Create a Push Notification System That is Nearly Perfect

With all the talk about push notifications, it’s easy to get excited and want to build a push notification tool or system of your own. But with all that excitement, we want to make sure you’re ready to take on this challenge. This is going to be a group effort, so make sure you share this with all your teammates to make sure you’re all on the same page for this DIY project.

What you will need

Before you can check off each box, remember, your goal is to make sure your push notification system works nearly perfectly, not just so it works. So be honest with yourself, do you have enough resources to build the basic functionalities below, or just enough to make it work?

Money, and lots of it.

Unfortunately, we can’t give you an exact cost because it varies. Depending on how many of the basic functionalities (as outlined below) you plan on having, the ROI on this project may be great or have you wishing you let someone else do the heavy lifting. We get it, independence is a great thing, but it also doesn’t hurt to get some help every now and then, especially if it’s going to save you big time.

Time commitment and patience.

Great things take time. Make sure you give your team the time needed to fully develop the sophisticated push notification system you and your users deserve. It may take longer than expected to build out all the functions needed for a great system, so be flexible and let some of your priorities take a back seat. In the meantime, gather all the patience that you have and communicate realistic timelines to your team.

Round up the best of the best.

Don’t underestimate what you’re about to take on. You’ll need your best engineers on the case and ready to go. You’ll want their undivided attention and focus on this project and hope that all other projects can wait.

Suppress the urge to innovate.

Without knowing when the project will be done, it will take even longer to get the data you need to move with conviction. So while you wait, you’ll need to take a leap of faith on all your projects before you can test and get the results to back everything up. Or for the more risk-averse, you may need to wait until the system is fully built out before you make any changes.

What your tool should include

We know you want the best for you and your customers; an intuitive engine that sends helpful, personal messages. We’ve outlined just some of the basic functionalities you deserve in your push notification tool or system. You shouldn’t settle for less than the best, so be critical as you make your way through this checklist:

1. User segments and profiles to communicate with users on a personal level
2. Automated messaging that can follow dynamic rules to allow for easy creation of messaging campaigns
3. An easy to understand UI that allows for your marketing team to:
   • Preview exactly what customers will see on their Android and iOS device
   • Easily schedule push notifications according to the desired time (Bonus if you can send in the customer’s local time zone)
   • Preview how many customers a push notification will be sent to
4. A/B/N testing capabilities to test which messaging resonates with your users
5. Rich push notification capabilities to further engage your customers further with images
6. Deep linking capabilities to send users into the right part of the app upon opening the push notification
7. Deduplication rules to ensure that users are never spammed or receiving notifications they should not be receiving
8. Push notification statistics dashboard to understand the impact of sending a push notification

How to Measure Success

TIP: Measure beyond open rates to see what your users do after they open the push notification. Success metrics to measure include:

• Time in app after receiving push notification
• In-app action taken after receiving push notification
• Total incremental revenue after receiving push notifications

Tips for Marketers

Push notifications are a powerful tool for marketers and using them in the correct way can have massive positive impacts on your marketing metrics. They are a useful and necessary way to stay connected with your mobile customers. If you want to use them to improve your marketing, then you need to know the best practices. They can help you create loyal customers that stay engaged and become ambassadors for your brand.

Knowing when to use them is very important. You don’t want to overwhelm your users. As powerful as this technique is, it has the potential to irritate or annoy customers. Send notifications that are personal and appeal to their persona, past activities, or are location specific. You also want to make sure that your notification is actionable with clear steps of what the user should do.

Try to send notifications that are time-sensitive, and provide immediate value.  There are many ways to create notifications that maximize customer excitement and engagement. One way is to offer flash sales, early access, or shipping updates.

Tips for Engineers

Leverage direct opens. When a user opens your app by interacting directly with a push notification, they can save up to 10 seconds which many people do not realize.

As the number of web browsers grows, so does the number of ways to send web push notifications. Engineers must stay up to date with these differences as they can vary from browser to browser. Some browsers such as Chrome, Safari and Firefox each handle web push notifications in their own way.

A/B and multivariate testing is a huge part of building and maintaining an effective strategy for the success of your push notifications. This type of analysis helps to assess the performance of your messaging. Then, leveraging testing can optimize these strategies to increase effectiveness.

What to do next?

We’re glad that you’re just as excited about push notifications as you are and we want you and your customers to have the best. Once you get your system off the ground, check out our Push Notification Guide that outlines the different types of push messages you should start sending out.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for a shiny engine that’s already built and double-checked, let us know!

Learn More with Taplytics

With Taplytics, you can send push notifications to your customers’ iOS and Android devices that are personalized and relevant. You can create a rich notification with a few taps, schedule your campaign, and see the results in a single platform.

Automate personalized push campaigns based on customer data. A push marketing strategy can be personalized to target your general user base or specific segments. It’s easy to see what’s impacting your key metrics, and integrating with third-party tools will provide more insights.

Get started with a 14-day free trial.