the power of push notifications on messaging

 Drive conversions with Push Notifications.

Compelling copywriting takes many forms and infuses many channels. It turbocharges advertising, social media, landing page calls-to-action and email subject lines. But push notifications have their own challenges, and there’s not a ton of copywriting advice to help.

So, what are push notifications? Push notifications are messages apps send users on their mobile devices to bring them back into the app experience. This is usually a communication channel you allow a particular app to utilize in order to improve your app experience with timely information. For example, a news app may send a reader a push notification about the latest political scandal, a retail app may send a shopper details about a sale or a ride-sharing app may send a traveler an alert when their car is pulling up.

Of course, there are several contributing factors that make a great push notification:

Delivery time: Don’t send push notifications to everyone at once regardless of time zone and risk waking sleeping users. Instead, segment delivery times by location, behavior or times when users normally use the app.

Audience segmentation: Only send content that is relevant to your users. For instance, a music app should only send listeners an update about a new Lady Gaga album if they’ve played her songs within the last few months.

Content personalization: There are lots of details you can add to your push notifications to make them more personalized to each individual, like a user’s name or shopping cart item.

But what about the most basic element of a push notification -- the copy?

To make the lives of mobile marketers everywhere a little easier, our team put together a new Mobile Marketing Trends report.

Here’s what we found.

Power Words Can Be Categorized Into Four Themes

We set out to understand the top words that lead to high open rates regardless of the content in a particular push. So we analyzed 2.6 billion push notifications sent between January 1 and December 31 of 2016.

Within each push notification, we looked at the word engagement score. In order to understand the impact of each word, we measured how that word performed across different messages. For example, if the word “perfect” was included in 1,000 messages, we needed to understand if it had a high word engagement score each time; in other words, we wanted to know if it lifted open rates consistently. The result of the study is a list of 120 “power words” that increase app engagement.

In the study, four categories surfaced:

1. Urgency

Your store is holding a last-minute sale, but you’re not sure how to promote it. Solution: Remind users that the clock is ticking. Urgent push notifications will capture the person’s attention and encourage conversion.

Take this message, for example: “Breaking News! John Legend’s new single is out! Check it out today or be the last to hear it.”

2. Exclusivity

Who doesn’t like feeling special? Effective push notifications tap into the feeling of exclusivity by letting users know they’ve been specially selected. This could be for a promotion, a new piece of content or anything else.

Try something like this: “Here’s an opportunity you won’t want to miss! You’re eligible to try our latest feature before anyone else.”

3. Emotion

Exaggeration turns heads, regardless if it's positive or negative. Experiment with tone to discover the optimal writing style for your audience. By using words you don’t hear every day, your messaging will stand out from the crowd.

Here’s an emotional push notification for reference: “Indulge and unwind. Discover new restaurants in your area to hit up this Thursday night. Reserve a table now!”

4. Value

Some deals are too good to pass up. Words that relate to monetary value and daily deals are guaranteed to attract attention. Emphasizing value is a simple but powerful way to encourage conversions.

Underscore the value of your promotions with a push notification like this: “Reminder: Sale ends tomorrow! Take advantage of these timely deals before they’re gone for good.”

Every Vertical Has a Unique Set of Power Words

Within each app vertical, a unique set of power words is required to command user attention. Here are some of our favorite learnings:

Travel Apps

Emotions evoke longing. “Dream,” “see,” “hear,” “escape” and “memories” entice people to open a push with the promise of adventure (and bookings).

Here’s a great push notification sent to boost wanderlust and bring travelers back to the app: “Hello, Parker! Your dream destination is just a tap away -- plan your escape now!”

Retail Apps

Lead with desire. “Want,” “sweet,” “amazing” and “incredible” are just a few words marketers use to deepen shopping FOMO.

Here’s an influential push notification sent by a retail app to increase summer sales: “Host the perfect backyard BBQ with barbecue essentials.”

Music Apps

Personalization is key. “Curated” and “selected” indicate that these apps take user preferences seriously and that each recommendation is hand-picked for you.

Here’s a timely push notification sent by a music app that's sure to lure listeners back: “Our playlist of the best 40 songs of 2017 is the perfect pre-game music for New Year’s Eve! Get it poppin’.”

Yes -- There Are Words That Can Hurt App Engagement

Higher. Faster. Guarantee. Affordable. What do these four words have in common? They might actually decrease your push-notification open rates.

We found two themes that could lower engagement:

1. Boring reminders were more likely to be ignored. While sometimes you have to send transactional messages (“Your app version is outdated”), spruce up your language to keep users engaged.

2. False promises come off as spammy. There’s a fine balance between using power words and inauthentic-sounding superlatives. Keep things delightful.

This way, you can go from “Your app version is outdated. Update now!” to “We’ve got a sweet surprise for you. All you’ve got to do is update the app to find out!”

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