iOS Push Notifications

What Are iOS Push Notifications?

An iOS push notification is a message that app developers or marketers send to app users. The notification is “pushed” to users outside of the app and invites them to engage, thereby leading them to open the app and ultimately make a conversion such as making a purchase.

How Do iOS Push Notifications Work?

Marketers employ push notification strategies to alert their users to new updates, encourage them to convert and to remind them to take other actions such as completing a registration. However, to make them most effective, marketers must consider a variety of factors, for example, timing. Studies have shown that 63 percent of marketers send push notifications at the wrong time, meaning they could be missing out on vital conversions.

Using Leanplum‰’s Optimal Time feature, marketers can benefit from a machine learning algorithm which calculates what times are most popular for conversions. Using this, push notifications can be automated to be sent out in response to individual users‰’ behaviors. Similarly, iOS push notifications should be personalized to guarantee maximum engagement. Leanplum‰’s Lifecycle Engine can identify where users are in their customer journey, so for example, if they abandon their basket, push notifications with their first name can be sent to remind the user to complete the purchase.

What Are The Challenges Of iOS Push Notifications?

Detailed research carried out by Leanplum has revealed that Android users are twice as likely to open push notifications as iOS users. There are many theories as to the reason for this; one of the theories is that Android users have a better user experience. Specifically, push notifications on Android ‰”stick around” longer on the screen and require the user to acknowledge them, thereby increasing the chances of engagement. Furthermore, users are reminded of the notification later on with a sticky icon at the top left-hand corner of the screen, whereas iOS users can swipe notifications away without having to re-acknowledge them later.

To overcome this, marketers must employ a range of personalization techniques to encourage users to engage. This can be down to the app design itself ‰— for example, in the Newsfeed app, users can access their own container of in-app messages, enabling them to re-access old push notifications later on and potentially convert.

What Do iOS Push Notifications Mean For Marketers?

While marketers are faced with the challenge of lower open rates than Android users, they do benefit from faster opening times, which is perhaps down to the immediacy of iOS push notifications. As a result, marketers can drive conversions much faster; they simply must create engaging, personalized content to ensure all users react to their messaging rather than simply swiping it away.

iOS push notifications should be employed as part of a larger, omni-channel mobile marketing strategy. This will ensure marketers can acquire data, study trends and create more engaging mobile campaigns in the future.

To create your kick-ass iOS push notifications strategy, read Leanplum‰’s 5 Best Practices for Push Notifications guide.