All the successful mobile app centered organizations connect with their clients at each phase of the app lifecycle. One of the best ways to do this is by tailoring your communication to every client’s present engagement state with your brand. This can be achieved by custom-making push notifications.
Push notifications provide an effective way to app marketers to boost user engagement and retention. However, most app owners do not know how to exploit this technique. They go investing in quality mobile app development services but don’t think about its promotional activities.
It is also important to note that as much as push notifications benefit an app, they could also backfire if not used carefully. Nevertheless, it won’t harm your business if you start sending customized push notifications instead of text messages. Here are some campaign ideas.
Push Notification Campaigns to Grow User Retention and Engagement
1. Start With a Warm Welcome
There are times when a prospective customer downloads your app, browses it initially for some time, and then it just sits there in the phone without being used. Clearly, that the user is interested in your app but doesn’t feel engaged. This is the time when you must start sending onboarding push notifications, including greetings and gratifying messages. To lure the user into using the app more frequently, you can offer onboarding deals or discounts.
2. Retarget Lost Users
If you get this right, you will see an exponential increase in the rate of user retention. If the user has not opened your app for quite a while, it’s time to implement retargeting. The retargeting campaign includes reminding the user about any incomplete task that they might be interested in completing. For example, a shopping app could send push notifications to its user reminding them that they have items in their cart that they should purchase before the offer expires.
3. Time Your Notification
This is the most beneficial campaign as it could bring you the maximum engagement if executed carefully. The timing of a push notification plays a major role in getting the user’s attention. The first thing you need to understand is that sending too many and irrelevant push notifications will only end up irritating users. You should time your notifications strategically. For instance, for a news app, sending the exclusive news flash in the morning will be the most effective. Or something like what Uber does. They tell you they miss you and offer a discount on your next trip.
4. Send Out Loyalty Rewards
Have you noticed that the staff at a restaurant you visit most frequently become so acquainted with you that they don’t shy away from offering you a coffee on the house? You could do that to your loyal app users. Reward them for their loyalty and bring this to their notice by sending a loyalty reward push notification. Let’s say a particular user has been ordering food from your app consistently for 5 days. It would do wonders if you’d offer them a 20% off food coupon.
5. Send Location-Specific Notifications
Location-based push notifications are trending these days as they generate greater conversions. All you need to do is customize and send push notifications depending upon the user’s location. If the user is in the vicinity of your shop or brand, you can send alluring deals and discounts to make them pay a visit to you. For instance, a restaurant could send out a push notification to a user who regularly orders from his restaurant.
Oh, and you don’t want to try this location-based campaign on an inactive user as it could backfire, resulting in permanent loss of that user. Try to target the users who frequently open your app and seem to be pretty active.
Final Thoughts
Push notifications will boost user engagement in no time and it’s no more a secret. But you have to be specific with the strategy and plan using this method. I hope the above-mentioned ideas will help you increase user engagement exponentially. Stay tuned with AppMystery to unlock other app marketing techniques.