The Impact of Push Notifications on Mobile App User Retention

Push notifications are notifications that can be viewed on your mobile phone's lock screen. They are usually short messages that advise users on quick actions they can take to increase or improve the application's value offering. Push notifications are usually designed to be as non-intrusive as possible because the way they appear on the lock screen is the same way they can be swiped off in seconds.

Push notifications have carved out a niche for themselves among the many mobile marketing strategies, with studies showing that they increase customer retention anywhere from three to ten times more than applications that do not employ push app notifications. What this means without mincing words is that if you are in a competitive industry, especially one that’s dominated by mobile app technology, push app notifications are not a consideration but rather cutting-edge tech that can set your business apart from the rest. Here’s how:

Increased Session Frequency

Everywhere you look on the internet, there’s a resource talking about how attention span is dropping globally, backed with staggering statistics that back up the claim. It talks about how people are unwilling to sit through long exposes and prefer “to the point” media, something that provides instant gratification so they can move on pronto.

According to StopPress, a New Zealand Magazine, this is misleading, and we have to stop saying that people have short attention spans. The problem, however, is that there’s a lot of competition for that attention, and most people choose to spend it in ways that please them, not in ways that society might prescribe.

The magazine believes that the fact that people sit for hours to binge movies, scroll through social media, game at online casinos like those reviewed by Jeremy Olson for New Zealand’s mobile users, and stay connected with their friends on long chat sessions is evidence that people still have considerable attention spans. And what all of these applications —mobile streaming services like Netflix, casino apps like JackPoty, and instant messaging apps like WhatsApp— have in common is that they all effectively use push notifications to get and keep the customer’s attention so they visit their apps more often and stay for longer than the competition.

Reduction in Churn Rate

The churn rate is the direct opposite of customer retention. Simply put, it is when the customer makes up their mind to stop using your service and, in the case of mobile apps, uninstall it. We’ve all been there; we desperately need to claw back some space on our device and look through our application list to find a couple that has been of no use the past couple of months to send back to the app store.

Applications used daily are never up for installation. Instant messaging apps are typically safe, but how about apps that users do not need daily? How do such apps avoid being uninstalled when they are seldom used after they have fulfilled their purpose for download?

Take a budgeting app, for example; it helps the user create a routine for saving money. Once the user settles into this routine, they no longer need reminders for the app and have very little reason to keep it on their device. But this is where mobile app push notifications come in; with random budgeting tips sent to the user’s lock screen daily on how best to evolve and improve their budgeting strategy over time, the app stays valuable, reducing the risk of being removed from their mobile phone.

Improved Value

Talking about value, push notifications allow users to extract every ounce of utility from the applications on their devices. Instead of applications just sitting dormant on the app list, with the right permissions, they can become more integral to the user’s daily life. They can constantly advise the user on ways they can be used, some of which the user would not have thought of or forgotten about. This way, the applications stay valuable by constantly communicating with the user and creating custom notifications based on the user’s inputs, so instead of getting broadcast messages on the application’s channel, the user gets information that meets their needs immediately.

Conclusion

Push app notifications undoubtedly influence customer retention. They offer value that reduces customer churn rate and increases the frequency with which customers use the application. As a result, it is crucial for any outfit looking to offer mobile services to allow users to opt in for push notifications.