OTHERLEVELS
concerns emerge about push notifications and mobile apps, primarily around these issues:
“If we ask them to accept push notifications, they’ll
just say no anyway.” “Sure we send push messages, but very infrequently because we don’t want consumers to opt out.” “We have to be careful about push messaging, because we don’t want to offend/upset our consumers by sending too many.” These concerns deserve to be conquered with
knowledge, expertise and data that can help today’s mobile marketers seize opportunities to leverage the value of avid, eager consumers who are already willing and poised to engage with promotions, incentives and personalized messages. Zeroing in on an eager, already opted-in mobile audience will bring far more immediate results and long-term gains than actions taken to avoid offending consumers who might opt out.
Marketers’ concerns about push notifications and
over-messaging might best be explained in this hypothetical restaurant example. In a restaurant setting. Imagine you’re a marketer who walks into a restaurant packed with 100 patrons. Within earshot of the customers, you ask: “How many of you would like to sign up for this restaurant’s email newsletter?” Statistically speaking:
About 50% of the restaurant patrons will raise their hands because they’re interested, they like the food and service, they’re regular customers or they’re eager for specials, coupons and additional savings. As fans, they don’t have to be persuaded or convinced. They’re in.
The other 50% will not raise their hands because
they’re not interested. Maybe they’re only visiting. Perhaps they say no to all such offers. Maybe they have no plans (at the moment) to return. Maybe they prefer another restaurant. Perhaps they already receive too many emails or messages.
Statistically speaking, the 50-50 split is a normal,
expected statistic for opt-in marketing efforts: half will be interested, half won’t. It doesn’t matter if the marketing invitation is made in a physical restaurant or on a smartphone. On a smartphone or mobile
device, the offer to receive a push notification is the equivalent of the offer to sign up for an email newsletter – and the results are statistically the same. Half of mobile app users will agree to receive push notifications by opting in, and the other half will decline the offer and opt out.
Today’s mobile marketers have a real choice: delay or scale back messaging because of concerns over 50% of the audience, or work with hesitant consumers to increase opt-in rates and simultaneously bring great value to the 50%who have already opted in.
Because the 50% opt-out rate is expected and
predictable, it should not be relied on to guide a solid marketing program. What’s more valuable is the opt-ed in audience, because its members represent a genuinely interested, engaged customer base that is valuable, willing to participate, full of revenue potential and open to marketing and upsell opportunities. Whether in a retail environment or in a mobile app, the lesson for marketers should be obvious. A brand will achieve the most bang for the buck – and the most repeat business, greater revenue, highest satisfaction scores and more word- of-mouth referrals – by paying attention and marketing efforts on the patrons who say “yes” to the brand’s invitation. Those customers are already on board, already converted. It’s the marketer’s job is to keep them that way.
The same is true in the mobile environment, where
the 50% of consumers who say “yes” indicate they want to join the conversation by receiving push notifications on their smartphones. The marketer’s job is to keep the conversation going by making those messages relevant and timely.
Push notifications: sophistication required
Therein lies the challenge, one recognized by
Forrester’s 2014 “State of Mobile Technology for Marketers” report. The ability to reach engaged users with relevant, personal and timely messages requires a mobile strategy and data to inform it, yet 42% of marketers say they have had a mobile strategy for less than a year or are still building one, and only 38% of marketers make use of mobile analytics. Only about a
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