5 Proven Benefits of Using Push Notifications

Push notifications are an effective way to re-engage and bring back inactive users instantly and effectively. If done correctly, it can increase the retention rate by 3-10 times.

For example, by now, you're used to getting push notifications on your smartphone. Every time you get a news update, a special offer from your favorite brand, or a delivery update --- that's a push notification personalized and sent directly to you.

In other words, push notifications are effective because you can target them based on the user's interest and browser history. And targeted messages have a 1.4X higher CTR (Click-Through-Rate) than regular notifications. These clicks can turn into paying customers.

So in this article, I'll cover 5 proven benefits of using push notifications. But first, let's explain what they are and how you can use them.

What Are Push Notifications?

Push notifications are instant messages delivered directly to users to boost website traffic, build relationships with your audience, and increase sales and revenue for your business.

A push notification campaign should grab users' attention with a quick and effective call to action or an enticing offer for maximum user engagement.

Push notifications can be used on both desktop and mobile devices. And both forms of opt-in communication require users to agree to receive alerts or manually sign up.

Here are examples of standard push notifications:

Breaking news updates
New product releases
Offers and discount coupons
Order-status or tracking updates
Sports scores or weather updates

You can quickly set these up using a push notification software like PushEngage.

Now that you know some common uses of push notifications, let's look at 5 proven benefits of adding them to your marketing strategy.

1. Send Real-Time Updates

Are you looking to send real-time updates to your users about newly-launched products, breaking news, flash sales, or trending stories? All website owners can use push notifications to target their audience and get them to engage with your content or product.

Using push notifications can help you send out direct personalized messages with new updates to active users on the channel of choice. This form of communication allows you to cut through the noise and stand out from your competition.

In contrast to social media, where users get bombarded with brand messaging and other distractions, push notifications are direct and super-targeted, creating personal relationships with your audiences.

2. Engage Users With Curated Content

Push notifications are like email, one of the most engaging channels on the market since you can explicitly curate them to users' preferences and behaviors. They can be segmented based on your audience's interest and are therefore much more likely to convert.

At the same time, push notification campaigns can be sent at scale to increase brand awareness and customer retention without breaking the bank.

For example, you can send notifications to:

Send thoughtful reminders to retarget customers who were close to buying a product, subscribing to your list, or starting a free trial.
Make users aware of upcoming events, special offers, and discounts, or package delivery status.
Provide visitors with breaking news updates that match their preferences and get them to come back to your website.

3. Quickly Grow Your Subscribers List

Getting subscribers through a simple lead-capture form on your website can be a difficult task today when basically all sites try to collect your email address. People's inbox is filling up faster than they can handle, making them more reluctant to sign up for a newsletter.

So, now to the best part, when using push notifications, you don't need to capture email addresses or any lead information at all. Users can simply subscribe to your web communications with a single click.

One-click opt-in permission doesn't require an email address or any other information, which is a huge benefit. This simple way of opting-in removes the hurdle of users having to give away their contact details.

For instance, 90% of e-commerce websites successfully use single-step opt-in to grow their subscribers and conversions. By adding push notifications to your marketing strategy, you can build direct customer relationships and generate more sales and revenue for your business.

4. Retarget Hesitant Shoppers

54% of shoppers will return to purchase the items in their abandoned shopping cart after seeing a discount on these products. Push notifications are an excellent way to send quick notifications with offers and discounts to turn hesitant shoppers into active buyers.

Also, just sending a simple reminder about the products waiting in their shopping cart can make them return to complete the purchase. People easily get side-tracked and distracted from "information overload" online, so push messages are great to bring back their attention.

Best of all, you can include emojis, images, and different call-to-action to make your notifications more personalized and engage users for the long term.

5. Target the Right Users With Geo-Targeting

Undoubtedly, web push messages can pull your users back to your mobile app or website, but this doesn't guarantee that they will convert into potential customers. To make this happen, it's crucial to target the appropriate audience.

For instance, mobile apps can request permission to access a user's location. If accepted, you can personalize the customer experience with location-based push notifications. And you can even target users based on their time zone, country, state, or city. Imagine what that can do for your local business.

Conclusion

And there, you have 5 proven benefits of using push notifications. Using push notifications in your marketing strategy creates numerous opportunities for increasing engagement, conversions and retarget customers that got lost on the way.