 100% of your user base to keep up the level of activity needed to fully appreciate the frequency of your app’s push notifications.

There is also a great deal of room to tailor the notifications to the user through settings to let them decide what type of pushes to receive and allowing notifications sent to adapt to the way the user tends to use the app.

TO PUSH OR NOT TO PUSH

Perhaps you have an app and you are wondering why you would want to risk irritating your users with push notifications. Perhaps you don’t have an app and you are wondering how any of this can compete with a mobile site and a friendly e-mail subscription. This is where the figures come in.

NN4M’s data highlights that 85% of users choose to receive push notifications from apps, so there is little to worry about when it comes to scaring off your clientele. As for encouraging engagement, the apps do significantly better than their mobile site counterparts when it comes to conversions and can result in an increase of as much as 18% in the average spend. This can be attributed to the efforts of push notifications which are shown to have a response rate that is 30% greater than e-mail.

THE WONDERS OF PUSH

So how should we be using push?

It’s important to have a clear goal outlined when sending pushes. Don’t stick to routine, mundane discounts and reminders. Give your users something unexpected to discourage them from dismissing the notifications out of hand.

Some useful goals to keep in mind:

• Driving customers in-store
  “Your local retail outlet has a special giveaway for app users!”
• Personalised push
  “Thanks for purchasing the Bella flats! Use promo code FAVE20 to receive £5 off your next purchase!”
• Rewarding loyalty
  “Enjoy a special coupon code from us as thanks for using the app for one whole year”
• Highlight features of your app
  “You’ve created a gift list, now share it with your friends”

Once you have mastered the art of push you will be providing an improved experience to your users, causing them to feel more appreciated and spend more time on your app as a result. Push is a direct line to your users, no matter where they are, making it a marketing and communication opportunity you won’t want to miss out on.