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With the continuous evolution taking place in e-commerce, businesses have to connect with their customers through all possible means. So, e-commerce push notifications were brought to the surface.
Through push notifications, e-commerce benefits from customers constantly checking their phones for notifications. Therefore, they are less likely to ignore a pop-up notification, especially if it’s a catchy one with a flash sale.
E-commerce push notifications can contribute to the success of your e-commerce. Thus, this article will take you through a complete guide on e-commerce push notifications to hit the jackpot.
Table Of Content:
- What Are Push Notifications In e-Commerce?
- Why Use Push Notifications For e-Commerce?
- Types Of e-Commerce Push Notifications
- Best Practices To Send Push Notifications
What Are Push Notifications In eCommerce?
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Push notifications are clickable pop-up messages on customers' mobiles, desktops, or even smart watches to remind them of your online store and encourage them to revisit your app or website.
The significance of push notifications is the high engagement they create. Push notifications encourage customers to be more engaged with your brand, even if they are not scrolling through your app or website.
The good thing about push notifications is that they are not activated without customers’ acceptance. So, there is no place for impressible invasiveness.
Why Use Push Notifications For e-Commerce?
Even though push notifications are one of the simplest and easiest marketing tactics, their benefits are indeed vast. Therefore, there are plenty of reasons that you, as an online store, should never miss using push notifications.
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Increase Customer Engagement
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Push notifications are considered one of the most powerful tools to increase customer engagement. Well, this is actually undebatable. Numbers show that mobile push notifications increase app engagement by 88% (Invespcro,2018).
In addition, creative push notifications with images have a 56% higher direct open rate (Airship,2021).
So, by using push notifications in e-commerce, your customers are just one click away from accessing your online store. Thus, higher engagement can be guaranteed by creating an appealing and attractive push notification.
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Increases Conversion Rates
When online stores use push notifications, they reach the largest number of customers in the most effective way. In addition, they alert customers about your brand and any changes taking place on your platforms.
Accordingly, customers who encounter a push notification are most likely to return to your e-commerce to take action, increasing conversion rates.
Yes, it’s that simple.
You remind customers of the updates through push notifications, incentivize them to return with a flash sale or free delivery, et voila!
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Improves Communication With Customers Through Personalization
We bet that you have heard about personalization and its importance for e-commerce hundreds of times before. So, any marketing tool that enables your e-commerce business to offer personalized messages is a winning tool.
Generally, personalization improves communication with customers by offering a tailored shopping experience.
Here comes one of the main reasons to use push notifications for your e-commerce. They allow your business to seamlessly offer personalized messages based on customers’ preferences and tastes.
Hence, it increases customer engagement and gives higher chances for customers to return to your store. In addition, it builds brand trust and loyalty and increases conversion rates.
The fact, through personalization, the push notifications open rate is improved by four times. In addition, personalizing push notifications improves communication, evident in an increased reaction rate by 400% (Business of Apps, 2023)
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Enables Re-targeting
Customers who have already visited your online store and are aware of your products should never be put aside. You have already gone a long shot with them, so you must complete your journey by re-targeting them.
There is no better way to handle their re-targeting than push notifications.
E-commerce push notifications will re-target your previous visitors or purchasers to attract them for future purchases. Hence, you can remind visitors of their abandoned products. In addition, you can mention any reductions in prices or low stock levels to prompt them to take action.
So, at that point, e-commerce push notifications can hit two birds with one stone. It will enable re-targeting and reduce the car abandonment rate.
Types Of Push Notifications
Generally, e-commerce push notifications are categorized into two types: web push notifications and in-app push notifications.
- Web push notifications are messages that come from websites through different browsers. They require visitors' consent to be activated and occurs on desktops and mobiles.
- In-app or mobile push notifications are messages that occur to users who downloaded a mobile app. They appear on mobile phones even if users are not using their phones.
Some might consider them hard to attain as they require users to download an app to be activated. However, they lead to successful results as soon as they are working.
The types mentioned above of e-commerce notifications are the main two categories. However, there are plenty of templates for push notifications that you can utilize:
1- Welcome Messages
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Welcome messages are the first template of push notifications you can use. After users install your app or sign up on your website, you have to create a good impression. Thus, incorporating welcome messages in your push notifications will do the job.
You might take such first impression an extra mile by offering your new subscribers a limited-time discount or free shipping on this order. This will increase customer loyalty and retention.
2- Product Updates
Product updates should always be included in your e-commerce push notifications. The launching of new items, the restocking of customers’ beloved items, trending items, or those going out of stock.
Just keep your customers in the loop with everything new about your items. Don’t forget to personalize such messages to match customers’ preferences. Also, include a clear CTA to witness the best results.
3- Promotions
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Who does not like promotions? We are confident that no one.
So, if you have promotions on your online store, tell the whole world about it. We might be exaggerating, but at least your visitors should know about it, and nothing will be more effective than push notifications to inform them about your promotions.
By using this type of push notification, you are positioning your discounts right in front of your customers. So, it is undoubtedly a winning shot.
Yet, if you want to spice things up, you can add a sense of urgency. For example, a discount for 6 hours only. This way, you will incentivize users to purchase by leveraging FOMO marketing.
4- Cart Abandonment Messages
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The worst moment ever for any e-commerce store is when customers add products to their carts and abandon them.
But, with push notifications, you can use cart abandonment messages to alert customers immediately about their abandoned carts.
This will ensure that customers are notified immediately while they are active. In addition, such notifications increase the chances of completed purchases and increase sales.
We always encourage you to provide customers with incentives to complete their purchases. So, at this point, you can add a limited-time discount in your push notifications to ensure that customers will return to their abandoned carts.
Best Practices To Send Push Notifications?
First, you have to be familiarized with how to use push notifications and how they work for e-commerce to start getting the job done. So, keep reading to know how to get the best out of e-commerce push notifications.
1- Choose The Suitable Push Notification Tool
In order to implement push notifications for your online store, you will have to choose the right tool to integrate into your website or mobile app.
There are plenty of available tools you can choose from to start sending your push notifications. Some might be integrated into your website or app or both.
The thing is, you will have to connect between your online store and the push notification system.
If you are using the web push notifications, you will have to log in to your chosen tool, insert a code to your website and start creating your notification.
Likewise, in-app push notifications will require you to choose the right tool and connect between your app and the system of your tool to start sending notifications.
2- Ask for Visitors’ Permission
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As we have mentioned earlier, one of the key points in e-commerce push notifications is that they ask visitors’ permission to send these notifications. This is how push notifications work.
So, the first thing you need to consider is visitors’ permission. If you rely on mobile apps for your store, push notifications are automatically enabled when visitors install the app. Yet, customers can turn off these push notifications whenever they desire.
However, websites are slightly different. You have to explicitly ask for permission. Thus, a pop-up message appears to website visitors asking them to allow push notifications. Once they allow, you are ready to go.
3- Consider The Timing
The timing you send your push notifications is key for their success. Think about what could happen if you send a push notification for your flash sale at 3 AM! We don’t want to imagine what could happen.
We are here to tell you that choosing the right time can make or break your push notifications.
Thus, you have to consider the different time zones. Also, analyze your customer data and the time they are active to use it for your push notifications. Finally, avoid sending push notifications during working hours, as they are more likely to be ignored.
4- Segment Your Subscribers
To benefit from it, you have to segment your subscribers, those who will receive the messages.
Regardless of the medium, segmentation is crucial for the success of your marketing efforts. One size fits all messages are no longer a thing.
Thus, your audience has to be segmented based on their jobs, demographics, interests, hobbies, and location. As a result, you will deliver the right push notification to the right audience at the right time.
Generally, e-commerce businesses started to remove the burden of segmentation off their shoulders by automating it. Through automated segmentation, online stores won't have to analyze customer segments anymore manually; a tool like Convertedin will handle everything related to segmentation so you can reach the most valuable target audience.
5- Optimize Your Content
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Like all other e-commerce marketing tactics, content is essential for successful push notifications. Therefore, you should consider some crucial aspects to optimize your content.
First, keep your message short and simple while adding value. Just using catchy and clear wording will go a long way for you.
Second, rely on FOMO marketing. Add a sense of urgency and scarcity to your push notifications to motivate customers not to miss your products or offers. Things like” flash sale for only 12 hours” or “running out of stock products” are undoubtedly compelling.
Finally, use social proof, which is also part of FOMO marketing. As we all know, customers seek others’ confirmation before any purchases. So, why not stress such a notion in your push notifications?
For example, your message might be, “ 500 customers have purchased this product”. But definitely, your messages should not be misleading. Including social proof will increase your click-through rate (CTR), conversion rates, and sales.
6- Consider The Frequency Of The Notifications
The frequency of your push notifications is crucial for your business. Overloading your customers with too many notifications won’t help you in any way possible.
Push notifications are a highly engaging tool, but overusing them will have reverse effects. At the end of the day, we can’t jeopardize such a tool that customers might turn off such a feature.
So, instead of sending plenty of push notifications, choose the suitable timing with the right message, and you will be killing it.
Let’s Hit The Big Time
After taking you through this complete guide on e-commerce push notifications, you are now ready to start sending these notifications.
Push notifications are one of the most powerful marketing tools nowadays. With the wide usage of mobile phones, push notifications are becoming more popular and achieving better results. So, this is a chance that must be noticed.
If you need an extra hand to handle your marketing efforts, Convertedin is at the rescue. It is a marketing automation tool that offers you segmentation, automated ads, product recommendation engine, and much more.
Want to know more? Book your demo now!
