Four Push notification metrics brands should track

Push Notification was first introduced by Apple in 2009 as a way for an app to send a timely update to its users. Since then, it has gained immense popularity with a rise in adoption with over 60% of mobile users enabling push notifications on their mobile devices. 

Fast forward to 2024, it has become an essential part of any multi-channel marketing strategy helping brands deliver action-oriented messages to users, driving engagement rates of 40% on mobile devices and 18% on web browsers, far surpassing traditional email click-through rates. 

Push notification is a powerful tool for connecting with users to deliver timely, personalized and impactful messages that drive action.  Let’s understand the key performance metrics of this powerful tool and strategies that can turn a simple message into a conversion-driving asset. 

What is a Push Notification 

A push notification is a popup message sent to a user’s device be it mobile or web. These notification messages are alerts to users, consisting of new messages, any updated, reminder or promotional message sent to the user app or website even when the app or website is not open or not actively visiting the website. 

Read Also: AMP Mailers vs. Traditional Emailers: Why Interactive Mailers are the Next Big Thing?

These are usually opt-in alerts that display text or rich media, such as image, title, button, message or URL, which are designed to be viewed in real-time and often trigger immediate action. 

Two types of Push notifications

1. Mobile-push notification

The most popular type of notification and usually what most users deem a push notification. Mobile push are messages sent directly to mobile devices via apps. These notifications can be viewed from the lock screen or top section of the mobile device or notification center. 

2. Web-push notification

Web-push notifications are messages and alerts sent via web browsers, both on desktop and mobile websites. Web push are launched later than mobile push 

For web Push, these notifications are pop-up on the user’s screen, typically on the top-right or bottom-right corner of the screen. 

What 4 Push Notifications Metrics Brand should track? 

As a brand, it is important to know when to stop and when to send, as customers are bombarded with messages every day. To ensure the effectiveness of notifications, brands must measure their performance using these key metrics: 

1. Open Rate 

Open Rate can be defined as the percentage of people who have opened a notification communication. A higher open rate indicates that the content is compelling and relevant. 

For instance, personalized notifications can achieve up to 4x higher open rates than generic ones.

2. Click Through Rate

Click Through Rate measures the percentage of users who click on the push notification after receiving the message. These metrics indicate how engaging and actionable your notification is. A higher click-through rate indicates more conversion and better engagement. 

3. Conversion Rate 

To better understand the performance of your push notification and get a better understanding of your audience, the conversion rate is a more valuable metric. 

Conversion rate can be measured as the percentage of users who completed a particular action after interacting with a notification. 

Read Also : SMS Marketing 7 Tips to Increase Open Rates and Engagement

The actions that you can motivate your user to perform with your push- notification is reading an article, a newly added movie (Netflix), a trial of a new feature launch, an item added to your cart, completing checkout and more. 

For example, a well-targeted notification about an abandoned cart can increase conversion rates by up to 25%.

4. Opt-in and Opt-out Rates 

• Opt-in Rate: Otp-in data shows the number of people who willingly opted to receive push notifications from your brand.

The opt-in rate will help you track the best time to send a notification, which type of content will work, and which landing page is best to send a notification. A high opt-in rate indicates user trust and interest in your brand’s content. 

• Opt-out Rate: This tracks the percentage of users who unsubscribe from notifications, often indicating dissatisfaction with the frequency or relevance of messages. Monitoring this metric helps brands refine their strategies to retain subscribers.

Best Practices for Writing Push Notification 

1. Keep it short, sweet and snappy. Your message should be clear and concise which can quickly convey your point. Users should understand your message at a glance. 

2. Personalization should be an important part of your notification content. Use the recipient’s name, past behavior, or other relevant information to personalize the content of the notification. Personalized messages can improve engagement by up to 80%

3. Include an actionable CTA button like “Shop Now”, “Learn More” or “Claim Offer” to encourage the user to engage with the brand and take the next step 

4. Don’t spam. Ask yourself is this what they really want to see right now? Keep it Relevant, segment your audience and send targeted messages. Frequency is also important. Don’t let users unsubscribe or ignore you because of too many messages. 

5. Timing is important. While sending notifications try to match your audience’s time zone and behavior and avoid sending messages at an unusual time. Notifications sent during peak activity hours can boost engagement by 25%. 

6. Offer something worthwhile. Your notification should offer value to your audience. Value content can be anything from exclusive content, promotions, coupons or loyalty rewards. Notifications that deliver value are more likely to be well-received. 

7. A/B Testing different messaging is important. A/B testing works very well, especially for push notifications. Experiment with different content, formats, and timings to see what works best. A/B testing helps refine your strategy based on real data. Track your result and see what works and what’ not. This helps you improve your strategy. 

Conclusion

Push notifications are more than just alerts—they’re an opportunity to deliver value directly to your audience’s fingertips. By focusing on these key metrics like opt-in rates, click-through rates, and open and conversion rates brand can achieve higher engagement rates, sometimes boosting retention by up to 88% for users who opt-in to notifications. 

Follow the best practices like personalization, segmentation and A/B testing, to ensure that your audience resonates with your messages. 

Your Audience span is shorter than ever, so keep experimenting with new strategies to stay competitive. 

Happy reading, Happy experimenting 😊 

Read Also: RCS Messaging 101: Boost Your Marketing Outside of Text

Written By – Alisha Limichana