Have you ever searched for something and then all of a sudden became bombarded with ads everywhere selling you that pair of headphones you were looking into? Or have you ever had an exchange with a friend about a holiday to Asia and then started seeing pop-ups everywhere? Well, you are not alone. Any person that has done something online has had at some point that creepy feeling that someone is listening to them or someone is watching them. In reality, this is just the result of a fairly poorly done algorithm focused on targeting rather than personalizing content. 

Actually, when done right, personalized communications that are relevant and useful can create lasting customer loyalty and drive revenue growth of 10 to 30 percent (McKinsey, 2017). The challenge is to personalize in a way that doesn’t cross lines and delivers genuine value and relevance. In this video we will cover how to do push notifications the right way. 

Let’s cover the 5 most important strategies for creating relevant content for your consumers

1. New Suggestions. Shoppers want to see recommendations for products they haven’t thought of yet or products that they might need, instead of similar products. Shoppers don’t want to be constantly reminded of products they’ve already bought or searched for, especially if the ads appear either too soon, too frequently, or too late in the process. While an already established technique to retarget customers with items that they have clicked on but never purchased, it may be much more interesting to target them with a personalized selection of shoes based on their clicks. Alternatively, shoppers may be interested in purchasing a cocktail dress after they have completed the purchase of stiletto shoes. For example, a successful story is from customers who browse at Nordstrom.com often get product recommendations for similar items in different product categories the next time they visit Facebook.

2. Important Reminders. One way to be relevant with customers is to specifically target customers with relevant reminders that might trigger their interest in purchasing an item. For example, targeting customers with a push notification on re-stocking or a sale of a desired item.  Push notifications work best when you’re messaging someone about something relevant that customers care about.  

3. Valuable insight driven action. Companies have heaps of data points on customers and yet they fail to personalize pushed content. Use your customer data to determine what types of items your audience likes, then send them special deals based on their interests. You can use this also to attract customers to a new, high value category of items for your company. 

Starbucks’ bonus star challenge is one such example, with the company offering discounts on 2 frequently bought items and one new product. 

4. Experience enhancing notifications. In a recent study, opt-in rates were highest in the travel and transportation niche at a whopping 78%. For example, like many airlines, JetBlue has adopted push notifications to remind its customers when to check-in. While this may not have a direct effect on sales straight away, it creates brand positivity as in this scenario, JetBlue creates high value, practical content that helps to improve the flying experience.

5. Engagement increasing notifications. For example, the Netflix push notifications strategy. With a vast sea of user data available to Netflix, the company can craft highly personalized push messages that draw on each customer’s viewing history. As they’ve found, sending a simple reminder about a series that someone has been watching is an excellent way to improve engagement.

Push notifications are perfect for reopening channels

Mobile internet access has soared in recent years and it’s quickly become entrenched in our culture. And with a total of 3.5 Billion registered mobile users worldwide, it is crucial to be present not only on mobile friendly websites but also have performant mobile apps that allow for effective push notifications.

Push notifications are an excellent tool for delivering value to your customers, improving brand loyalty and driving sales.

Personalizing your messages based on user data keeps your content relevant and your customers engaged.

Because push notifications are more intimate than other forms of communication, they’re ideal for reopening a channel of communication to previous customers and reminding users when they add an item to their cart but don’t complete the purchase.