When you study what goes into making your site top of Google, there are literally hundreds of ranking factors you need to take into account, however the power of what you do with your subscribers lies directly in your hands. It’s estimated the average worldwide opt-in rate for push notifications was 67.5% (According to Accentage) in H1 2018. Web Push Notifications also have an impressive Opt-in rate of almost 90% (according to Quora)
If the opt in rate is higher for these types of messages doesn’t it make sense to use it strategically to grow your own conversions?
What are web push notifications?
A web push notification are messages that can be sent to a user via desktop or mobile device using various applications. They are simple alert-style messages that you may already be familiar with on your phone if you use apps like WhatsApp or Facebook. You will find them popping up at the top or bottom right-hand corner of your screen (dependent on the device you are using).
It’s a permission-based marketing medium as the user needs to “opt-in” to receive them, similarly as they would for email campaigns. They can often be used to capture new data by offering some sort of sign-up offer – and they can then be used to retarget users with personalised messages. These are becoming increasingly popular in affiliate marketing and on websites for good reason.
How does it all work?
With paid media campaigns and banner advertisements taking a hit in recent years it’s becoming harder to grab players and engage them to convert. The push notification option can be a useful tool in your arsenal to retarget users more effectively.
Before you send out a push notification – you should have a clear picture on your end goal. The targets can be anything from re-engaging lapsed users to increasing customer engagement. If the goal is to raise conversion rates, you need to ensure that you are creating powerful messages that the user will click and use appropriate calls to action.
If you have little knowledge of your user behaviour and continue to send push notifications, you will end up with a large percentage of users blocking these notifications. Make sure that you are differentiating your users and segmenting the data correctly to personalise the message. This includes geo-targeting. If you are an affiliate that’s making the most of the growth of the industry in non-UK countries, then this will come in handy – as you can even target specific regions based on their time-zones.
Push notifications also come with limited characters which can make things a bit of a challenge, so you need to ensure that you are conveying your message crisply and concisely.
Make sure that the message isn’t intrusive and focused
Timing is critical when it comes to the success of these campaigns. If you send out timed notifications, it can boost conversion rate by up to 25%. As they create a sense of urgency, they are much more likely to trigger an immediate reaction which is why you need to ensure your messages are timely. To make sure that you are consistently improving upon these campaigns, you need to analyse them frequently. If you see that there are notifications that don’t have the desired effect, you need to bring in new ideas and methods. You can test further by re-segmenting, understanding your audience preferences and trying other creative messages.
If you haven’t yet used push notifications as part of your affiliate marketing strategy perhaps it’s time to consider it? You could be missing out on a way to drive better engagement.
