How push notifications can help solve strategic business problems

Apps are the future

Shopping is increasingly being done on a smartphone, and this is the reality of today – and tomorrow. The pandemic has impacted many things in online commerce, including customers' propensity to use mobile devices and apps. As Cisco AppDynamics notes with reference to the App Attention Index report, there is a clear connection between the pandemic and the growth in app usage. People use digital services and apps 30% more than before the pandemic, and 62% are more loyal to companies that make efforts to improve the quality of services.

Experience and market indicators indicate that there is a trend and it will intensify. People are accustomed to shopping through apps, and the winners will be the brands that provide the best experience possible. Source: Sostav

More participants - more competition

E-commerce is growing rapidly. From $3.35 billion in 2019, the global market size has increased to $4.89 billion in 2021 and could reach $6.39 billion by 2024.

At the same time, only 2.86% of visits to e-commerce platforms result in a purchase. And 30-80% of e-commerce buyers are limited to one purchase in stores that are new to customers.

As noted above, an effective sales driver is the application. At the same time, it is important not only that a person downloads it, but also that he makes a purchase. CRM marketing, specifically push notifications, comes into play. And here difficulties await us.

Business of Apps research says that just one push notification per day can cause a person to turn off notifications (10%) or delete an app (6%). According to the Airship report, the average CTR of push notifications is 3.4% for iOS and 4.6% for Android.

So how can you make push notifications work?

Various formats, triggers, and segmentation options were tested. As a result of this practice, several key rules for working with push notifications have emerged.

Timeliness

Firstly, you cannot bore the client. Nobody likes spam. If you use notifications frequently, the person will turn them off. We calculate the frequency of orders for each client and make communications a little more often than this value, but we dilute the selling messages with light and engaging content.

Secondly, it is not enough to know how many push notifications you can send per month on average. It is necessary to take into account individual preferences regarding days of the week and even communication times. And also adjust the intensity of mailings based on the likelihood of placing an order in a certain period.

Thirdly, to communicate with the client, you should choose the communication channels that he prefers.

Honesty

Value the client's trust. Nobody likes additional terms and fine print hidden under an asterisk. Communicate the terms of the promotion honestly, clearly and clearly. Did you promise? Do it. There are no exceptions to the rule.

Humanity

Users are more open and friendly towards brands that speak to them in a simple and friendly manner. Intricate phrases and terms familiar only to specialists do not add weight to the brand image, but only complicate communication. This is especially important for companies operating in areas where terms are indispensable: you need to be precise, but at the same time understandable to the client.

We try to do the opposite in our communication with clients. We share the opinions of evidence-based medicine doctors, systematize information, and explain complex concepts in an accessible manner. Result: it’s easy for the client to work with us, he knows that he can trust us and it’s convenient to contact us.

Humor works very well in communications. We compared the reaction: push notifications with jokes give a significant increase in clicks and sales. For example, push notifications about anti-parasite remedies for animals: 9.9% of taps on a message with a joke and 6.6% on a push without it. The main thing here is not to overdo it: a bad joke will ruin all your efforts.

Relevance

Forget about the practice of “sending a push to the entire database.” In most cases, this will result in lost profits. Numbers speak most eloquently. According to statistics, push without narrow targeting (one or two criteria for segmentation) on average brings 0.74 UAH of turnover per sent message. Targeted push (on average five criteria) - already 4 UAH.

Criteria for segmentation that will definitely come in handy: geography and socio-demographic status; date of purchase; product preferences; customer perception; calculation coefficients and analytical approaches.

Examples of practical use of analytical approaches

RFM analysis is a timeless classic

Guiding the client through the hierarchy of segments in RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) is one of the strategic tasks in the CRM marketing department. If you assign each customer a different RFM value, it immediately becomes clear exactly how to work with them.

So, in particular, it is extremely important to bring the client from the first purchase to the second. According to statistics, if a user has made two purchases, the likelihood of making a third increases enormously. This is already 55%, then 64, 69% and then up to 80%, if there are more than nine purchases.

Predictive Analytics

It matters not only who to send a message and what message, but also when exactly. There are clients who are already ready to buy; all they need is a little nudge. Others will need a more forceful reminder. For still others, we know for sure that nothing but a discount will convince them. What is important here is that we rationally distribute resources: we do not bother those who are definitely not ready to buy, and we make the most relevant offers for everyone else.

We conduct a series of A/A/B tests, that is, we conduct a “group alignment” and an A/B test, and carefully test each coefficient. Today, for a significant proportion of customers, we know exactly what the probability of churn or making a purchase is on a certain day. And we use this knowledge to push the user.

For those who already order, we simply set up retargeting without an offer. For those who may not order, we send a push or e-mail depending on the sales channel: website or application. For those who most likely will not order, we do online retention campaigns at a deep discount.

Knowledge about the likelihood of a purchase is based on several parameters: the number of purchases, the date of the first and last purchase, and the receipt.

Results

The future belongs to sales through the application, and therefore to the channels that support applications, in particular push notifications.

Deep analysis followed by segmentation is a way to increase the effectiveness of communications.

Instead of spam - ingenuity, creativity, selectivity, personalization. Love your clients, they will love you back.