Web push notifications have become very common as marketers and brands seek to remain top of the consumer’s mind. The notifications provide an effective way to engage and re-engage users. They are also an excellent advertising tool.  In this post we cover both the best web push notification services for 2021 as well as explain in more detail what these notifications are.

So, how can you best use push notifications in your marketing campaigns? We discuss this and other key points about web push notifications below.

What are Web Push Notifications?

Web push notifications are clickable, rich content messages sent by a website or web application to a user’s device via the web browser. You can deliver them to the user’s device even when they aren’t on the website.

How Do They Work?

The whole process begins with the user opting into the notifications service. The first message typically reads, “www.abcd.com wants to show notifications,” with a notifications bell displayed right before the words “show notifications.”

The user can choose to “allow” or “block” the notifications. If the user clicks “allow,” the marketer/brand can begin sending notifications to the user’s device’s browser or natively within the user’s operating system.

Keep in mind that web push notifications rely on ‘service workers’ to operate. Since ‘service workers’ only works on secure HTTPS domains, the notifications can only work on HTTPS sites.

The Best Web Push Notification Services for 2021

OneSignal

OneSignal is a leading customer engagement messaging solution with a large userbase of over 1 million companies worldwide.  OneSignal delivers more billions of push messages each day. OneSignal supports mobile and web push notifications as well as in-app messaging allowing organizations to engage with users on a personal level. OneSignal offers features like A/B testing, real-time reporting, and the setup of segmentation which can help companies gain insight into their marketing processes and improve their engagement strategies. Companies of all sizes trust OneSignal.  Plans start at the free level.

SendPulse

SendPulse offers a full suite of marketing software solutions including web push notifications. Clients using SendPulse Al regularly see 50% to 100%+ increases in engagement metrics.  SendPulse offers trigger and bulk messages, as well as segmentation, personalization, and A/B testing.

With SendPulse it is easy to send instant notifications to your subscribers’ devices. It is an ideal solution to quickly inform your customers about news, sales, order status, or other important events.  Prices start at free and go up from there.

OmniSend

Geared towards those with an e-commerce site, OmniSend integrates personalized push notifications into your ecommerce marketing to allow you to instantly retarget your customers.  You can setup pushes for browser abandonment, cart abandonment and more.  Offer great customer services with transactional messages as well. Pricing is integrated with other features that starts at $99/month.

NOTIX

NOTIX is an audience re-engagement platform that allows users to send push notifications to subscribers and communicate with their audience.  NOTIX offers a full range of features including notification scheduling, geo-targeting, segmentation, visual notifications and more. Pricing is currently free with paid plans starting sometime in 2021.

Read a complete overview of NOTIX on this blog.

Benefits of Web Push Notifications

Different businesses use web push notifications to achieve different goals. However, nearly all brands and marketers need web push notifications for the following;

• Recover abandoned tabs: Distraction is a significant challenge in today’s crowded marketplaces. Web push notifications are the perfect reminder for distracted users.
• Recover abandoned videos: If someone was watching one of your videos and left midway, you could use push notifications to remind them to return and watch to the end.
• Retarget abandoned carts: Did a customer just abandon the shopping cart, perhaps after picking a few items? Push notifications can remind them to return and complete the transaction.
• Engage dormant users: Sometimes, users take too long between website visits. If you’d like to jog their memory, push notifications would be an excellent tool.
• Retain existing customers: Web push notifications are also an excellent tool whenever you need to excite your customers (e.g., with discounts, delivery alerts, etc.) to boost retention.

Example web push notification shown in top right of screen.

How to Use Web Push Notifications: Best Practices

The first and most important step is to build your push notifications right. The standard web push notification comprises six parts, a catchy title, a description that expounds on the title, a contextual banner image, your logo for brand recall, your website URL, and CTA buttons (one or two). Besides the design, consider the following best practices;

1. Master the art of timing: Timing can make or break your web push notifications campaign. You need to send your messages at the right time, without spamming the user. Also, always send messages after the user has been on your site for at least several seconds.
2. Segment and personalize: Your customers aren’t the same. So, you need to personalize the campaign for each person’s unique needs. A few segmentation factors to consider are user demographics, device, location, time zone, and language.
3. Remember compliance and data security: Your web push notifications provider should take steps to ensure that your entire campaign complies with data security and privacy laws, such as the GDPR. Otherwise, you risk running into preventable lawsuits and could potentially lose your business.
4. Track, measure, and improve: The metrics you need to track include your total subscriber base, opt-in rate, click-rate, and conversion metrics such as social share, e-book downloads, and total video watch time.

Consider Automation

Since web push notifications can be a tedious process, we recommend automating your messages to achieve more in less time.  One example is setting up automation for every new blog post published to send a web push notification.  Then save the specific messages for initial campaigns for sales, engagement, and nurture.

So have a look at these best web push notification services for 2021 and get it active on your business website!

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