Are you looking for ways to increase the open rate of your push notification campaigns? If so, you're in luck! In this post, we will discuss seven creative ways that you can improve your open rates. By following these tips, you'll be able to create push notifications that are more likely to be opened and read by your subscribers. In this post, we are going to take the example of MUSE (www.musebook.club), a literary clothing brand which sends push notifications to its customers on a daily basis through avorit. Let's get started!
7 efficient ways to increase your push notification open rate
1. Use a catchy object
What is consider as your object for push notification is the text line which appears directly into your push notification. It looks like this👇.
So, your text line (or object) is the first thing that your subscribers will read, so it's important to make sure that it catches their attention. Try using a catchy sentence or a question that piques your subscribers' interest. 👆 In this example, Muse is using a human brain bias to make their notification absolutely impossible to ignore. Listen. If you were told, "don't think of a pink elephant", what do you think of? To a 🐘💕. Why? Because the brain doesn't understand negation. When you tell someone "don't think of a pink elephant" their brain interprets "you must be thinking of a pink elephant now".
In this push notification, the recipient is told not to open this message. But what his brain hears is "open this message". In addition, prohibitions like this imply to our subconscious that a secret is hidden behind this innocuous little text that says "do not open". For the human instinct, it is impossible to resist a mystery, it is against nature.
The result: your recipient will necessarily open your push notification immediately!
But with this infallible strategy, there are two limits: first, it must be rare enough to seem intriguing, and second, the message behind it must be REALLY relevant for the recipient otherwise he will no longer trust you to open your next suspense push notification.
2. Add a wonderful picture!
Users are not used to see large push notifications with beautiful images embedded. And when we are not used to something, we are not bored to it, that's why your customers will pay more attention to your push notification.
Adding an image to your notification double your chance to catch the attention of your recipient (one chance with your object and a second chance with your image). You should avoid free rights pictures if you can to make your push notification more personnal and, of course, your image must be related to your object.
Bonus : you can use illustration or animated images (with the GIF format) to be even more creative.
3. Use urgency.
Using urgency in your object can help to increase your open rate a lot!
For example, Muse is sending one push notification every day with an ephemeral promotional offer of 10% off only applicable on the new release of the day. And as you can see on their Shopify widget on the screenshot above 👆, it works pretty well for this small 100% organic Instagram brand (@musebook.club_fr) for female readers! If your last push notification was about a discount offer like this, never forget to send a reminder when you offer is going to end. If you do not do it, you are looing tons of sales, for sure (try it and you will see by yourself how many "lost sales" you will recover). For example, you can try those reminder messages: ⏱ Kind reminder buddy: X hours left to shop {product} at a discounted price. ⏱ ENDS AT MIDNIGHT : ephemeral sale on our website. ⏱ LAST MINUTE PURCHASE: {product} at 10% off. ⏱ LAST REMINDER: {product} at 10% off. ⏱ We bet you forgot that our offer ends at midnight... There is a little time left to enjoy it.
With those type of messages, avoid using exclamation marks: too much urgency kills urgency and lowers the perceived quality of your message.
Your subscriber should perceive your push notification for what it really is (a reminder of a great deal that ends soon, for real) and not some kind of fake urgency like random dropshipping websites that put fake deal expiration counters everywhere.
4. Keep it short!
Short objects are more likely to be read than long ones. Especially on push notification, you do not want your object to be cropped by the devices of your recipients, that's why the avorit app (that allows you to send all your push notifications without having to develop your own app, woohoo!) restricts the length of your object to 178 characters to appear correctly on any devices. But don't be frustrated! You will have an unlimited number of words to tell all the things you want to your audience because once the object is clicked (and so your push notification opened), your recipients will be redirected directly into your brand profile in the avorit app in which they can take the time to read every details of what you have to tell. But to access to this second step, you must have successfully passed the first: have them open your amazing push notification. Fortunately, we have more tips to give you. Let's continue!
5. Curious people love (rethorical) questions.
Questions are a great way to capture your subscribers' attention and get them to click on your push notification to read more about what you have to say. Try question-objects that is relevant to your audience but do not forget that your recipients cannot directly answer to your notification like they do in comment on social media. That is why we recommend to use a rethorical question on your object.
What is a rethorical question? It is a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.
For example, Muse could say: "How can you not be happy with a good book in your hands and a cozy Muse sweatshirt to keep your warmed?" "Don't you think you deserve a new sweatshirt for the winter?" But a rhetorical question can quickly become boring or meaningless if it is poorly chosen. A good way to make it simply effective is to use the emotions of your audience to make them feel attracted by your brand, connected to your message or simply amused through humor!
6. Use humor.
Humor is always a great way to make people feel connected to your brand and it makes it easier to memorize your message (as does music to memorize lyrics) and the people behind the message : your brand!
To dig deeper into the subject, let's take a look at the results of the Oracle study with 12,000 consumers surveyed in 14 countries since the global pandemic.
78% believe that brands should offer happiness to their customers ;
91% prefer funny brands ;
90% only really remember humorous advertisements or messages ;
69% open an e-mail or a notification if its subject is funny.
So don't hesitate any longer if you have a good joke in mind (be careful, however, to stay politically correct to not cause a bad buzz except if it's an assumed and risky strategy). But if jokes are amazing to insert into your objects, push notifications with a large image embedded are also a great format to use meme! A powerful way to express your creativity!
7. Do not always try to sell to sell more.
The last advice we could give you is certainly the most counterintuitive of all: don't always send your push notifications with the direct intention of selling and you will sell more, period.
The thing you want to avoid above all when it comes to your push notification strategy with avorit is that your subscribers no longer wish to receive your messages because they consider them spammy. Ask yourself the question: what do you do most of the time when you receive advertising at home, in your mailbox? You throw them away in a second because you have considered them spam for a long time. And why? Because this random matress store brings you nothing as a human being and let you terribly feel only like a human-purse 👛 and nothing more. But now, imagine that same mattress store sending you instead poems to relax in the evening and relevant advice to fall asleep in less than 5 minutes at night, or even cute trading cards illustrated by a trendy artist with small sleeping animals, what will you think of it? Certainly you will begin to feel truly connected to this store that wants to help with your sleep and decided to share its good intentions with you. Surely you will think back to this store much more often now because you felt positive emotions (maybe amazement and gratitude) and when it will send you a new tip sheet for choosing the best ergonomic pillows based on your sleeping habits with a discount coupon, you will walk through the door of this store to change your old flattened pillows with a big smile. You got the point? That is exactly how you should behave with your push notifications stategy! Take care of your audience and take a special place in their hearts. Here is an example of how Muse do it amazingly 👇.
The brand offers a little reader-personality quiz to get readers to figure out what their "reader thing" is, the same way you do a Harry Potter quiz to find out which house of wizardry you belong to (what, you've never done this official test?). With only one push notification, the brand has imagined a fun way to create memories around a t-shirt that it cleverly features! And the brand wanted to push the event even further by allowing players to download a ready-to-print card based on their personal results and ask them to place it in their bookshelves to take a pretty picture in order to share it on their Instagram account. And guess what? Following this publication which had no direct vocation to sell, the orders rang on Muse's Shopify website as its recipients got even closer to the brand and discovered at the same time a t-shirt that was linked to their passion and that they loved! As you can see, with push notifications, possibilies are endless! Use short and catchy objects, wonderful pictures, rethorical questions, humor or urgency feelings to make your recipients happy to receive your messages as each time is a good suprise for them. increase significantly your open rate.
Like Muse, you can also create fun little games to engage with your push notification subscribers ! Need more inspiration of how you kind of game you can imagine for your own push notifications? We wrote the perfect ressource article for you!
But now that you read this article you might think : "great, but how can I send a push notification without being a developer or owning my own app ?". Simple : download the Avorit app on the AppStore for Apple iOS for Apple or Google Play for Android, create your brand profile as simply as a new Instagram account and you are ready to send your first real native push notification now and for free. Period. 🥂 To your success!