Source: NotifyVisitors
Companies invest millions in attracting new users. However, it is crucial to understand that an inactive user is a potential new user for the competitors and vice-versa. Statistics show that an investment of only 5% in retaining customers can increase the profit by 25 to 95%. This is probably an overused stat, but it perfectly sums up the importance of re-engaging and retaining users.
Ideally, the best way to engage the users is by maintaining a continuous connection via various communication channels. But if this is not the case and users have become dormant, you can easily break the silence and re-engage users using push notifications.
Push notifications are the small pop-up messages that users receive on their desktops, laptop, or mobile phones. These are easy-to-read short messages that can pull back inactive users and help create a strong community. However, an overdose of these can also worsen the situation. Then how to correctly use push notifications to re-engage users? Keep on reading to know.
How to Re-engage Users Using Push Notifications?
Push notification is a powerful tool that must be used responsibly. To use it effectively, one must first know these ten push notification strategies for user re-engagement.
- Know why the user stopped using your website in the first place.
- Do your research and prepare a good strategy.
- Determine the best timings to send push.
- Use geolocation for better results.
- Ensure the message is relevant, crisp, and personalized.
- Use rich media and CTA.
- Make notifications unique but easily perceivable.
- Only add deep links.
- Run a cart abandonment campaign.
- Have a multichannel holistic approach.
Let us now discuss each of these pointers.
1. Know Why the User Stopped Visiting
Companies cannot just start sending push notifications after a long silence. Before sending push messages, companies need to find out why a user(s) became inactive. Multiple reasons might have led to it, but similarities and patterns will automatically surface once all the reasons are listed. These similarities and unhealthy patterns should be removed/improved, and push notifications must reflect the same.
2. Do Research and Prepare a Re-engagement Strategy
Once the cause for leaving the website/app is known, it is time to prepare a strategy. A good push notification strategy should be inclusive and informative. The most important part of the push strategy is the first message. It is the ice-breaker and should either highlight an offer that the user cannot ignore or highlight improvements.
3. Identify the Correct Time to Send a Push Notification
Time is the key element to re-engaging users via push notifications. The correct time to send a push can depend on many factors, which differ in every field. No one likes to receive push notifications at midnight or dawn. So, do some research and get the hang of the most effective time for the notification.
4. Using Geolocation
These days, identifying the user’s location is easy. Hence, use the geolocation feature and segregate the audience to send push. You would like to send a personalized 4th of July push notification to all the users in the US. However, you will not send the same message to users in England. This is where geolocation makes work easy.
5. Relevant, Crisp, and Personalized Content
No matter how well strategies push notifications are, these will not work if the content is not informative and easy to read. The most effective push notifications are the one which is crisp and gives valuable information. Instead of sending vague messages, companies should send information about sales, offers, new features, etc. Also, remember that users are humans and humans like to feel special. Hence, rather than sending bulk messages, create personalized messages for each user or pre-defined user category. This might sound like a lot of work but it is worth it.
6. Use Rich Media and Add CTA
Using images, gifs, audio, emoji, carousel, etc., makes a notification attractive and gets a strong response from users. Adding a CTA button enhances the experience and guides users directly to the targeted web page. However, before adding CTA and rich media, understand user preference. These should not be used naively and must a-line with the user’s expectations.
7. Make Push Notification Unique and Recognizable
A simple black tick sign on the white screen instantly reminds me of Nike. Why? Because that is the symbol of the brand, which is widely popular. This trick can also come in handy while re-engaging users using push notifications. Using a color theme, similar font, size, etc., will make your messages recognizable in the sea of numerous push notifications.
8. Attach Deep Links
One unacceptable mistake companies make while re-engaging users using push notifications is that they don’t add deep links. A deep link takes users directly to an app or targeted web page instead of the store, landing page, or website. When the deep link is missing, users don’t get the information they want, creating chaos. It also increases the possibility of users abandoning the app/website.
9. Run a Cart Abandonment Campaign
Push notifications are the most subtle way of reminding users about the items abandoned in the shopping cart. These messages remind users of the things that they once wished to purchase. When such messages are clubbed with sale offers, restock news, and discounts, the probability of the user making a move increases.
10. Use Multi-channel Holistic Approach
A holistic strategy uses multiple channels. Push notifications can be the first step to successfully breaking the awkward silence, but a follow-up email can increase the impact by a considerable margin. Email marketing allows companies to send more information because through push notifications, only limited details can be sent. The multi-channel approach works as a reminder without being too assertive.
Conclusion
Now you know how to re-engage users through push notifications. It is indeed a very useful tool for re-engaging but companies should not send too many push notifications as it can irritate the user and they might unsubscribe or even remove the app. Hence, it is very important to maintain a balance and approach inactive users wisely.
About Author –
Shivani is a content writer at NotifyVisitors. She writes SEO articles, blogs, and guest posts for businesses to improve website ranking on SERP. She follows a balanced approach to the quality of content and its marketing. She loves to do creativity, although she had an English major in her graduation.