3 smart approaches to web push notification usage in the publishing industries
Olha Lypnytska
3 smart approaches to web push notification usage in the publishing industries
Olha Lypnytska
We live in the information age. Scientists at the University of California-San Diego found out that an average person processes 34 GB of data, or 105,000 words per day [1]. The Internet plays an important role in this. According to Hosting Facts, each day more than 3 million blog posts are published on the Net [2].
As a result of such cut-throat competition for user attention, publishers are facing a lot of challenges on how to stand out from the information “noise”. Whether it is a small “one-person” blog or such heavyweights as Wired, Business Insider, Bloomberg and even Forbes - all of them are constantly looking for new possibilities to “get noticed” in the crowded marketplace.
In a time when publishing has moved to desktops, web push notifications can become an out-of-the-box solution for this problem. Moreover, data shows that media, bloggers and publishers form the second largest group that uses web push notifications after e-commerce. (Source: PushPushGo.com).
Web push notification usage according to the industry. Source: PushPushGo
Table of Contents
How to use web push notifications in the publishing industries
1. Be the first one to keep your readers in the know
Send everyday updates about the weather, exchange rates, etc.
Send notifications about the newsletter in subscribers inboxes
2. Increase subscriber engagement on your online media website
3. Monetization of web push notifications in the publishing industry
How to use web push notifications in the publishing industry?
1. Be the first one to keep your readers in the know
Even if a person is signed up for your newsletter, that doesn’t guarantee that he or she will read or even open those emails.
Research done by DMA shows that 47% of users forget that they actually signed up and 53% claimed they receive too many irrelevant emails. Consequently, 1/5th of consumers have abandoned their email account because of the overwhelming amount of letters they received [3].
And even though newsletters still remain a powerful tool to reach your audience, web push notifications can perfectly complement and fill in the gaps of your email marketing strategy.
Look through these different types of web push notification campaigns that you can implement in your online publishing house right now.
Announce new publications and increase readership
By sending web push notifications with relevant and interesting content, you increase the chances that subscribers will click on it and will not unsubscribe because of unimportant information you might flood them with.
💡Useful tip. To be able to send customized web push campaigns you should target them according to subscriber behavior pattern on your website. Would you agree that the person that reads finance news might not be happy if you start to spam him or her with the latest Hollywood gossip😉?
Example:
Below you can find an example of a targeted web push campaign (from the point of view of a person that is subscribed to a beauty blog that shares content about cosmetics, makeup, health and exercise).
An example of web push notification campaign „New article on the beauty blog”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 The content of the web push is relevant to user interests (according to his footprint on the website). The content of the message is related to the topic of makeup and NOT, for example, exercising or a new diet.
Send notifications directly on user's desktop or mobile screen that automatically results in 90% view rate! Start testing web push already now!
Create urgency by highlighting the latest news and deliver it directly to user desktops in a few minutes
It’s not a secret that Breaking News relevance is very limited in time. For every news media resource, it is vitally important to be the first source of information for readers in order to secure their loyalty and trust. After all, who wants to be the last one to reveal the news to their followers?
Especially in case of campaigns in which the speed of reaching the recipients is the most important, the functionality of Rocket Push will be very helpful. Thanks to it you will significantly shorten the time needed to create a campaign. All you need to do is insert the link and the content will be automatically fulfilled.
Of course, you can still optimize the entire message manually, but the hardest work is already behind you!
💡Useful tip. If you would like to be 100% sure that the subscriber reads your message, you can enable “Require Interaction” while setting up your web push campaign. Such a configuration will ensure that your message was read at the time when the browser was opened if a user wasn’t online when you sent a campaign. Although this possibility is available only for Google Chrome, this can significantly increase your reach, as over than 85% of Internet population use Google Chrome as their main browser (Source: PushPushGo).
Example:
A blog that shares insights about traveling and tourism sends a notification about Big Sales offered by airline company within one hour after its announcement.
An example of web push notification campaign “Flight sales”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 subscribers will know about sales within the minimum time period;
👉 web push notification campaign is sent to people that are definitely interested in receiving news from this blog. As a result, this fact strengthened by instant delivery of the front-page news will guarantee for the blog the highest CTR (Click-Through-Rate) and level of engagement;
👉 the cost is much lower than paid advertising while the effect is greater in comparison with a newsletter.
Send everyday updates about the weather, exchange rates etc.
If your online site publishes information that people prefer to monitor on a daily or weekly basis, such as weather forecast, stock market quotes etc., web push notifications will satisfy the needs of your audience perfectly. In consequence, you will be able to build credibility, stay relevant to your subscribers and regularly bring them back to your website.
In addition, editors who create content on your site do not have to spend a lot of time on this type of publication. Automation of web push campaigns based on geolocation will be a great help for you. Thanks to this solution you can send, for example, daily campaigns of weather forecasts personalized in terms of the subscriber’s location.
It's a great way to save time, while still ensuring the high quality and usability of the content offered by your website.
💡 Useful tip. Preference Center can be a great addition to this type of web push campaigns. It allows a person to subscribe only to those notifications for topics which are of the greatest interest to them. For example, some users prefer to get notifications about sports news or currency rates but are not interested in horoscopes.
See what the subscription form to web push notifications with preferences looks like.
Web push notification subscription form with preferences. Source: PushPushGo
Example 1:
Sports information resource sends a web push campaign with the results of a recent football match:
An example of web push notification campaign “Football match results”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 the web push contains only necessary information,
👉 the banner is customized and demonstrates the result of the game that grabs attention, especially of football fans.
Start testing web push notifications - always FREE up to 500 subscribers!
Example 2:
Below is an example of web push campaign sent by a weather forecast online resource:
An example of web push notification campaign, “Weather forecast”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 an exact forecast is sent to users depending on the place they live;
👉 an image that reflects the weather catches attention and increases the CTR.
Send notifications about the newsletter in the subscriber inboxes
Sometimes it is very hard to fit all the information you would like to share with your readers in the very limited space of a web push message. Thus, as I mentioned at the beginning, web push notifications are not a competitor for newsletters, but they are a great addition. A combination of both of these tools can create a synergy that will strengthen your marketing position and boost online media site in the fight against the competition.
Learn more: 8 differences between newsletters and web push
💡Useful tip. Don’t send web push notifications about every newsletter you send to your subscribers, especially if you send a mass mailing every day or even a few times per week. It’s likely that subscribers will find this extremely annoying. Therefore, I recommend sending web push notifications only with information that is valuable, relevant or urgent to your followers.
Example:
An industry blog aimed at marketers and business professionals sends a monthly newsletter with unique content for subscribers.
An example of web push notification campaign “Follow up to the newsletter campaign”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 highly engaged audience: in order to be informed about new content, users proceed through the double opt-in subscription process (subscription for the newsletter and expression of consent to receive web push notifications),
👉 the newsletter is more likely to get opened,
👉 one button sends the user to the main page, while other links to the featured article. Web push notification increase the open rates of your email campaign.
Build up a GDPR-friendly database of subscribers twice as fast as a newsletter. Implement web push notifications on your site already now!
2. Increase subscriber engagement on your online media website
Traffic, CTR, the number of viewed pages and time spent on the website are, of course, important indexes to track. However, an active, engaged audience is more valuable than the number of visitors. Here, web push notifications will help you to involve users in a conversation.
Check out these ideas on how web notifications can help turn visitors to your site into committed followers:
Send alerts about new comments left by other people to articles read or commented on by a subscriber
It’s already a well-known fact that a lot of people sometimes find the comment section more interesting than the content itself. Take an experiment done by NPR in April of 2014 [4]. They published an article called “Why doesn’t America read anymore?” In fact, it wasn’t a real article, the author just asked readers to click LIKE and DO NOT COMMENT. Ironically, such a controversial headline created an active discussion where many angry readers claimed they actually read. This experiment once again proved that sharing your own opinion as well as reading somebody’s comments is as important for people as the text of the publication.
💡Useful tip. The more customized and targeted will your message, the higher retention and engagement you will receive. Hence, while setting up a campaign, use appropriate tags in accordance to user behavior on your site (visited pages/subpages, clicks etc).
Example:
This web push notification campaign shows an example of how you can encourage people to join a discussion on your website.
An example of web push notification campaign “Game of Thrones: question to the audience”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 the topic of the discussion is placed in the title, so the recipient could catch it immediately,
👉 interesting image that reflects the idea of the question.
Get to know your readers closer: ask them questions about their preferences or even involve them in choosing the topic of your next article
The more you know about your audience, the more accurate content you will be able to deliver. On the other hand, asking people for their feedback on an idea can make them feel more important and build trusted relationships with them. Robert Cialdini, a social psychologist, says that giving value to somebody’s opinion by asking them about advice, can cause them to like you more [5]. But who said you cannot implement this rule in the communication with your subscribers via web push?
💡Useful tip: by using this type of web push notification, you can send a subscriber to the web page with a survey or, if it is just one question with few alternatives to choose from, you can collect answers directly through the web push.
Example:
A content-based website based mainly lifestyle and life hacks, prepared an online test for their followers to help them identify what the readers of the blog preferred: cooking at home or eating out in a restaurant.
Option 1. Web push campaign that links to the survey on a separate web page
An example of web push notification campaign “Users’ survey”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 collected information can help to optimize content according to the reader preferences,
👉 the topic is interesting for subscribers as the survey was sent to those followers who visited the food category on the site at least once. That’s why there’s a higher chance of their participation,
👉 in the message it was mentioned that the survey doesn’t require a lot of time to complete, which will likely motivate the subscriber to click on the web push,
👉 the message also contains information that can be a reward, specifically the possibility to see what other subscribers answered. From a psychological point of view, this can stimulate curiosity and encourage them to take action.
Option 2. Web push campaign with an alternative question
An example of web push notification campaign „Users’ survey” 2. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 does not require much time to answer compared with the previous variant;
👉 each button links to a page with a selection of articles according to the chosen topic: Cooking or Eating Out.
Re-engage with readers that left your website
According to Blogging Wizard, around 75% of blog visitors will never return to a website [6]. Although the number is quite disappointing, web push notifications can help to improve such results.
💡Useful tip. Usually, publishers are busy and in order to save time, it is possible to set up an automated web push campaign that will be sent to each subscriber that didn’t visit your site for a while (this period can be configured according to your requirements).
Example:
An information resource that publishes articles and news about law sent a web push campaign to subscribers that hadn’t visited their blog within the last 30 days.
An example of web push notification campaign “Re-engagement”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 the campaign targets those who read content about Civil Law, a highly relevant topic for the subscriber. Consequently, it will result in a higher CTR.
Offer downloadable materials such as presentations, eBooks, white papers, checklists etc.
People like to receive something for free. That’s why sending a web push notification with information about a free downloadable piece of content can be highly effective.
💡Useful tip. Collect leads by automating such campaigns, for example, web push notifications with an offer to get a checklist might be sent to subscribers after 60 seconds on the website. You can set up the delay time of this automation scenario to suit your needs.
Example:
A travel blog sends an automated web push campaign for those who just entered the website with an offer to download a free ebook.
An example of web push notification campaign “Free eBook”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 instant reach to those people who just entered the website,
👉 helps to collect leads: in order to download the eBook, the person should leave his or her email address.
3. Monetization of web push notifications in the publishing industry
“Publishers are traditionally used to selling advertisers space in their publications. But that model is working less and less as major advertisers stop buying publications and start buying audiences.”
American Press Institute
Web push notifications as an advertising platform
It is not a secret that the main source of income for media or blog businesses is advertising. Therefore, to prosper in the era of digital technologies, publishers are forced to think outside the box, especially when 11% of the global Internet population uses ad-blocking filters, which cover more than 600 million devices [7]. Given this reality, web push notifications could become an innovative solution. It is still a fresh concept that could bring early-adopters to leading-edge positions.
💡Useful tip. After building a database, you can consider selling space to advertisers. The audience is highly targeted. That means the efficiency of such campaigns is high and results in authentic interactions with subscribers. Still, it’s important to partner with relevant brands and to not send advertisements too often.
Example:
An online media resource that regularly creates blog posts about news in the global automotive industry sent a web push notification with an advertisement of the International Motor Show.
An example of web push notification campaign “Show Promo”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 although it is an advertisement, it is highly relevant to the interests of the target audience,
👉 a catchy headline and image will definitely attract user attention and increase CTR.
Increase the number of paid subscriptions to your blog or news resource with the help of web push notifications
If your online magazine uses a paywall, web push notifications can help to boost the number of paid subscriptions.
💡Useful tip. Use web push notifications to send promo-codes to encourage users to subscribe to the paid content. Look at ecommerce — the industry successfully implemented this scenario with an average CTR of about 21% (Source: PushPushGo).
Example:
A marketing blog offers a promo-code for its subscribers that gives 1 month of unlimited access to VIP articles.
An example of web push notification campaign “Promo-code for paid subscription”. View on Windows 10, browser - Google Chrome. Source: PushPushGo
What makes this web push campaign effective?
👉 the web push campaign is personalized as the information about the last read article is used,
👉 the campaign is sent to those who are already familiar with the content on the website and, most probably, already have an opinion on whether they would like to unblock premium account or not,
👉 it’s a limited time offer, so a sense of urgency can force the recipient to redeem the code before it expires.
In conclusion…
To sum up all the above, I would like to highlight the advantages web push notifications bring to publishers:
while popular social media channels change their algorithms against branded write-ups, web push notifications have become an irreplaceable content distribution tool that immediately delivers news directly to subscriber desktops,
ad blockers and spam filters will not affect your campaign,
bring off-site visitors back, increase website traffic and readership,
build an engaged community, involve people in the dialogue and discussions,
get to know your audience better and, consequently, deliver more relevant content,
monetize push notifications by selling it as advertising space or use it to boost the number of paid subscriptions,
target only the right audience and send customized messages according to user behavior on your site.
Web push notifications open a whole range of new opportunities for the web publishing industry. They are just now gaining in popularity, so it’s important to jump on the bandwagon in order to get all the benefits these technologies offer.
If you have not used web push technology before, it’s time to take the first step and to experiment with it. Did you know that the most successful businesses have built a test-for-results culture [8], where experimentation is an integral part of their marketing budget?
Start testing web push notifications now - always FREE up to 500 subscribers!
Sources:
Growth Marketing Manager @PushPushGo
Passionate about advertising, digital technologies and marketing itself. Life motto: "Growth starts out of the comfort zone".
