What is a push notification?

A push notification is a short message that appears as a pop-up on your desktop browser, mobile home screen, or in your device notification center from a mobile app. Push notifications are typically opt-in alerts that display text and rich media, like images or buttons, which enable a user to take a specific action.

Organizations use push notifications as a marketing or communication channel, but they can also be used as a security mechanism.

There are two types of push notifications: web-based and app-based

• Web-based notifications, called “web-push” notifications, can appear on your desktop or mobile device. Any site can send a push notification through supported operating systems (OS) and browsers. Notifications can pop up on different areas of a screen or view, depending on your browser or operating system type.
• App-based notifications are what most users deem a push notification (even though web push notifications are just as common). This type of notification is created in-app. From a user's device, whether on a mobile or desktop device, a recipient must typically opt in first. These notifications or alerts are more typically pop-up on mobile devices. Apps offer these as a way to either create greater in-app user engagement, and open rates or to compel a lead to take a specific action.

How push notifications are used?

A push notification is a type of channel that works to leverage communication. Marketing is the dominant means for how developers and organizations, respectively, create and use push notifications. However, push notifications are applied nearly as often for civic communication and, less often, for security authentication.

• Marketing: A push notification in marketing can be a powerful channel to increase sales and customer retention and to provide data for more insightful marketing metrics. As a marketing strategy, a notification is a channel where end-users can take an action in the sales funnel. Messages can help bring a customer back to an abandoned cart with a pop-up text message or in-app message. It can also serve to re-engage a customer. In mobile marketing, a notification can build brand awareness with well-timed, segmented messaging. Data shows consumers are less likely to opt-in to notifications on social media and retail, with only 6% opt-ins1. However, when executed with thoughtful, data-driven preparation, marketed push notifications can reduce customer churn and increase click-through-rates (CTR) to a site or app.
• Civic communication: In the last few years, recipients engaged with utility push notifications more than any other type. While recipients might uninstall or opt out of other types of notifications, this type had the highest amount of engagements, at 37%2. Local government and utility agencies use push notifications as safety alerts for severe weather, outages, traffic alerts, community-drivers, such as missing person alerts, and local government updates.
• Security authentication: Finally, push notifications are also a type of security authentication. They are used as an authentication factor for identity-authentication to gain data or site access. Apps and sites with more sensitive information, such as online banking or healthcare sites, may use push notifications as an identity authenticator.

Why businesses should adopt push notifications?

There are several benefits to using push notifications. However, these are tightly tied to how well an organization plans and executes its use of them. Click-through rates for push notifications hover around 2% - 3% as a standard average across industries. To gain high engagement and user satisfaction, strategic timing, personalization and segmentation are key guiding posts for well-performing push notifications.

There are many reasons organizations benefit from using push notifications. These include the following:

• Higher open-rates than email
• Automates marketing campaigns and communication
• Similar to SMS messaging (short message service), a device, browser or app does not need to be powered on to send a notification
• Generates increased user satisfaction and enhances user experience
• Creates opportunities for more user interactions—and sales
• Achieves real-time responsiveness
• Enables user-centric customization for opt-ins and opt-outs

Provides behavior analytics that can inform content strategy
The most significant benefit for push notification recipients is that the channel is a user-centric medium. Recipients can receive information on their terms and in their preferred space. They can also change device notification settings, or unsubscribe to notifications. This latitude of options counteracts notification fatigue, but also compels app publishers and organizations to create the most relevant content for a recipient.

Moreover, automation remains a key benefit for organizations, particularly where there is a need for immediacy, such as in delivering news, public service information, or for use-cases such as a highly personalized sporting event update or real estate alert.