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What are push notifications?
Well, basically a communication channel built into every device. Push notifications are automated messages allowing you to notify your users about anything they expect from you. Instantly. Desktop and laptop users receive push notifications from both applications and websites. Once they have given permission of course. But people spend more time on their mobile phones than on any other device nowadays. It’s nearly a few hours a day. We have all the information at our fingertips through our mobile phones. So in this article, I want to talk about mobile push notifications.
One Mobile Rules Them All
Mobile push notifications are messages of mobile applications. They pop up as a banner on the lock screen of a mobile phone of everyone who has the app installed and has opted-in to receive such notifications. Big brands have their mobile apps. Just a few such apps are widely successful, many of them are just for a limited number of brand enthusiasts. So why would the brands pay a lot of money again and again to develop new mobile apps? They are aware of what are push notifications, and how to use them to connect better with their customers.
What’s In It For Small Businesses?
Push notifications are a great marketing tool. And also one of the most important and effective communication channels for business owners. But only a few mobile apps see heavy use in general. Those essential apps do vary from person to person. The most popular apps are instant messaging apps and social media apps as they account for 50% of our time in mobile apps. Streaming apps and mobile wallets count also to the most popular applications people use.
Start-ups and small businesses such as coffee shops and sweet shops, local restaurants, retail stores, food trucks or sandwich stores, hair salons and barber shops, car or motorcycle garages, florists, massage parlors or nail studios, fitness studios, gyms ﹣ you name it ﹣ don’t have to waste money to create their own mobile apps.
People have mobile wallets on their mobile phones. Yes, that is the service behind ever-increasing mobile payments. And beyond transactions, the mobile wallet allows people to use digital content from businesses. Such as airline boarding passes that people may haven’t used for a while recently. People can also use your coupons, stamp cards, point cards, membership cards, and other loyalty and customer cards the same way. To show up on your customers’ lock screen, all you need to do is deliver your branded digital content directly to people’s mobile wallets.
How To Use Them For Marketing Messaging?
With the right partner, a local retail store can build and run an engaging loyalty program with digital coupons for mobile wallets in a very cost-efficient manner. You will be able to show up on your customers’ lock screen with your deals, promotions, and discounts in the exact moments they need them. Everyone likes good deals, right?
A small coffee shop or hair salon might want to use digital stamp cards for mobile wallets instead of paper cards to re-engage customers. Well, you can’t talk to a piece of paper but with your digital stamp card, your interaction with your customers never ends. You can show up on their lock screen with relevant information in the exact moments they need them. And people can’t forget your digital stamp card at home.
A motorcycle garage can make a difference with a digital point card or a simple digital customer card. And a local gym can afford a smart and simple loyalty program based on digital membership cards for mobile wallets.
Tie your push notifications to the real world. You can do it for instance with anniversary offers, mobile-only offers with a pickup in-store, end-of-season sales, limited edition products, and experiences, or seasonal reminders that make sense for your customers. Also, having a regular, high-value touchpoint is a great reason for you to send a push notification. Highlight your product or service weekly or monthly.
You can also start sending your newsletter in a new way. Just keep sending push notifications with a link allowing your customers to read your regular newsletter conveniently directly from the mobile phone. If implemented correctly, push notifications are getting a higher open rate compared to emails. You also might want to drive your audience to live streaming events like breaking news and live broadcasts that way.
Ladislav Poledna inspires readers to “Become Digital” by publishing materials about digital marketing in his Prague Monitor column and aptly named blog. He has built a career around developing successful customer relationships for the past two decades. At present, Ladislav manages the Power Solutions division of the world’s leading producer of engines, batteries, and outdoor power equipment in Central and Eastern Europe and also oversees operations of the company’s regional office in Prague. Recently, he co-founded a B-to-B software service company making mobile marketing affordable and easy to use. Ladislav’s philanthropic contribution consists of a long-term relationship with a charity focused on funding dreams for people with muscular dystrophy.
Mobile phones are long becoming the main “screen” in peoples’ lives. Mobile marketing is no longer an innovation but a part of important decisions. Read articles on mobile marketing to get inspired on how to connect with people where they spend a lot of their time. Become Digital.
