A study conducted in the spring showed that the effectiveness of push notifications reached a record level at that time, and companies sent 16 percent more of them than before the pandemic. SMSAPI experts assess what is behind the growing interest in the mobile channel and what the risks of its excessive use are.
How were push notifications born?
It was phones from the Blackberry family that first proved that sound and visual notifications on a phone do not necessarily have to be text messages from another person. Brands can also send them through their apps - in 2003, an email app gained a feature for notifying users about new messages on the phone's home screen.
This technology was called push, as opposed to pull, meaning messages that the user had to log in to the app to retrieve themselves. In 2009, Apple introduced it on iPhones, and in 2010, Google did the same on Android phones. This made push notifications a standard for mobile communication.
A ring every 20 minutes
A ring every 20 minutes
A decade later, the average phone user in the US receives 46 notifications a day. Most of them are sent during the day, which means that on average three times an hour one of the apps reminds them that it is worth checking what is new. According to analyses by Business of Apps, as many as 40 percent of these notifications are prompts to make a purchase or read a new article online.
A report by research firm Research Now showed that although one in four smartphone users is grateful for staying up to date thanks to notifications, more than half of users find them irritating. This second group may soon grow, as in March Apple allowed app developers for iOS phones to also send advertising content from other entities in push notifications.
Most apps downloaded by users have consent to send notifications enabled by default. As a result, despite recommendations suggesting that users should not be approached more often than 3-4 times a day, some send a notification at every possible opportunity. This leads to a mobile version of “banner blindness.” We do not turn off irritating sounds and vibrations, but we learn to ignore them. We are used to more push notifications arriving on phones than text messages, but in both cases it is important for the sender to maintain balance and moderation. It is better not to deliberately clutter your channel, because it loses its value and effectiveness - emphasizes Maja Wiśniewska, PR & Content Marketing Manager at SMSAPI.
The pandemic changes trends
Push blindness: are push notifications losing effectiveness?
March 2020 also turned out to be a month in which both the number of push notifications sent to phones and their open rate were exceptionally high. According to research by Airship, companies sent 16 percent more of them than in February, and the click-through rate on notifications increased by 22 percent over the month, reaching the highest level since 2016. The reason for the reversal of the trend was the Covid-19 pandemic, which also affected mobile communication.
In the spring, the number of push notifications and text messages increased due to their advantages: fast delivery and the ability to react immediately. That is why this channel is chosen when there is a need to convey important information, especially in the face of a pandemic and chaos. Pushes in apps became both more frequent and more often opened, because they concerned not so much offers as important matters: canceled reservations, suspended store operations, other rules for doing business, or special charity campaigns. Some of them actually became notifications about important developments, not just prompts drawing attention to a new product. When the frequency of pushes grows, brands should ensure that their communication with customers is not dominated by promotional and sales content - advises Maja Wiśniewska.
Data from the US also shows that in the spring months, mobile data usage by mobile devices increased by several dozen percent year on year. And apps helping people take care of their health were installed on phones twice as often as in 2019.
This coincides with the results of Airship's global June report, which showed that in the spring health-related apps were launched on smartphones 60 percent more often than in February. Apps in the Media, Entertainment, Technology, and Shopping categories also saw large jumps in popularity. In Central and Eastern European countries, a 40 percent increase in the frequency of opening apps on smartphones was recorded at that time, and globally the open rate of push notifications increased by nearly one third.
This does not seem surprising when one considers that at the same time the importance of other marketing and advertising channels declined. The closure of cinemas, gyms, and restaurants and the lack of commuting to work (meaning no exposure to at least several hundred outdoor ads a day) combined with falling press sales caused turmoil in brand communication with customers. The mobile channel turned out to be the only certain way to reach recipients. It is worth noting that many institutions, including the WHO, launched chats in mobile messengers supported by bots, where reliable information could be obtained. Poles who were quarantined upon returning to the country received a text message with a link to a government website containing all the information they needed.
What next for mobile communication?
In the coming months, we will find out whether the surge in the popularity of push notifications and other mobile communication channels proves temporary and results only from a momentary need. It is certainly worth remembering that this tool has its limitations and, overused for sales purposes by brands, may become invisible to mobile device users, just like billboards in urban space.
Summary
Push notifications, known since 2003, became a standard for mobile communication after being introduced by Apple and Google. In the spring of 2020, during the pandemic, companies sent 16 percent more of them, and clickability increased by 22 percent - mainly because they concerned important matters such as canceled reservations or charity campaigns. SMSAPI experts, including Maja Wiśniewska, however, warn against overusing this channel.
Research shows that more than half of users find push irritating, and an excess leads to "banner blindness." Moderation and balance are key. Despite the temporary increase in importance, brands should remember that overly frequent sales-oriented notifications may make them invisible to recipients.
