Making the most of Push Notifications
Push notifications seem like a blessing for marketers. On paper, it seems like a way to get your consumer to notice your company and your products and rise above the clutter of others. It also seems like a way to recapture customers who may be tempted to switch to your competitors by reminding them of your great bargains. If done correctly, these things may be true, but there’s a good chance that the improper use of push notifications will just as likely drive customers away forever.
Keep the Local Time in Mind
Local Push is a way to schedule your push notifications that vary on the user’s time zone. The practical implications of this is obvious for any company working across multiple time zones. Notifying your customers at 10 AM on the east coast about a new deal might disrupt the beauty sleep of customers on the west coast. This is especially useful for any international users as well.
Geo-Marketing can provide Location-Relevant Deals
Geo-marketing targets audiences based on the current location of a user and giving them useful information. Imagine offering local coupons to a nearby deli to any users within a couple blocks’ radius.
Give your Users Control over Push Notifications
The major downside of push notifications is that they can quickly grow incredibly annoying. Even companies with the best of intentions may find themselves being deleted off users’ smartphones if they are not careful. To mitigate this damage, easily allow users to turn push notifications on and off. If they make it clear that they are not interested, do not send them any notifications. It is not worth the risk of being blacklisted from the customer’s phone.
Less is More
Similar to the last point, constantly harassing your customer with push notifications is the fastest way to get your app uninstalled. Save your push notifications for important situations, such as major deals, promotions, or important news updates. If there are multiple types of push notifications from a single app, make sure your user choose which notifications they wish to receive.
Double Check your Notifications before Publishing them
Just like tasting your own cooking, test out your push notification on a mobile device to see if the look is right. One important thing to keep in mind is the character count. If there is too much text to fit in one notification, consider being more frugal with your word choices.
Understand what your audience wants
The perception on push notifications heavily depends on the target audience for your application. If your app promotes itself as the deliverer of breaking edge news, having a push notification for major news stories may be appropriate. Likewise, a banking app that uses push notifications to show low balances or fraudulent activities will hardly be criticized by their users. However, as a silly example, an app for a company that sells antiques should not be firing out push notifications every hour about their new wooden rocking chair promotion.
Custom sounds can set you apart
Push notifications with custom sounds can differentiate you from the rest, but puts your app at a higher risk of becoming annoying. If your company wants to use custom push sounds, keep the number of push sounds at a bare minimum.
Loosen up! Don’t be afraid to get casual sometimes
Not all push notifications should be used for business. Well-wishes and holiday messages are a good way to build rapport with your user base and allows your app to differentiate itself from its competitors in its own way.
Looking for a way to promote your business online? Why not take a look at Wishpond’s social promotions?
Source – http://blog.parse.com/2012/11/26/dont-be-pushy-10-useful-tips-for-awesome-push-notifications/