The Benefits of Push Notifications for Publishers

White Paper

This was created by conducting in-depth research into the existing evidence on push notification technology as it exists in the industry today, as well as quoting third-party published documentation to highlight existing shared knowledge.

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Introduction

In 2004, a Canadian company called Research in Motion was putting the final touches on a messaging platform for their newest mobile phone. This device would be a far more sophisticated phone than the public had ever seen and it went on to be named The Blackberry.

It was during the creation of this phone — in fact, the first device to be called a “Smart Phone” — that Research in Motion would invent the technology that would fundamentally change the way we interact with mobile phones altogether. They referred to this technology as “Push Services,” and it was the first usage of what is now referred to as a “Push Notification.”

Since then, push notification technology has taken over every phone, tablet, laptop, and smartwatch. The widespread appearance of push functionality is fundamentally changing the way audiences engage with content, as well as altering the way publishers interact with these audiences.

Today, push notifications have been adopted by almost the entirety of the performance marketing industry. And as such, publishers find themselves at a crossroads where they must decide not only whether or not to avail themselves of this emerging technology, but to what extent, and with what primary goals in mind.

Methodology

This White Paper was created by conducting in-depth research into the existing evidence base around push notification technology as it exists in the industry today, as well as the quoting of third-party published documentation to highlight existing shared knowledge. This white paper was written and developed by Sonobi, an independent, consumer-focused technology company, founded in 2012, and serves as an accurate and reliable document intended to inform the reader on the topic of push notification technology and its impact on the digital publishing industry today.

The Impact of Push Notifications

Consider the family-owned roadside restaurant. During a long road trip, a customer may stop by for a single meal before continuing with their trip. Even if the restaurant leaves a great impression, it’s unlikely that the consumer will return, simply because the customer isn’t likely to drive somewhere that isn’t conveniently located along their daily routes.

But what if that roadside restaurant was always located along any route that the consumer traveled? This is the ideology behind large franchise restaurants – placing a location on every corner in every city – constantly reminding consumers that they are ready to serve. The power of push notifications can turn any roadside website into a highly trafficked franchise.

Consumers who are gently reminded of their positive experiences will return for more positive experiences. Simple calls to action with promotional pushes can spur engagement even further, creating brand loyalty and consumer trust.

It’s hard to over-hype the power of mobile push notifications. For the first time in human history, you can tap almost two billion people on the shoulder.

Ariel Seidman, CEO of Hivemapper

Audience Engagement and Push Notifications

In a world where audiences spend an average of six hours per day on their digital devices, the ability of push technology to easily engage with these users, at any time, can not be underestimated. According to a study by Localytics (2019), not only do 52% of users have push enabled on their devices, but push notifications have been shown to boost these user’s engagement by 88%. Additionally, 65% of a website’s users have been shown to return to the site within 30 days when push notifications are enabled.

When you send web push notifications, the messages are received almost instantly. Unlike email, there is no middle-man controlling delivery between you and your subscriber. When compared to email campaigns, push notification open rates increase by 50%, click rates by 7 times, and retention rates by 93%. Furthermore, consumers are overwhelmingly open to receiving push notifications. Statistica (2021) found that more than half of smartphone users feel that one or more notifications per day fall within an acceptable frequency.

Audiences browsing social media have become adept at “tuning out” ad-related content while scrolling through their feeds. The ability to send a message directly to these users cuts through the noise, allowing brands to create one-to-one relationships with audiences that would otherwise be incredibly difficult to engage.

Push Notifications and Their Impact on Audience Retention

According to Localytics (2020), push notification opt-in rates can give a clear indication of overall user retention, representing an investment in a particular app or website by a user. Most users who have enabled push notifications will be around for at least nine sessions, with 46% sticking around for 11 sessions or more.

A detailed study by Accengage (2019), pulling data across multiple content verticals, found that the average response rate for push notifications is 18%. This statistic is impressive enough as it is. However, push notifications driving users to content-rich websites that segment user groups by interest, enjoy a much higher response rate -up to 46%.

Additionally, the study showed that user attrition could be avoided altogether, when users were placed in segments, according to their interests, before being sent advertisements via push notifications. Such audiences were not turned off by these advertisements – in fact, they found them helpful. The ads presented to viewers showcased products or offerings they were clearly interested in and prequalified to receive.

Push Notifications and Audience Monetization

Every successful advertising campaign wants to connect with highly-engaged, curated audiences. Fortunately, push notifications can match advertising to the most relevant users based on the daily content they’re consuming. Through segmentation and actionable CTAs, push notifications can boost ad campaigns by 40% (Gravitec 2019).

For example, consider an ad for new washing machines. Not only can the ad be targeted at users who have been browsing the web for washing machines, but it can also identify and exclude those who may have purchased one in the past 90 days. This ensures that the ad is only seen by the most relevant consumers.

Baymark Institute found the average cart abandonment rate across all industries to be 69.89%. Through reminder-oriented push notifications, users can be alerted to the status of their carts, prompting them to return and complete the process. Simple cart abandonment reminder push notifications see a 16% engagement rate on average, bringing consumers back that would otherwise be lost.

Sonobi Case Study

Here is a simple case study showing Sonobi’s experience with an average content publisher who employs push notifications on their websites.

Current Sonobi Publisher with 100M monthly active unique visitors.

The Challenge

Publisher wished to increase the overall revenue generation of specific audience segments by utilizing push notifications to execute two different strategies. The first strategy centered on increasing audience engagement with the publisher’s in-house content by using Sonobi’s JetStream platform.

With the JetStream platform, they were able to curate audience segments based on content preference and then send targeted content recommendations to each individual segment. The second strategy was to use the same audience curation tools within JetStream to send relevant advertorial notifications.

After seeing the strong first three months of results, the client expanded their use of the push platform as well as push ad monetization to include their entire network of web destinations. In terms of user attrition, the client said “Push notifications are having absolutely no negative impact on bounce rate or performance.”

The Results

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Conclusion

The ubiquitous nature of push notifications and the willingness of audiences to receive direct one-to-one messaging makes push a win for nearly all content website publishers as well as their advertising partners. As Hivemapper CEO Aeriel Seidman said, “It’s hard to over-hype the power of push notifications. For the first time in human history, you can tap almost two billion people on the shoulder.” The ability to reach your website’s one-time visitors, and convert them into long-term audience members, is a power that publishers have never had before.

There is absolutely no debate that push notifications are proven to increase network revenue, user engagement, traffic, and subscriber count. Additionally, push notifications are proven to raise the overall number of page views that a publisher can generate over the lifetime of a user, thereby increasing the opportunity for monetization, both with programmatic and direct. The technology has reached a point, that if publishers do not avail themselves of its benefits, they will be at a severe disadvantage in the marketplace.

Key Takeaways

Compared to email campaigns, push notifications increase user engagement by 50%, click rates by 7, and retention rates by 93%
Sending just one onboarding-related push message to new site visitors within the first week can increase user retention by 71%
Push segmentation and actionable CTAs can boost campaigns by 40%
Push notifications have been seen to increase network revenue by 90%, user engagement by 78%, network traffic by 168%, and subscriber count by 26%

There is absolutely no debate that push notifications are proven to increase network revenue, user engagement, website traffic, and subscriber count.

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