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Website push notification, or simply web push notification, is an amazing concept which has helped the readers and publishers both. It’s the next fabulous thing after hyperlinks, which receives quick clicks and increases the page visit count. Giving faster updates to users, it also increases the content engagement stat for the website owner’s good. So, these are win-win for both.
The domain which can leverage the most benefits from web push is eCommerce without any doubt, as store owners can now directly (and dynamically) send the product notifications, tracking data, and promotional offers to their subscribers through web.
How much do you know about web push notifications? What benefits may it have for your loyal customers and website’s fame? How to get it enabled for your website? What are the prerequisites for sending web push notifications? How important are these web alerts for e-commerce sector?
Well, this guide has the answer to all the above-mentioned questions and a lot more. So, keep on reading and learn everything about web push notifications.
What is Web Push Notification?
Web push notification technology is capable of delivering the asynchronous messages to user’s devices from a website. It is a quite similar concept as mobile app notification scenario but is a more surprising and cool thing, to say the least.
With the fantastic HTML5 APIs, you can use these attention-grabbing notifications for large-screen devices too. It is not required that the website, sending notifications, should be opened in the browser. So basically, it’s an extended version of mobile app push notifications, which works well on PC or android Devices.
Considering of these notifications as clickable messages, popping on the devices’ screen, you can understand how they multiply the chances of your post or link being viewed.
Current Trends: Where are these Push Notifications Being Used?
Ignoring the potential of these notifications is nearly impossible for the businesses and bloggers. So, everyone is now willing to enable them on their websites. The tasks of web push notifications include –
- Acknowledging readers about new posts or contents.
- Notifying customers about latest offers and discount, offered by e-commerce websites.
- Notifying subscribers about new events, recently published e-books, webinars and more.
- Getting more subscribers
How effective are these notifications?
In the mobile world, push notifications are most significant advancements happened yet. Leading among the communication methods, these are prominently considered as the default method of messaging and notifying. Effectiveness can be concluded from the fact that push notifications perform better than e-mail marketing.
Desktops or laptops are not so different. Gathering a peaking response rate, web push notifications receives 50% more clicks than the e-mail links.
Main Properties of Web Push Notifications
Are you still confused about these notifications and their characteristics?
Here is a quick rendering of main properties which defines the web push well –
- Delivered in real-time
- Triggered with events
- Notifies subscribers about the latest contents or offers
- Pops up on the screen of laptops, desktops, mobiles and tablets
- Clickable messages, with a defined call to action (CTA)
- Enabled only after a user permits
Tricks to Increase the Click-Through-Rate
There are massive changes that the user will click your link, provided you are marketing it right. Learn some good tricks to improve the click-through rate for your web push notifications.
1. Communicate Clear
If you are writing something highly ambiguous in your notification and expecting the user to read and deduce it, then it’s not going to happen. Everyone is busy and have too less time to offer you. So, you hardly get 3-4 seconds to grab your subscriber’s brain (just when the notification pops up). And, that’s why hitting nail at the right place is extremely important in web scenario.
2. Make it look Urgent
If it’s not urgent, it’s NOT necessary. So, create urgency from buyers whenever you want to boost response rate. For example, “Learn why your website is not getting 10k Visitors per day as ours. A Webinar not to miss!” is going to tickle the brain nerves of the reader and excite them to reach the webinar. Isn’t that you wanted?
3. Short and To-the-point
Keep your message very short (as short as a tweet or half of its length). 50-100 characters will be enough to achieve a greater response rate (you have 4 seconds, remember?).
Consider two messages –
- Have you bought the book ‘Power of subconscious mind’ from our store? Buy and Get HUGE discount!
- Get Murphy’s all-time best seller book ‘Power of subconscious mind’ at 20% discount
Which is crisp and offers more valuable information to the buyers?
Yes, it’s undoubtedly the second one. It specifies everything well and takes lesser time to read.
4. Ask questions
Not always, but sometimes questions do the trick. Asking questions in a witty way can help you increase the visitors.
5. Proof your point
Present social and statistical proofs to communicate your message more efficiently. Saying ‘10K marketers already registered. What’s holding you back yet?’ can initiate a thought process and make the person reach your link. At the same time, be authentic and credible.
Boasting about something which you can’t prove may cause drift in your visitor count. For example, if you tell your readers that you have 1 Million readers (when actually no one knows you), it will sound unreal and hence, you’ll get lesser clicks.
Why is it beneficial to your website?
Your website will get advantages of using web push notifications for sure. Why? Here are some reasons –
- Desktops Still Matter!
The major difference between website push notifications and mobile push notifications is – the latter can’t cover the large-screen devices (laptops, desktops, etc.). This fact is itself a disadvantage. Surveys specify that around half (48.7% to be exact) of the worldwide internet usages are still from desktops.
Having web push notification facility enabled on your website ensures that your notifications can reach desktop as well as mobile devices, which was impossible some years back (and is not a case with mobile app push notifications).
- User is Permitting (hence Interested)
Website push notifications are strictly the permission-based communication method. It means, your subscriber actually want to receive updates from you if he/she is enabling notifications for your website. So, there are more chances of getting clicks (more than any of your social or search campaigns)
- Improves User Engagement Metrics
If a subscriber loves your products or posts, the chances are that he/she is going to visit your website often. But how long will it happen? It can’t be for the lifetime, right?
So, keep them reminding that you are daily coming up with good contents, offers or products in order to increase engagement.
- Fits to serve E-commerce Industry
Are you owner of an e-commerce website and still haven’t tried Push notification in woocommerce?
That’s the biggest mistake you are making as your store’s products are not getting any attention from a large chunk of users around the world!
Adding the option to enable web push notifications may help the buyers to know about latest sales, discounts, offers and products, prompting them to reach your e-commerce website and check. So, it will help in hiking the sales without any doubt.
- Good Way to Get Subscribers
When a new visitor reaches your website, there should be a proper call to action which is attention-grabbing, instant and help them subscribe without any delay. What can be better than adding web push here?
- It Automates Marketing for you
Social updates may take a lot of time in reaching your audience. Once your product is published, designer designed the banner, writer prepared the slogan and marketer created the campaign, then only your users will be acknowledged.
In the case of web push notifications, you can automate them to ping your user on every post or product, which is hitting the latest on your website.
How can it be implemented?
Obviously, you want returning visitors and increased page viewed every day. Thinking to add Web Push notifications to your e-commerce store or blogging website? That’s super-easy with WordPress.
First, see how these notifications look on the web –
The Mobile web push notifications will look as under –
Setting up Web Push Notifications for your Website
Sending WooCommerce updates or WordPress website’s notifications is easy through plugins. You can find a good plugin, like WooCommerce Notifier, and install it to your WordPress Website.
What a Web Push notification Plugin can do for you?
The capabilities differ with plugins. We are considering WooCommerce Notifier plugin here, to let you understand a superset of such plugin’s abilities.
- Send notification to users on the arrival of new WooCommerce product.
- Notify the subscribers about coupons.
- Tell the people when you add a new page to your website or many any changes. So, it’s not your headache to manually update the subscribers about price-drops, new products, product’s re-arrival to the store, new coupons or other similar things. Every of these tasks will be automated.
- Ping the readers when a new post is added.
- Custom notifications let you send the notifications manually.
- You can also send notifications for the custom posts.
- It shows the user insights so that you can analyze the mistakes and influences of this marketing method.
- Makes you capable of switching notifications on/off whenever you want.
- Let your registered customers switch on or off the notifications according to their desire.
- Viewing notification history and setting custom text for the notifications is possible.
SSL and its Importance in our Scenario
Do you know about SSL? Let’s talk about the SSL before we move further and understand SSL’s urgency in web push.
What is SSL?
SSL, or Security Socket Layer, is a standard security license. It is required to establish an encrypted connection between server and client. All the major capabilities, which may initiate security concerns, require the host website to get this certificate installed. By doing this, the web protocols ensure that the connection is credible and the client is not at risk.
To check whether a website has SSL installed or not, you can check the URL of the website. If it’s prefixed with ‘https://’, then it’s eligible for sending web push notifications.
Why is SSL must these days?
On reading the above section, you must have thought that whether the web push notifications will work without SSL or not. So, the answer is ‘no’ (as you expected).
If your website of online store does not support HTTPS/SSL, then web push notifications will not work for major browsers (like Google Chrome), until you install an SSL. However, it’s not a mandatory condition but required. If you still want to do the same with an HTTP website, you should use third-party SSL certifications.
Using SSL on a website (especially if it’s an e-commerce store) is important for everyone, here is why –
- It makes your website look credible.
- Enhances the page rank.
- Visitors will not suspect on your before buying the product or services.
- No restrictions on sending web push notifications to any browser.
- And, a lot more.
ALSO READ: Here’s how to add extra flat rate feature in a WooCommerce Store.
Summing Up the Web Push Notifications
Users are now living with ‘always-on’ internet and therefore, making the web push a viable option to reach them. You cannot rely on one device (as happens in the case of mobile push notifications) if you to utilize this fact completely. And hence, web push comes out as a perfect solution here.
Even if users are busy with their work on the laptop/desktop device, they will add your product to cart (if interested) to buy it later. If the purchase doesn’t happen in a day or two, you have the option to remind your potential buyer about the same to finalize the deal. Isn’t it incredible for sellers and marketers?
Web push lets you leverage the ultimate potential of the web by keeping your customers/readers engaged in your contents and offers, the same time bringing more subscribers by providing an easy way to subscribe.
For the readers, buyers & users, these notifications are beneficial in many ways. Saving time, bringing the most relevant content and notifying about the main events are some tasks done very nicely by these clickable messages.
Do you still think there is a reason, for which, your website can survive without the web push in this highly competitive digital world? Then, better beware of your own thoughts!
Got a question or something to say? Comment below and we’ll respond to the earliest.
