Push vs. In-app: Choosing the right notification strategy

Rolling out a new feature or promotion often prompts one essential question: how do we let our users know about it? Creating a changelog post and adding the news to your blog is a good start, but teams that really want to drive their users toward a specific action can achieve their goals with a well-considered notification strategy. Your notifications can involve push notifications, in-app notifications, or a combination of the two, depending on which users you want to reach and how many of them you need to engage.

When to use push notifications.

Push notifications are small alerts or messages that pop up on a user's device, such as a smartphone or tablet, even when the app is not currently open or in use. These notifications are designed to capture the user's attention and provide timely, relevant information or updates.For product marketers, app push notifications can be a powerful tool to engage and retain users, drive app usage, and promote new features or offerings. Push notifications should be used judiciously and strategically, as excessive or irrelevant notifications can lead to user fatigue and potential opt-outs.

Common use cases for push notifications.

Product and marketing teams often use push notifications from mobile and desktop applications for:

1. New feature announcements. These notifications inform users about the release of new features, improvements, or updates to the SaaS product, encouraging them to explore and engage with the latest offerings.
2. Time-sensitive promotions or offers. These notifications share limited-time deals, discounts, or special offers, creating a sense of urgency and encouraging users to take immediate action.
3. User engagement and retention. Send reminders, tips, or personalized content to keep users engaged with the SaaS product, fostering habitual usage and reducing churn.

When to use in-app notifications.

In-app notifications are messages or alerts that appear within the user interface of an application while it is actively being used. These notifications are designed to capture the user's attention and provide relevant information, updates, or calls-to-action without disrupting their workflow or requiring them to leave the application. This type of notification can be an effective way to communicate with engaged, active users and encourage them to explore new features, take advantage of promotions, or engage with additional offerings within the application itself. There are several types of in-app notifications, such as pop-ups, banners, snippets, tool-tips, and more.

Common use cases for in-app notifications.

You can effectively use in-app notifications for:

1. Feature adoption and onboarding. These notifications guide users through the process of adopting new features or functionalities by providing contextual pointers that highlight the benefits and encourage exploration.
2. Upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Present users with personalized offers or recommendations for additional products, services, or upgraded plans that complement their current usage and needs.
3. Feedback and surveys. Ask users to give feedback on your product with in-app surveys or feedback forms that reduce friction by allowing users to provide input directly within the application they are actively using.

What to consider when creating a notification strategy.

When building your notification strategy and choosing between push notifications vs. in-app notifications, you’ll need to take into account which of your users you want to reach, when you want to reach them, and what you want them to do when they receive your message. Based on your requirements in each of these areas, you can set up specific segments of users to receive the notification (or series or notifications) best suited to drive action and engagement.

Reach and visibility: The advantages and limitations of push notifications vs. in-app notifications.

Have you ever gotten a push notification on your mobile device and gotten annoyed? It’s not uncommon — and undoubtedly one of the biggest risks you take when sending a push notification, especially if it’s more marketing or sales oriented, such as a promotion. Other disadvantages to sending push notifications include:

• Reduced visibility. Your notification competes for space with other notifications on your users’ device, and can easily be overlooked or altogether deleted if the user gets overwhelmed.
• User opt-outs. Annoy your users with one too many messages and they’re likely to opt out or limit the messages you can send them.
• Limited content. Both push and in-app notifications share this disadvantage, but push notifications are particularly constrained by tiny character limits.

However, there’s a reason that you still get so many push notifications on your mobile devices. The benefits of using push notifications include:

• Wider reach. Push notifications reach users while they’re not actively using the application — which usually means the message gets seen by a much wider slice of your audience.
• Personalized messages. Push notifications can be tailored to individual users based on their preferences, behavior, or location, enabling more personalized and contextual messaging.
• Cost-effective. Compared to other marketing channels such as email or paid advertising, push notifications are a relatively low-cost way to reach and engage users.

In-app notifications tend to be less “annoying,” in general, since you’re reaching users as they’re actively using your application, rather than at work on something else, or worse, at home or with friends and family. However, they can be detrimental to marketing efforts when they interrupt users during their flow. Other limitations to in-app notifications include:

• Limited reach. In-app notifications can only be seen by users who are actively using the app at that moment, so a large portion of the user base may be missed. This especially applies to inactive or infrequent users, who may miss most of your messages.
• Contextual relevance is key. If an in-app notification pops up when it’s not relevant to what the user is doing, they can annoy your users.
• Limited space. Like push notifications, in-app notifications often have character or space limitations. If these limitations lead your team to send out vague messages, it can be confusing. Asking users to visit another page or space to learn more can also disrupt the flow of their work, leading them to ignore it and reducing the impact of your notification.

When used carefully and with purpose, however, in-app notifications can help your team:

• Achieve increased visibility. These notifications are displayed within your app’s UI when the user is already actively engaged, increasing the likelihood that they not only see your message, but act on it.
• Targeted messaging based on user actions. In-app notifications can be tailored to user behavior, preferences, or usage patterns, which increases the likelihood that your message resonates with the user and drives action.
• Guide users on a specific journey. Highlighting a new workflow or walking through an updated feature with a series of in-app notifications is a fast and easy way to introduce them to active users.

When choosing between push notifications and in-app notifications, your team should carefully consider how many of your users you want to reach (100% is always ideal, but usually not reasonable) and how important it is that users see and react to your message.

Timing and context: When to use push notifications vs. in-app notifications.

When you’re mid-task on a specific application, the last thing you want to see is a large pop-up that blocks half the UI to tell you about a feature that’s completely irrelevant to your work. And when you’re relaxing after a long day, getting a push notification from a work-related application on your phone or tablet can be an irritating interruption. That’s why both timing and context are key when it comes to sending both push and in-app notifications.Push notifications are best suited for time-sensitive or urgent updates that require immediate attention, even when the user is not actively engaged with the app. Use them when it would benefit your user to visit the app, regardless of their current activity — not simply because you want to get their attention.In contrast, in-app notifications are appropriate when the user is already engaged with the app and the message or promotion is contextually relevant to their current activity or location within the app. Be sure not to interrupt their workflow with irrelevant details — keep notifications unobtrusive and above all, pertinent to the task at hand.Timing is also a critical consideration. Push notifications should be sent judiciously and at appropriate times to avoid being perceived as intrusive or disruptive. In-app notifications, on the other hand, can be displayed more frequently as long as they are contextually relevant.

Engagement and interaction: The effectiveness of push notifications vs. in-app notifications in driving user actions.

When choosing between sending a push notification or in-app notification, be sure to consider your engagement goals and how you want those who receive the message to react. Push notifications are excellent tools for encouraging less active users to open up your app again, driving up engagement. A well-timed and crafted push notification campaign can increase user activity and reduce churn.In-app notifications should be tailored to users who are already active on your app. These should be used to drive engagement for a particular feature or workflow, rather than the application as a whole. Well-timed in-app notifications can nudge users toward specific interactions, such as exploring additional product capabilities, providing feedback, or taking advantage of personalized offers or recommendations. In-app notifications can also be leveraged to onboard and educate users, fostering a deeper understanding and adoption of the product's full potential, which ultimately drives sustained engagement and interaction.

Best practices for notification strategies.

Figuring out a successful strategy for reaching your users without annoying or interrupting them can be challenging, especially when you’re taking reach, visibility, timing, context, and engagement into consideration. Below are a few best practices to make the process go more smoothly and help you achieve the results you’re looking for.

1. Design compelling and relevant messages.

Both push notifications and in-app notifications have limited space for text. Put your wordsmithing skills to work to communicate your message with a clear call to action in the available space. To make in-app notifications easier to spot and digest, design them to appeal to the eye and stand out without being intrusive.

2. Segment users and target messages.

Segment your users by specific usage patterns, location (time-zone is key for push notifications), industry and job role — and more, if you can. The more segments you create, the more targeted you can make your messages. For both push notifications and in-app notifications, sending highly personalized messages are key to boosting engagement and interaction. If you don’t have enough data to base segments on usage patterns, just using a localization strategy for your messaging can significantly improve your results.

3. Monitor and analyze performance metrics.

Implementing a notification strategy isn’t a one-and-done deal. Iterate on your messages, timing, design, and more based on how well they work. For example, if a push notification about a new feature was sent during the afternoon with little interaction, try sending it in the morning instead in the future. With every campaign, you’ll want to define your goals and the metrics you’ll be using to measure success. Once the messages are out there, track those metrics and make any changes necessary to achieve your goals.

Implement your notification strategy in minutes.

For most product and marketing teams, figuring out their push and in-app notification strategy is only the tip of the iceberg. Implementing these plans can take a lot of work, especially if you’re creating notification mechanisms from scratch. With Beamer, your team can set up in-app and push notifications quickly and easily.Beamer enables teams to:

• Use a variety of in-app notification types, such as pop-ups, banners, and snippets
• Master the art of creating engaging yet non-intrusive notifications
• Send ultra-targeted notifications
• Offer multiple opt-in options
• Install and start sending notifications in five minutes — or less