The power of push notifications: How brands can win home screen real estate

In today's hyper-connected world, retail brands are constantly looking for new ways to engage and retain customers. Among the arsenal of digital marketing tools at their disposal, push notifications have emerged as a powerful way to drive customer engagement, increasing sales, and enhancing brand loyalty. 

In this blog post, we explore:

It’s been over a decade since Apple invented push notifications back in 2009, and it’s reported that today's average smartphone user receives 46 push notifications per day.  

According to Business of Apps, push notifications have a 7% average clickthrough rate (CTR). Compare that to email, for which a “good” average CTR is 1-5%. The ability for brands to access customers wherever they are, with messages relevant to the specific apps they’ve downloaded, is powerful. As a result, an increasing number of savvy retailers are battling it out to gain real estate on users’ home screens.  

Push notifications have become an indispensable tool for brands, and can be used to nudge customers along the path to purchase—particularly when combined with promotional or loyalty program messaging.

Push notifications offer retail brands the ability to communicate with their audiences in real time. Unlike emails that might get buried in overflowing inboxes, push notifications appear directly on a user's phone screen, instantly capturing their attention. 

Whether offering time-sensitive promotions, informing about new product launches, or reminding users of their loyalty program benefits, push notifications enable brands to deliver timely and relevant information directly to their customers. This real-time communication fosters a sense of urgency and excitement, compelling customers to take immediate action.

One of the most significant advantages of push notifications is their potential for personalization. Retail brands can leverage customer data and preferences—both first- and zero-party data—to tailor notifications to each individual.

By analyzing purchase history, browsing behavior, and demographic information, brands can also send highly targeted messages that resonate with recipients on a personal level. For example, a fashion retailer can send a push notification showcasing a curated selection of products based on a customer's style preferences, with deep links to the product pages, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Personalized engagement not only boosts sales but also enhances the customer experience, making recipients feel valued and understood.

Push notifications are a powerful tool for driving conversions and boosting sales. They also reduce friction in the customer experience. Customers receive a push notification, open it to the relevant page, and can purchase on the spot, right from their phone. 

By strategically crafting compelling messages and incorporating persuasive calls-to-action, retail brands can entice customers to make a purchase or take advantage of a limited-time offer. Furthermore, push notifications can be used to remind customers of items left in their app shopping carts, encouraging them to complete their purchase and reducing cart abandonment rates.

In a fiercely competitive retail landscape, building and maintaining brand loyalty is of the utmost importance. Push notifications can be instrumental in nurturing long-term relationships with customers. By consistently delivering valuable content, exclusive offers, and personalized recommendations, brands can keep their audience engaged and invested. In fact, push notifications can boost app engagement up to 88% and lead to much higher return rates within 30 days of enabling push.

Push notifications allow brands to celebrate milestones with their customers, such as birthdays, anniversaries, or loyalty program achievements. These small gestures contribute to a sense of belonging and strengthen the emotional connection between customers and the brand.

An added benefit is that push notifications allow you to place your logo and branding front and center, so customers keep your brand top of mind. 

Push notifications aren’t just a way to communicate with your customers, they also provide invaluable insights into user behavior and preferences. Retail brands can analyze notification engagement metrics to understand which messages resonate most with which customers. Maybe one customer opens all push notifications while another only responds to promotional offers. With the right martech tools, you can track these insights from push notifications, email, SMS, and all other channels, making it easier to tailor journeys that align with your customers’ behaviors.

By harnessing these insights, brands can continue to evolve their push notification strategies by refining messaging, optimizing content, and improving targeting for future campaigns

Push notifications have the unique ability to deliver real-time, personalized, and engaging content directly to customers' devices. But the sheer number of push notifications that users now receive means that sending generic, batch-and-blast campaigns won’t set your brand apart.

You still have to provide value to each customer, as individuals, to achieve cut-through. So use push notifications in a way that makes the most sense — and use their innate features to your brand’s advantage.