How to Optimize Your Push Notification Strategy for Maximum Engagement

For mobile app developers and marketers, push notifications are an incredible opportunity to drive users to action. At the same time, wrongly timed irrelevant notifications are all it takes for a user to completely switch them off for the app. 

The LunarLab team is constantly analyzing trends and new approaches to mobile apps and UI and we often find apps without a proper push notification strategy. We have come across many apps that send too many annoying notifications. 

Here are a couple of best practices for mobile app push notifications that we have found to increase user engagement:

7 app push notifications best practices to increase engagement

Marketing teams need a strategy that allows them to plan their push notifications. But they also need a highly detailed process that lets them design, test, and send out push notifications within a few hours or less to take advantage of a sudden opportunity.  

1. Use easy-to-understand engaging copy with clear CTA

The copy has to be clear enough so that the user can understand the message with a glance, but also at the same time engaging enough to make them take action. 

Research also suggests that if you have more than 10 words in your copy, your click-through rates drop. Different platforms also have different character limits for push notifications so if it’s higher than that, the user won’t be able to view all the content. 

It’s also important to keep your copy specific; show relevant numbers, dates, times, names, and others. For example, if you’re sending a notification about food delivery, specify when it will be delivered, who will deliver it, and how much the user has to pay. 

2. Let users opt-in

Up until recently, push notifications were enabled by default for Android users, but with Android 13, all apps must ask for user permission. iOS gives apps provisional permission to send notifications before the user opts in, but they will be silent and in the notification center. 

But as a rule, apps get the best results when they send the request within context. 

For example, for a ride-sharing app, users may not allow notifications if they get a request the first time they open the app. But after they’ve booked a ride, if you send a request asking if they would like updates on the status of their vehicle, they’re likely to allow that.  

3. Use personalized notifications instead of generic ones

There are different ways to personalize push notifications. One of the most obvious examples is the notifications sent for abandoned carts. Instead of sending a generic notification saying “You have products in your cart,” tailor it for the specific products. 

You can also personalize these notifications based on user behavior. For instance, Spotify and Netflix send notifications based on shows or songs the user may be interested in. 

Apps can also analyze how users responded to previous notifications and use that to send personalized notifications. 

4. Don’t rely solely on notifications for communications

Keep in mind that it takes very few steps for a user to block all notifications from an app. 

Use push notifications for sending information most important or valuable to the user. For other information, use emails, messages, or other platforms. 

5. Time your notifications

North American users are most likely to respond to a notification they receive between 6 PM and 9 PM on weekdays and at 4 PM and 5 PM on weekends. In the Asia Pacific region, this is between 7 AM and 1 PM. 

There may also be differences in how users of different demographics may respond to notifications and this may vary for different apps. For instance, ride-sharing apps may get better responses if they send alerts about discounts when users are about to step outside on a weekend. An e-commerce app may get better results when users have the time to go through their shopping lists and make decisions. 

Before sending a notification, think about when a certain user may like to receive that specific notification. 

6. Minimize friction for the users

If you want users to take an action from a notification, make it easy for them. If possible, let them take the action without leaving the notification center.

You must also deep-link the notification to the specific page on your app they can take action on. For instance, if you’re sending a notification about a payment, don’t send the users to the home page when they tap on the notification. 

7. Test and iterate

A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work for all apps or users. While you can follow best practices, it’s also important to test, collect the data, analyze it, and iterate.

Instead of sending notifications to all users at the same time, test it on a small segment of the demographic you’re sending them to. 

You can also use the data from previous notifications to better understand the users and customize them accordingly. 

Push notifications are powerful, but you need a strategy to get the best results

Push notifications can increase app engagement by about 88%. At the same time, they can be intrusive and users rarely go back to enable them once they’ve disabled it. “A lot of new apps get this part wrong, and it’s so incredibly important. Notifications are often added as a way to ‘increase engagement’, but unless the notifications are directly linked to a person’s goals or needs, they become annoying and lead to notification fatigue.” says Kelli Lucas, Chief Design Officer at LunarLab, who has been designing mobile apps for over a decade.

To get the best results, you need a strategy to send personalized notifications that users find valuable. 

Struggling with engagement on your app? Reach out to us and let’s start troubleshooting