Push notification appears as a text message that can help engage your audience when used correctly. It can enable you to communicate with users and remind them of the app’s existence when they’re not even using the application. However, push notifications must be created carefully to avoid being mute. So, let’s discuss why they are blocked and how to send information without getting turned off.
User attitude to push notifications
The opinions about notifications are split. The majority of app users indeed are annoyed by push notifications. Fifty-two percent state that reminders are bothersome and distracting. However, 26 percent of app users are grateful for alerts related to their interests. Another 20% of users appreciate notifications that enhance productivity by informing important data and timely information. Therefore, many have a positive attitude to notifications. However, 52% is too large of a number to ignore.
Why do people mute notifications
The reason is apparent, too many push notifications that app users receive after downloading the app. Is it wrong to send many messages? Yes and no. There are times when sending many notifications can benefit the app. There are times when it can play a bad joke. It all depends on the strategy and the industry. Let’s discuss it in more detail about strategy.
So, there are two approaches concerning App notification strategy: short-term and long-term. Both have their cons and pros.
- Short-term push notification strategy
Short-term strategy pursues a goal to achieve results as fast as possible, and mainly it concerns sales. This strategy is acceptable if you plan to launch the app for a month and delete or close it after. Therefore, you can send notifications as often as you want or can. Then, even if half of the users mute the notifications, you can likely make up for the losses with a share volume. However, once again, for the short-term, it will work. After, the user or mutes all of the notifications or delete the app.
And on top of that, users will be less likely to accept notices in the future from other apps. So is it a high price to pay? All decide by themselves. We cannot judge on this matter.
- Long-term push notification strateg
Long-term strategy pursues a goal to achieve results with time and constant growth. This strategy is acceptable if you plan on the app’s continued development and you have a great service to share. Therefore, the best is to engage and satisfy users’ needs with your app and minimize the unfavorable actions. This strategy requires more time to re-evaluate how often to send notifications and the content of the messages. In this case, the industry plays a significant role. For example, it makes sense that users don’t want to be notified about travel deals daily or weekly if they’re only taking one or two vacations all year. In this case, it’s better to inform the users with valuable information like a discount for a flight they looked at before. As for social media, not everyone enjoys their phone buzzing every time a picture gets commented on or liked. So, think about what people want to hear from you, how often they need the messages. It enhances the user experience with your company and causes more minor damage to the app.
How to minimize the percentage of mute
Not all push notifications are bothersome. On the contrary, some users still find them helpful and valuable. To achieve this, here are the most common characteristics that help notifications not be perceived as annoying:
- Not sent very often
How many notifications per week is considered normal? Depending on your industry, the numbers will vary slightly. However, on average, sending two or more push notifications in a week can cause 37 percent of users to mute your app. Therefore, sending one message weekly for a lower opt-out rate is better. But with that said, people are still disabling notifications if you send a little less than that. So be selective, and read forward.
- Personalized
Studies show that personalized offers are the number one push notification type that app users want to receive. Therefore, it will be ineffective to send a mass message to all the users promoting a specific product, event, etc. It is like speaking to an actual customer. Before selling, it would be best to think about a user’s personality, interests, hobbies, and location. For example, your app is international and is in the sports industry. You are sponsoring a sports charity event in southern California. If you send notifications about this even to all users worldwide, people who live not in the USA most likely will not be interested. Even people who live in the USA, but not precisely in southern California, will be distracted and annoyed. Instead, send that push notification to users who live within reasonable walking or driving distance to the event. Let’s take another example; you have an eCommerce store app. It’s better not to send discount notifications about skirts and dresses to male users. But something more personal, like a discount on a product that the user was interested in or had purchased before. If it is not personal, it is probably irrelevant, consequently – annoying. Thus, that’s the fastest way to get users to mute your app notifications. Therefore, to avoid being disabled, try to think twice about the content that would grab the user’s attention or help him somehow.
- Have immediate value
Users won’t disable push notifications if they add immediate value. Some apps send necessary and timely messages based on the app’s functionality. For example, food delivery or transportation apps like Uber. If the delivery or car is in 15 minutes wait, most users won’t be waiting on the phone tracking the GPS location of their driver. That’s when apps push notifications to come in handy. By sending a notification to the user that the car has arrived, you make their life easier and add immediate value.
Speaking about casual game apps, inform users when their life is restored, only if they opened it recently and spent some time playing. Also, if you have this kind of app, casual mobile game publishers can offer an individual app promotion approach. There are many good channels except push notifications that can boost your app.
How to get users to turn on notifications again
Don’t worry if you found this guide after many users have muted your push notifications. If they have not abandoned the app, there is still a chance to enable app push notifications. How? With the use of other marketing channels.
The easiest would be through an email that users use to create a profile in your app. Just send an email to inform them about discounts or gifts that you send periodically through push notifications. If they enable them, a user will receive a surprise gift. You can also promote this offer on social media, such as Instagram or Facebook. Once a user unmutes notifications, make sure not to lose them again by following our recommendations above.
Conclusion
Push notifications are a fantastic method to communicate with your app users directly. But, unfortunately, people quickly turn off push notifications because they are already irritated by too many things in their lives. And, if you have a goal for long-term interaction with the users, it is better to think twice about the content – make it more personalized, quantity – don’t send more than one notification per week, and time when you will send notifications. Keep this information in mind, use it in your strategy, and fewer users will mute your notifications.
