The mobile revolution is having an unexpected effect on marketing—not only are native apps displacing search strategies, but “push” notifications and alerts are emerging as a sales channel unto themselves.
Push technologies have existed for some time, but only with the recent surge in smartphone ownership have alerts had much effect. “Pull” technologies were the rule: People would consider their needs, and go to a Web or mobile site to grab information via search or direct access to a site.
But as more traffic has moved to mobile, push notifications have become increasingly important to creating engagement with customers and potential customers.
“Mobile marketers love push notifications, and it’s easy to see why,” Christopher S. Dean, CEO of Swrve, a platform that helps personalize push notifications, told Internet Retailer. “They offer the ability to speak directly to the mobile app user.”
Shopping without searching
Push notifications — whether alerting smartphone users to a special sale or a new message on your Facebook home page — tend to spur action. And apps that include push alerts are developing into the starting point for many smartphone interactions.
The number of leading retailers employing push notifications in mobile apps jumped 48% from 2012 to 2013, according to a study from mobile messaging analytics firm OtherLevels. About two-thirds (66%) of the top-100 retailers offering native apps use them to send push notifications.
Google’s new Chrome browser for Android could soon erode native apps’ edge in terms of consumer engagement, however, by allowing websites to issue push notifications to mobile users. Chrome users can opt in to receive messages from companies such as eBay via a centralized dashboard system.
Extending push capabilities to browsers is a big step forward. Not every business can justify a native app, and consumers don’t want to download dozens of them. While there are thousands of apps available, almost two-thirds (65%) of mobile users average zero downloads per month, according to comScore data.
Building upon its dominance in mobile messaging, Facebook is also seeking to harness push technologies for marketing. The social powerhouse will soon help businesses use its Facebook Messenger app to serve offers and other messages via text, eliminating long email threads and alerting customers to the presence of messages.
Extending the power of push
Beyond the surge in mobile usage, other hardware innovations seem set to make mobile alerts the next big tool for marketers. Among them are in-store beacons, which use radio-frequency signals and geopositioning to push ads and other messages to shoppers in the immediate vicinity.
Wearables — and particularly the Apple Watch — offer another avenue for push alerts, and will likely boost the value of push thanks to their limited screen sizes. Apps with “wrist-first” interfaces will help satisfy the need for “extremely quick and efficient interactions,” said 9Plus incubator CEO Peter Relan upon the release of Awear’s Cufflink mobile alerts app.
Three-quarters (75%) of millennial consumers say they see wearable devices as a new way for consumer brands to engage with customers, according to a survey from Accent Marketing Services LLC, and half (50%) of all consumers surveyed say they would use wearables to receive notifications from their favorite brands.
“Wearable technology is a natural extension of online and mobile channels, and [is] quickly emerging as the latest channel of consumer engagement,” said Roger Huff, Accent’s director of social media and digital strategy, in a release. “Through wearable technology devices, brands have a direct line of communication to their customers.”