Boost your retention with in-app messaging

Push notifications have become one of the primary channels of sending marketing communications in recent times. You can promote your products and send updates to your users to engage them almost instantaneously. Yet, some limitations of push notifications may limit your potential in reaching your users.

Before you are able to send push notifications, you need their consent. Still, your notification delivery can fail if your users have turned off the service from their device. So, is there a way that you can still reach your users? Sure, there is a way around that lets you reach them with your messages and is known as In-App Notification. Read on to know what they are and how they work.

What are in-app messages or notifications

The working principle of In-App Notification is quite similar to app-push notifications, with a minor difference - the user needs to be active on the app to receive an In-App notification. In this type of notifications, the issue to consent is solved, as the user provides it when they are installing the app already. Therefore, you can even send messages to users opting out from your app-push and web push notifications.

The retention rate in this form of messaging is found to be quite high. Moreover, it improves your reach, user experience, in-app purchases, and marketing ROI due to better engagement. Since a user is already using your app, the chances that they will ignore the message becomes less.

So, if you are trying to improve the benefits of using in-app notifications, you must keep aware of the best practices for sending in-app messages too. The next sections enlist some of them.

In-app messaging best practices

When it comes to engagements and conversions, in-app notifications can boost them up by 3X and 4X, as the statistics show. The following are the practices that marketers consider to be the way to achieve better results.

1. Design the in-app message according to the user persona

You should design your in-app messages according to the persona of users receiving them. It makes the message more relevant and resonates better with their purchasing intent.

2. Use proper segmentation for filtering out your users

The standard spray-and-pray is outdated, so you cannot expect to create a one-size-fits-all message to connect every user with it. You should segment your users according to their purchasing intent, and buying propensity to target them with relevant messages. Real-time segmentation, product recommendations, and interactive messages can help you to engage your users better and retain them.

3. Use a compelling headline

You must use an attention-grabbing and relevant headline to impress your users so that they get a clear idea of what they can expect from your in-app notification.

4. Use a proper CTA for your messages

Your in-app message must contain one or more CTAs with a link back to the page that you want to redirect your users. Moreover, you should try to create the CTA in such a way that it is visible and matches the color tone of your brand to provide a better user experience.

5. Use relevant images and the most important information on your message

You must use high-quality images, rich media, and any other creatives along with your message. It should convey the value proposition or the objective of the notification clearly too.

6. Use in-app messaging to cross-sell and upsell products

Not only product promotions, but you also can use in-app messaging to cross-sell and upsell other products in your inventory too. It helps you to engage your users better by showing them associated products or higher value products and increase the value of your cart. If people receiving relevant product recommendations through your apps are showing their interest in them, they can increase your sales value and volume by quite a margin.

7. Use a part of omnichannel marketing

Since user acquisition and retention goes hand-in-hand, you must strategize your complete marketing stack to achieve both. In-app notifications are a crucial component in an Omni channel marketing scenario and can help you to reach your users via multiple touchpoints across channels and devices. Moreover, it helps you to understand your users’ behavior and target them in the future with a better plan.

Conclusion

The in-app notification provides you with a backdoor to reach your users and increase their engagement and converting them over time. It can also be included in your omnichannel strategies and can be used as a fallback technique for users who is not willing to receive other kinds of push messages from you. In-app messages can solve the issue for you and your users, and still create an environment where people keep getting your messages without feeling the sense of intrusion upon them.

Varsha Singh is a Digital Marketing professional from Bangalore at Affle India Pvt Ltd. I use my articles to provide quality content & tutorials to assist marketers.