How push notifications increase sales and customer loyalty

In the past few decades we have seen a communications explosion.

In the 1970s, the average person received around 1,000 messages a year – mostly in the form of letters and phone calls. We now receive an average of 130 emails, 94 SMS texts and 200 Slack messages every day, as well as hundreds of other messages via personal chat apps such as WhatsApp and Messenger. We see an annual number of communications well over 100,000 – roughly every five minutes.

Tactics that once worked no longer produce the results they once achieved. However, there is one channel that stands out: push notifications.

Push notifications deliver a click rate 7 times higher than emails. They enable businesses to see news and be seen consistently. But push isn’t a simple marketing speaker either. It can do more than just reinforce basic marketing messages. When used correctly, Push can improve the user experience both online and on their mobile devices.

To find out how push notifications improve user experience and engagement while being fun, just take a look at the examples below.

Real-time updates

Few viewers are as loyal and committed as sports fans. That passion means they want to be the first to hear the news about their favorite teams. The Australian National Rugby League (NRL) followed this behavioral trend and used push notifications to provide fans with updates as soon as possible.

Domenic Romeo, head of technology at the NRL, used push notifications to promote live kickoff times, results, and other updates as soon as they occurred. He made sure his users came first in terms of information – and his 1 million monthly active users rewarded him for that.

Real-time notifications, as Romeo found out, fulfilled the need for immediacy and effectively engaged users in live events, broadcasts and conversations. The benefits were immense. 73% of companies that implemented push notifications saw a significant increase in user interaction.

Transaction notifications

Let’s see how the Seattle-based order-ahead coffee shop app Joe communicates with its customers. First, Joe sends a notification to your phone every time an order is placed through the app. When the barista takes your order, your phone will ping again with a confirmation. Another notification will appear when your drink is ready to be picked up.

For a busy commuter trying to coordinate commuting, breakfast pickups and coffee orders, this type of transparency is a huge benefit.

“The nature of coffee is that people are usually in a great rush,” says Lenny Urbanowski, CTO at Joe. “If you order in advance, you are probably in a hurry. They want to know their cup is ready and waiting for them when they get there.”

Joe’s user flow shows something that applies to all businesses: people want to know what’s going on. Transaction notifications are the perfect way to raise the curtain. They make sure that customers know what is happening at every stage of the process. For Joe, this means a 25% increase in customer loyalty since the inclusion of push notifications.

Transaction notifications work wherever you have a somewhat obscure service. You involve customers. And committed customers tend to stay longer. Recent research found that using push notifications increased app retention – typically three to ten times.

Conversion driver

Most e-commerce retailers send out promotional emails, texts and mailers as soon as a new customer signs up. But the drop shipping service Inspire Uplift does things a little differently.

A popup message will appear within seconds after a new visitor lands on the company’s homepage. The message is simple and to the point, and it promises visitors a significant discount off the entire site if they opt for push notifications. When they click Accept, the site sends an instant push notification with the discount code.

While your competitors’ emails are stored unread in inboxes and apps, Inspire Uplift with a powerful conversion driver prevents the messages from getting lost. With Push, the drop shipping company converted over 60% of its subscribers into active regular customers.

Most other businesses, not just e-commerce retailers, can learn from the Inspire Uplift example.

In our noisy world, marketers must take every advantage to reduce the noise. Right now, push notifications are the best solution.

Promos and Updates

With only 3% of the US population participating in snow sports, mountain resorts have to compete fiercely for every visitor. Several years ago, Tracy Chang, vice president of digital marketing at Squaw Alpine, began experimenting with push to digitally reproduce the resort’s five-star experience on the slopes.

For example, when the roads around the resort are blocked, Chang and her team jump into action. They create special discounts and advertise them via push. Instead of sitting stationary in their cars, visitors can wait for the traffic jams on the slopes to be over.

And that is just the beginning.

Chang designed the Squaw Alpine app to deliver an experience like no other. It has leaderboards, terrain updates, chairlift status and even crowd management functions. Squaw Alpine built something that is really valuable to their users and saw a surge in app engagement. Today, it even surpasses Squaw Alpine’s website – and this is largely thanks to Chang and her careful use of push notifications.

Squaw Alpine’s app reinforces the idea that push notifications are not just a marketing channel. Careful deployment can deepen the user experience and increase usability. For example, you can use push notifications to inform users about new features and opportunities, for example via a holiday discount or an exclusive test version.

When done right, it pays off tremendously.

A better customer experience drives ROI

Push notifications never replace your existing communication channels. There is a time and a place for each channel. However, knowing where to take advantage of push can help you maximize its value. Push is a partner for your existing channels – a way to improve your customer experience and stand out.