The best Retail Apps focus on enhancing the customer experience. In the case of push notifications, this means providing real user value to the customer. Although a mobile strategy is now essential for retailers (just over 77% now have a mobile app) only 31% of the top 100 online stores are currently sending push notifications, according to Business Insider. Considering that 7 out of 10 users enable push notifications for their favourite brands, many retailers are missing out on a huge opportunity to engage more customers.
It’s no longer simply a case of broadcasting a general push message to all of your app users, however. For brick and mortar retailers, personalisation, segmentation and targeting are now necessary to engage customers effectively. We take a look at 5 retailers who are using push notifications to their advantage.
The retailer sends daily deals promoting different products that target distinct customer segments based on purchase and browsing history. It almost goes without saying that a customer is more likely to consider a deal on a new stroller after buying an infant car seat than she is a new stereo. Personalized product suggestions have been proven to increase sales by up to 30%.
Asos provide Back-in-stock notifications to customers when a wish-list product has been replenished on the website. Considering that 25% of online customers abandon their cart due to out-of-stock issues, this is an effective way to proactively induce customers back into the sales funnel to complete a purchase. According to a report by The Luxury Institute, 71% of consumers appreciate receiving notifications when an item that they had wanted comes back in stock.
Target is leveraging push notifications to activate in-store experiences. The retailer is currently testing beacon technology in 50 locations nationwide. According to the retailer, ‘the Target app will serve up timely deals and recommendations on nearby products and more’, as the customer walks through the store. The real-time coupons will only be limited to two per visit and they will be contextually relevant to the particular aisle where the customer is browsing. InMarket recently found that in-store app usage is 16.5 times greater for users who received a beacon message and interaction with the advertised products is 19 times greater.
In the rapidly growing wearables space, eBay have utilised their Apple Watch app to offer up push notifications to help buyers keep tabs on the items they’re watching and help sellers quickly see customer messages. According to the company, over 50 percent of users reach eBay from its mobile app so it’s critical for the company to be where its customers are. By effectively making their smartwatch app a messaging hub, eBay can offer personalised service and not pushy sales.
With regard to seasonal targeting, Saks took an experiential approach last winter, according to Marketing Land, sending its app users an invite to watch livestream access of their holiday window unveiling, a highly anticipated holiday tradition, while also promoting their holiday gift guide. This demonstrates that it’s not all about direct offers. Mobile offers a unique opportunity to build a direct relationship with your best customers, and it can be extremely engaging to offer them something they can’t get elsewhere – a real-time brand experience.
What we can take away from these successful retail brands is that the new generation of Push Notifications are both highly personalised and contextually relevant. The era of the broadcast message is well and truly over. At Xtremepush, we are at the forefront of this retail marketing revolution.
We provide retailers with the tools they need to create rich interactive & personalised Push Notification campaigns, including Multivariate Testing to understand which campaigns work best and Intelligent Delivery. In addition, our industry-leading location targeting technology delivers powerful real-time engagement when in-store. If you would like to find out more, simply drop us a line directly for a free consultation.
Related reading: Case study with retail giant 7-Elevan