Push notifications are specific to mobile phones. They are messages sent by apps or websites to which the user is subscribed. They appear on the mobile screen no matter what the user is doing and are accompanied by a specific sound.
It is important to have a clear description of push notifications in order to understand how disruptive they are. This means that you have to be extra careful about the following aspects:
- What types of events/ news really need a push notification
- When you schedule your push notifications to go out to subscribers
- What you say in the push notifications
Each of these three aspects deserves an article, so today we will deal with the last one. How should you adapt your writing skills to create effective push notifications? In this sense, effective means not just inviting people to take action, but first of all not having your app uninstalled, or further push notifications denied by the user.
As we said at the beginning, push notifications are extremely disruptive, so they need to be well written in order to inform or entertain the mobile phone users and not annoy them instead.
Here are the top hacks for writing such effective push notifications:
- Be Funny
Even if you manage a weather app and are about to notify an upcoming storm, find a funny side to the event. Whenever you are about to interrupt your subscribers with your notification, think of how you can turn their frown at being interrupted into a smile.
Humour is allowed in push notifications in the most unexpected ways. After all, you want to be memorable and stay in your subscribers’ good graces.
- Be To The Point
A push notification is not a news article. It is more like a news flash. You have to send your message in as few words as possible. Whenever you compose your push notifications, have a mobile phone of average size (4.5 inch screen) close at hand to test them.
Netflix has some of the shortest and most informative push notifications. They read something like: “House of Cards Season 2 is now on Netflix.” It takes one row and a half on a regular mobile phone and it is just perfect for a quick read before dismissing the notification.
- Offer Value
Why did you really need to send a push notification? Do you have information of value to your subscribers to share? Will it impact their lives for the better if they find out about it right now?
Push notifications need to give valuable advice or information. Details of slow traffic in an area with notoriously bad traffic are not worth a push notification, but a major accident which closed down the entire motorway is.
- Be Emphatic
Your notification is not about good news (we revert to the storm or traffic topics) but you do not want to try the humoristic approach. In this case, being emphatic never fails to make a good impression. People want to hear a few words of commiseration. Even if they do not provide a solution for the problem, at least they can face the situation with an uplifted mood.
- Be Clear
Re-read your push notifications and make sure that they cannot be misinterpreted by chance. People don’t really pay attention to notifications, their mind is focused on whatever they were doing on the phone when your notification showed up.
Use short and everyday words as much as possible. Avoid unfamiliar acronyms and any kind of jargon.
Last but not least, avoid promotions and advertisements in your push notifications like the plague. This is the surest way to get your future push notifications banned from the user’s mobile phone.