It’s hard to believe that December is over. Even though 2020 was a very strange and difficult year due to Covid-19 pandemic, time flew by and the end of the year is upon us. As we do it every month, we have kept track of everything that happens in the digital marketing world and we have gathered the most important and relevant marketing updates and events for you. Here you have the:
Digital Marketing Insights from December 2020:
1. Search Marketing Updates December 2020
Google tests interactive search results
As the ever-improvement platform they are, Google has been experimenting with interactive search results pages. The newest tests add a very discrete and small icon next to the search results that, when hovered by users, show images from the respective site.
This new feature is promising in terms of enriching user experience when browsing online. Offering the opportunity to have a preview of the content, will help users know if that site is actually relevant for them before clicking on it.
Digital marketers have their doubts and concerns about how it will affect click-through rates. The interactive search result feature can have a major impact on sites that offer very descriptive images about their content against those that don’t.
Even though Google hasn’t offered any official documentation so far, marketers should start thinking about their content strategy and how to adapt to this new feature. Carefully selecting descriptive images that show what the site’s about and help users know what type of content they´ll find there will be key.
The feature even allows search results to show more than one image when hovering over the small icon. Google’s testing will provide information and insights about how images can offer more relevant and accurate information to users about the content of a page.
Google Maps searches incorporate 4 new features
Google definitely knows how to keep us on our toes every month adding new features to all of their services and platforms (this article might as well be a “Google Updates from December” one).
Let’s talk about the 4 new changes to Google Maps:
1. Messaging from Maps and Search
The first and most exciting feature is the new messaging service. Google is bringing messaging capabilities into Maps and Search with the purpose of facilitating communication between local businesses and their customers.
Every business with a verified profile can now message directly with clients from the Google Maps app. The messages will show in a “messages section” in business the updates tab.
This new feature is only available in-app at the moment, but Google plans on bringing it to desktop as well. The messaging option can be turned on or off in the setting panels of Google Maps and Google My Business apps.
2. New Performance Insights
Google is also adding new metrics to help local businesses track their performance by measuring the number of customers engaged via Maps and Search. The update includes insights that show queries clients are using to find their business in Maps and Search.
The information provided will cover:
Amount of searches that triggered the business listing
Performance comparison from previous year
Search terms customers used to find the profile of the business
Time of each search term triggered the profile
With all this new data added to their performance insights, businesses will be able to know exactly how customers reached them. This is very valuable information that can help them adapt their marketing strategy and make the most out of the use of Google Maps.
4. Community feed
Google is adding a community feature to Google Maps Explore tab. Here, users will find the latest reviews, photos and posts added to Maps by other community members they follow and local experts.
This update gives local businesses more reason to keep their information up to date. With regular posting, they’ll have the chance to show up in people’s feed and engage with customers.
4. Street View photos added by users
The Street View feature is getting a very exciting update in which users will be able to upload their own photos to the platform using their phones. Using the app, contributors can take and record a series of photos while they move through a street and upload them to Street View.
Google will take care of rotating, connecting and creating the sequence of images.
2. Marketing Tech Updates December 2020
Whatsapp introduces in-app shopping
Whatsapp introduced a new shopping cart feature to their platform. Now users have the possibility to buy products from business through direct messages. With a small shopping button, customers can access a store’s catalog directly from their chat screen.
Users can browse the entire range of products, select multiple options and place their order as one unique message. Customers can access information about their order details by tapping the “View Cart” button on the chat and keep track of the process.
This new Whatsapp shopping feature is aimed at helping out small businesses. Making the purchasing experience as seamlessly as possible, for both shoppers and businesses, is a direct bet on supporting small commerce.
Google launches ads for Web Stories
We’ve talked about Web stories before on our Digital Marketing Updates from November 2020. They’re rapidly becoming a must to include in any digital marketing strategy. They present a conveying format to communicate and engage users. Just until now, publishers didn’t really have means to monetize web stories, other than sold ads or affiliate links.
Google is about to change that by launching a programmatic ads solution for web stories. The new added feature opens the door for content creators, publishers and marketers to easily earn money from their web stories.
Story ads are available for everyone that uses Ad Manager and AdSense. The ad will show in between Web Story content to optimize user experience:
“The frequency and position of Story ads in the context of your Web Story is dynamically determined to optimize both user experience and monetization potential.” – AMP
3. Social Media Marketing Updates December 2020
Pinterest boards upgraded with 3 new features
The mothership of inspiration is getting 3 new features to help you keep that creativity flowing. Pinterest boards are getting upgraded with new options to help users make a more productive use of their time in the platform.
1. Notes to self feature
Pinterest has added a new section where users can create private notes for themselves. When saving a new pin, they can add a short comment with reminders about why they saved said pin or any type of information they want.
2. New board toolbar
A new toolbar has been added with the purpose of making a more simpler navigation experience. It’s located at the top of the screen and it shows all the actions that can be taken on a board:
Exploring related pin ideas
Organizing existing pins
To-do lists
Viewing notes
This new feature will surely be thanked for by Pinterest users that save an average of 150 pins in one board.
3. Board favorites
Pinterest is adding a function that allows users to mark pins as favorites. Given the number of pins a board can have, this feature might be long overdue.
Once a user has created a board, they can mark some of those pins with a star making them a favorite. This feature makes it so easy to revisit and find the best pins on each board without having to lose lots of time browsing through hundreds of pins.
LinkedIn launches Product Pages
LinkedIn announced the rollout of Product Pages: a tab dedicated to showcasing company’s products. The aim here is to “help companies build conversation and community around their products”, according to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions.
They state that 70% of customers do an online research of the products they want before purchasing. Visibility and easy- to-access information is key in the decision making process of customers: your product needs to be within users’ reach.
The new LinkedIn Product Pages promise to help businesses create awareness around their solutions, generating more valuable leads and contributing to overall company growth. The new feature allows brands to spotlight product endorsements, share testimonials and gather user feedback.
We hope our digital marketing updates from December 2020 shade some light on to what’s new in the industry. Make sure you check out our latest blog posts and Happy New Year!
2020 has been an unusual year in many ways, to say the least. Covid-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives. From how we behave socially, to how we work and how companies operate all over the world. Migrating to a digital environment has become the only viable option to stay on the map for many businesses, and this has greatly impacted on digital marketing strategies.
The forecast for, at least the first quarter of 2021 is not all that different. More and more companies will have to move online and employees to keep working remotely. This “new normal” makes digital marketing the life saver for businesses to stay afloat, gain new customers, retain current ones and generate revenue.
Here are the top 9 digital marketing trends for 2021:
1. Allocate some budget to cookieless awareness campaigns to reach new audiences
For a big portion of 2020 people all over the world were under mandatory lockdown. This means, not going out, no malls, no stores: no window shopping of any kind for a long time. Customers lost the possibility of looking around stores and discovering products they didn’t even know existed and less that they wanted them.
During lockdowns, shoppers probably received tons of retargeting advertisements showing them offers and deals on products they expressed interest in based on their browsing history. But what about new products? What about those specific articles they don’t get the chance to discover anymore? Additionally, what about those users who never allow cookies?
Personalised ads use cookies to track user behaviour, and based on that, it’s possible to target users. They are great for e-commerce stores that have an existing audience aware of their products. However, targeted advertisement encloses shoppers in a continuous loop of products they already know they like, and have already probably bought.
With non-personalised ads (NPAs) you have the possibility of creating brand awareness amongst users that didn´t know your business.You can reach new audiences showing customers products they weren’t aware of before, but that could still interest them, thus increasing your potential customer base. Additionally you will have the possibility to reach users who block cookies.
Usually, non-personalised ads have lower conversion rates. But at this era of lockdowns when the digital ad inventory is larger than ever, you might want to allocate some budget on them to test. In 2021 it will be more important to keep testing and measuring different types of campaigns and channels. As a digital marketer it is important to keep trying new (and old) alternatives, measure their profitability and find a sweet balance between both.
2. Cutting back on social media platforms in 2021
It seems that a new social media platform is born every other minute. Nobody knows what the next big thing will be, and even when we don’t expect it there’s another channel with millions of users that brands have to be present on.
Designing and creating fresh, valuable content for each social media platform with a constant publishing flow can be draining and an uphill battle for brands, especially small ones. Digital marketing trends for social channels in 2021 suggests brands stop trying to maintain presence in all platforms and focus their efforts on a more sustainable way.
Businesses need a mindset change and start prioritizing their social media. Dedicating more resources to their strategy, doesn’t necessarily mean hoarding platforms. It means to work more efficiently and intelligently on the specific social media channels where their audience is in. It’s better to have a strong presence on 3 or 4 platforms than a weak one in all of them.
3. Optimizing social media shopping in 2021
If normally people spend a lot of time of their days on social media, during 2020 that time has exponentially increased. According to Whatagraph:
In 2018, the average time spent on social media in a day by an adult was 142 minutes, which rose to approximately two and a half hours in 2019, followed by 3 hours in 2020. This is bound to increase as more than 3 billion people are expected to access social media sites by 2021.
That means businesses have more chances to make a sale if their product is available on social media platforms. That’s where the users are, and shoppable posts make the process so much easier for them. Facilitating discovery, personalization, payment and delivery is so important for users. Brands need their product to be where the users are. Just having a Shopify, Woocommerce or Prestashop online store is not enough anymore.
Social media platforms are helping marketers make their products more accessible to people. They are including features that make it easy for brands to upload and showcase their goods, and for customers to purchase items without even leaving the app. This is a trend that will keep on growing during 2021 and it’s a wave retailers should ride.
Creating a store with social media is free and easy. Brands can choose what products they want to showcase, personalise their listings with photos, different colors and fonts. Facebook Shops even includes the Catalog feature where you can group products in different categories making it easier for customers to browse the store.
New features even make it possible to showcase products during live streamings for viewers to purchase directly on Instagram, and for businesses to connect and keep track of their loyalty programs on the app.
4. Interactive content in 2021
With users spending more time browsing the internet every day, it’s important to offer them a valuable experience. You want to connect with customers, and the way to do it is with interactive content. It doesn’t just encourage engagement, it offers entertainment.
Content marketing has been a trend in the digital world for a while. However, for 2021 digital trends, is considered more of a best practice. Providing interactive content is a tendency that moves along personalization.
Some of most popular interactive content ideas are:
Quizzes
Polls
Surveys
Contests
Giveaways
Interactive videos
Calculator widgets
Games
Including one, or a mix of these strategies can do wonders for your business. On top of enriching users’ experience with your brand, you’ll increase the time they spend on your site engaging with your content.
5. Sharp local SEO in 2021
Small business owners must know that it’s extremely important to keep their digital presence strong on SERP (Search Engine Result Pages). If you own a store, you are probably aware that most of your customers are drawn mainly on a local level. The most important thing you can do is to ensure that your store appears on “near me” Google searches.
Google constantly updates their local SEO algorithm and you should update your local business information as well. Tools such as Google My Business offer extremely valuable information for customers, but it’s up to you as a local business owner to keep it up to date for them.
Claim your business property and get verified by Google. Then you can provide information about your business such as: opening hours (that are constantly changing due do Covid restrictions), geographic location and services.
6. The boom of voice Search in 2021
Voice search commands have been around since 2011 with the appearance of Siri. More recently, with the introduction of devices like Google Home and Alexa into our living spaces, users are becoming more accustomed with requesting information using voice search. According to Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, 20% of search queries are done by voice.
As this tendency grows, businesses need to start considering optimizing their content and including voice search into their digital marketing strategies. The first step is to create content that adopts a more “conversational” and natural style that matches how consumers ask questions. Creating queries into questions and having a mobile friendly site are key as well.
Voice search optimized content gives businesses the opportunity to reach new audiences, given that the results are often different than if the users typed in a regular text search.
7. Optimizing Digital Marketing with Artificial intelligence
Digital marketing strategies can be greatly optimized and improved with the correct use of Artificial Intelligence. AI offers marketers the power to collect valuable insights on user behaviour, campaign performance and analysis they can use to optimize their digital marketing campaigns and overall communication with customers.
Once all the data is collected by AI, it can react to it. This makes it possible to provide a better customer experience with personalised content. E-commerce sites can benefit from artificial intelligence by showing users products that are relevant for them based on their previous behaviour, such as searches, purchases and views. For example Frizbit, provides automated web push notifications, which is quite an interesting and useful form of AI. By collecting and processing data from user’s behaviour while they’re browsing a site, web push notifications are triggered and delivered with hyper-personalised content based on the user’s actions.
Once a user accepts to receive them, they’ll get messages specially designed for them based on what they did in the site. If they browsed a category, product or added an article to their shopping cart, a message will be delivered with specific information regarding what they liked. If you’d like to see how automated communication works, click here!
Thanks to AI, marketers can make product recommendations to users, hyper-personalisation of messages, optimization of display and search ads, email marketing and even content marketing by discovering what works better and what type of content is more effective.
8. Video marketing & Webinars in 2021
Audiovisual content is a powerful tool that easily grabs attention and engages viewers. It offers the possibility to share lots of content in a short amount of time using a very dynamic format.
These inherent qualities of videos make them more relatable for everyone. Most of us prefer to watch a short video than to read long articles or posts. Social media is a great channel to share video content since all platforms have included features to create and share short videos like stories and reels.
Covid pandemic has also contributed to the raise of video marketing as a key element on any digital strategy. Webinars, for example, have become necessary to substitute face-to-face events in all industries. 2021 trends aim that this isn’t going to be a temporary thing and marketers should include video content as a regular on their digital marketing mix.
9. Automated Smart Bidding Strategies in Google Ads
Automatization is the future in many digital marketing strategies. When running a Google Ads campaign, marketers spend lots of time and resources manually optimizing their keywords and bids. On top of being very time consuming, there could be lots of speculation that could be detrimental to your campaign.
Automated bidding on Google Ads takes away all that guesswork and helps businesses achieve their goals more efficiently. Google takes care of analysing all the data and adjusts the bids accordingly to improve your campaigns performance.
Even though automated bidding isn’t all that new, Google has improved a lot in the past year, making it essential for digital marketing strategies in 2021. Marketers can rest assured and dedicate their valuable time on optimizing other aspects of their marketing mix.
In a few words…
The truth is that, even with our best efforts, we can’t really anticipate what the future of digital marketing in 2021 will look like (marketers thought they could earlier this year, and look at what happened). The year 2020 has been a disruptive one in many ways, and that has brought us down to earth and hit us with the reality that we don’t know what’s going to happen.
Digital marketing trends for 2021 move towards automation and personalization. The tendencies are aiming at offering users super personalised content and to alleviate the pressure on marketers to do so thanks to automation tools powered by artificial intelligence.
Brands should focus their efforts on creating customer-centered marketing and content strategies that connect with users. This has been a trend in digital communication for a while now and is the trend that won’t die, especially during uncertain times.
What are your thoughts on digital marketing trends for 2021?
Email marketing campaigns are going to play a crucial and special role in Holiday marketing strategies for 2020. Covid pandemic and the closure of many physical stores, has forced brands to step up their digital and e-commerce game with our first stay-at-home holidays.
Customers are going to turn to online stores more than ever before to do their Christmas gifts and Holiday shopping. That’s why it’s crucial for e-commerce retailers to implement amazing holiday digital marketing campaigns this year, and emails are one of the preferred channels in the mix.
Here are 5 Tips for an Engaging Holiday Email Marketing Campaign
1. Start early!
Plan your holiday email campaign with enough time ahead. Sending your first email with discounts, promotions or special offers mid-December is way too late. There are hundreds of other e-commerce sites that are probably sending theirs since the first week of November and have already tilted the decision making scale of users to their side.
If you start communicating with your customers early November you’ll have the advantage of catching their attention first. You’ll reach more shoppers and you can build-up your campaign with the extra time you’ll have.
Early communication will open the door to designing a sequence of emails that increases users’ interest. For example, you can create a 12 days of offers specials and peek their attention with a flow of emails or even an advent calendar!
2. It’s all about segmentation
Yes, we know we have talked a lot about segmenting your audience and how important it is for any digital marketing action. But we have to emphasize that when it comes to holiday email marketing campaigns.
Sending bulk email marketing campaigns to all your databases won’t offer any good result. Optimize your subscribers list and segment as much as you can when you ask them to opt-in. You can do so by grouping users according to their interest in different holiday categories or products and sending them offers relevant to their interests.
Having a segmented email subscriber list allows you to target and communicate with your customers much more efficiently. They will appreciate the fact that you send them information they have expressed an interest for and it will increase your CTR and conversion rate, also you will decrease the opt-out rates.
3. Use holiday-theme designs
It’s a special and unique time of the year and your email marketing campaign should show that. Evoke a festive spirit with the designs you use for your opt-in form and your email! Cheer up your customers with the design of your campaign, have it look and feel happy.
4. Offer valuable content
Holidays are a hectic time of the year for everyone. Gift shopping can be an overwhelming task for a lot of people. Make it easier for your subscribers by sending them valuable content. Prepare a Holiday Gift Guide for them that includes items they have expressed interest for.
You can even set up “gift packs” with several products that compliment each other. Let’s say a customer showed interest in a moisturizing cream. You can prepare a gift pack that includes said cream and a couple of other products, like a lotion and night cream and offer it to your email subscriber as a ready-to-buy present.
Design a beautiful email that showcases the products in a holiday-themed collage and surprise your users with a festive, personalized holiday email marketing campaign.
5. Create a referral program
What better time of the year to share than the holidays? Referral programs are an amazing strategy to grow your customer and subscriber base. You can implement a system where existing customers receive a gift for bringing a friend.
Create an specific email marketing campaign that targets current subscribers to offer them a special holiday benefit if they refer a friend to sign up to your emailing list. You can even offer both parts a special gift if you want to!
New and existing users will be happy to do so and it will be a win-win situation.
Final Email Marketing Tips
Remember your customers even after the holiday sales are over. Send post-holiday email campaigns to your subscribers offering them deals to exchange gift-cards, or seize some special discounts on products they didn’t get a chance to purchase and end the season on a good note.
Don’t concentrate your efforts only on Christmas Holidays. Remember there are many festivities year round that you can use for your holiday email marketing campaigns. We advise you to create a calendar with the most important dates that your audience finds appealing and designing a strategy for each one of them.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the legislation that oversees all practices related to the processing of user data. This applies to any business and organization that provides services to EU residents. The GDPR basically states that no business can disclose users’ personal information or send any type of communication to them without their consent.
A lot has been and it’s still being discussed regarding the GDPR. It was enforced in May 2018 but it still raises many questions and doubts regarding its effects on digital marketing and CRM strategies and tools, such as cookies, retargeting, ads and emails.
These changes in legislation regarding users’ privacy, is forcing digital marketers to step out of the common place and invest in new, more creative channels to get across and engage customers. One of these platforms are web push notifications that every day are becoming an essential part of any digital marketing strategy.
However, web push notifications is still a pretty new method. A lot of e-commerce businesses and brands aren’t yet familiar with their use and different applications. The advantages they present for digital marketers are vast, and one of the most important one is how web push notifications are GDPR compliant.
How do web push notifications comply with GDPR?
Web push notifications offer a direct communication channel with users. Their immediacy, personalization features and simplicity make them a must in the digital marketing mix. And one of the great things about web push notifications is how they are GDPR compliant by nature.
Web Push Notifications don’t require any personal data!
More traditional digital marketing channels such as email and SMS require collection of users’ personal information to function. However, in order to be GDPR compliant for EU residents this is not enough. Visitors must complete an additional action, ticking a box under the form to consent to receive communication from that brand and entrust their data. Only then they are eligible to receive communications from brands. As you can imagine this requirement decreased the opt-in rate for email marketing.
Web push notifications open new opportunities. With just one click users that visit your site can opt-in to subscribe and be recipients of information. There’s no need to fill any form, share their email, phone number or any other kind of personal data.
The first time users visit a site that uses web push notifications, they get a message asking them if they wish to receive said notifications. All they have to do is give their consent to the notifications service to become a subscriber to the notifications from your website.
By clicking “allow” on the opt-in message, users provide their permission, making the platform completely GDPR compliant. They will not receive any type of notification if they choose to click “block”.
Optionally, you can also show a pre-opt-in pop-up to explain to your users why they should opt-in to the web push notifications from your website. You can let users know exactly what type of notifications you are going to send them with the opt-in text you design. This way, users are completely informed and clear about the type of messages they’ll be receiving if they decided to subscribe.
Subscription information is stored in servers of browsers
Once users opt-in and consent subscribing to web push notifications from a site, they have complete control over them. All the subscription information is stored in the push notification server of each browser and no one other than the user can manipulate it. It is technically impossible to share the consent of the user to any 3rd party, copy or export in any case. That is simply the technical proof that nobody is capable of sending the users a message without their consent.
The users have complete control in Real-Time
By accessing their browser’s notification configuration, users can easily unsubscribe from the service. With just one click, just like they opted in, they can opt-out. Even if the brand tries to send them, it’s technically impossible for them to receive push notifications. Web push notifications offer a very easy and immediate unsubscribe option for users which makes them even more friendly.
Frizbit and GDPR
What you need to keep in mind when designing your web push notifications strategy is to make sure you offer users the best experience they can have. Legislations like GDPR have been created with this sole purpose.
Users want to feel comfortable, and the sense of security is key to that. When deciding to implement web push notifications to your digital marketing strategy, make sure you choose the right platform.
Frizbit puts security integrity and user privacy as a priority. We are fully complying to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) of the EU (European Union). All the subscriber data is completely owned by our clients and it’s never shared or sold. Our platform is stored in the cloud servers of AWS and Microsoft Azure within European Union with high security measures.
Web push notifications are becoming more and more the most effective channel to engage customers. With the power to reach users at any time, at a personal level; web push notifications offer digital marketing strategists a direct communication highway with their customers throughout their entire shopping journey.
Like every great tool, web push notifications need a great master. These instant, spontaneous messages can be an amazing add-up to your marketing strategy when used properly. So if you’re looking to increase your conversion rate and improve your ROI, these are the
Top 7 mistakes to avoid when sending web push notifications:
1. Forgetting User Segmentation
Accurate audience segmentation is key for any marketing action and this includes web push notifications. Forgetting to analyze, group and segment your users in order to design tailored messages that suit their behaviour and needs could mean a disastrous end to your strategy. You would face all your subscribers opting-out after a couple of bulk, not-segmented push notifications.
Take your time to know your users. One of the beautiful things about digital marketing is that it offers insights about users that we couldn’t easily get from any other channel. Details about their browsing habits, shopping history, interests and demographics are at the tip of our hands.
Use this valuable information to segment your customers and customize their experience with your web push notifications. The right message to the right person is the difference between success and failure.
2. Sending Users to Incorrect Landing Pages
Web push notifications can create interaction in a few seconds. Creating these short, direct messages is fairly simple. So much so, that we could forget a very important step on the journey: where are you sending your customers? Let’s say you decide to communicate your shoppers about an amazing discount available on a specific product category on your site. You prepare the message, activate the campaign and when they click on that beautiful CTA you designed, it leads them to the homepage. They can’t easily find the offer on that product you caught their attention with. Result: they leave, you lose a sale.
The landing page you send your customer to, has to provide all the information you want them to see. Make sure your users have a rich experience when interacting with your web push notifications. When they decide to click on that message, give them what they expect to get in return.
3. Failing to Track and Measure
Web push notifications offer you a vast amount of insights on customer interactions. Statistics about clicks, visits and overall engagement are valuable information to use in your favor to make your notifications the best they can be.
A/B testing is a great way to do it. Try different colors, shapes, images and variations of the same message. Even if your web push notifications are doing great, and giving you amazing results, everything can be improved. Small tweaks on the design can mean a world of difference on the outcome and goal achievement of your campaign.
4. Sending too Many
With web push notifications it’s definitely not about quantity: it’s about quality. The “less is more” motto applies for this marketing strategy as a golden rule. Sending too many messages to your users has a good chance of irritating them, causing them to unsubscribe and even feel a bit of annoyment towards your brand.
There’s a big chance that your customers are also subscribed to a lot more brands’ web push notification service. Imagine opening your browser and getting 15-20 notifications on your screen with sales, discounts and purchase reminders (every day, several times a day).
Restraint is key when planning the timing and frequency of your web push notifications strategy. Send precise notifications only when you have relevant and/or attractive information to tell to your customer about. It’s about building a relationship with them, not about harassing with one-sided communication.
5. Poor Planning
Lack of planning is one of biggest issues with failed web push notifications campaigns. Being so simple to design and activate, it’s easy to make the huge mistake of skipping the planning step in the excitement to just start sending them.
Common mistakes, like informing about a time sensitive discount when it has already expired are made all the time. Outdated web push notifications are one of the main reasons users unsubscribe.
Take your time to strategize and plan your campaigns before activating them. Set out timings, objectives and KPIs. Think about what you want to achieve with said campaigns and work around that.
6.Sending Generic Messages
One of the main attractions of web push notifications is their personalization ability. If you have the chance to talk directly with one of your customers, take it and seize it. Sending a generic message won’t have the same impact as a tailored one.
Platforms like Frizbit offer the power to hyper-personalize the messages and really engage customers. If you know your user’s history, now their likes and preferences, you can create a captivating message with information that suits them specifically. According to the metrics based on millions of push notifications sent by Frizbit, hyper-personalised push notifications have 4 times higher CTRs compared to bulk ones.
Get out of the commonplace. Don’t push generic, tiresome messages with every-day discounts and sales. Use the information you have, let your customers know you hear them, you know them and want to give them special treatment.
7. Forgetting a CTA
Be clear about what you want your customers to do. A good call to action message is crucial for users to know what’s the next step. Let them know what they’ll gain if they click that button, what are they going to find if they engage. Web push notifications already facilitate this by adding an action button where you can utilize as a CTA and to increase your CTRs. According to Frizbit, having at least one call to action increases CTRs by 12% compared to notifications that don’t include one.
Forgetting to add a clear CTA could translate in the loss of interest. You only have a few seconds to catch their attention and urge them to click on your notification. Take your time to think what type of messages and words combination could work better using the knowledge you have on their behaviour and stats from previous campaigns.
To sum up…
When creating your web push notifications strategy is easy to be blinded by the simplicity of the tool and hit activate with no second thoughts. However, when urgency is not a factor, it’s important you take your time to plan your campaign.
Optimize your messages to the fullest. Personalize the information, take timings into account, test, improve and test again. Avoid these common mistakes when sending web push notifications and you’ll be amazed with the results.
Black Friday makes November a very hectic month when it comes to digital marketing. Now that is over, let’s take a step back and gather the most important marketing insights and updates. We’ve put together a short, but useful information list just for you.
Here are the top Digital Marketing Insights for November 2020
Search Marketing Updates November 2020
New Crawl Stats Reports on Google Search Console
The Google Organic world is an ever changing one. Most recently, Google launched an update (relax, this time not on its search algorithm☺) for their Search Console tool that affects the Crawl Stats Report.
The Crawl Stats report shows information regarding how many requests were made to your site, when and what was the server’s response. As you may know, crawling is done by Googlebots that visit the web to add updated and new pages to the Google Index.
The new update on the Crawl Stats report offers new features with deeper insights into how Google is crawling your site:
Total number of requests grouped by response code, crawled file type, crawl purpose, and Googlebot type.
Detailed information on host status
URL examples to show where in your site requests occurred
Comprehensive summary for properties with multiple hosts and support for domain properties
Google makes emphasis on the new Over-time charts that offers website owners a complete view of total requests, total download size and average response time.
They also feature the Grouped Crawl Data:
“The new version of the report also provides data on crawl requests broken down by response, file type of the fetched URL, purpose of the crawl request, and Googlebot agent.”
The update on the Crawl Stats reports also offers Detailed Information on Host Status Issues which allows you to check the sites’ availability to Google during the last 90 days.
All these new features offer a more comprehensive understanding of how the crawling occurs in your site, providing useful information on performance and possible issues that might be affecting your web.
So if you’d like to see yourself, you can directly check your crawl stats on this link
Google Web Stories
We are all familiar with the “stories” format by now: images or videos with text and/or music that last 24 hours and offer short-dynamic content. A while ago Google announced that they’ll be launching Google Web stories.
But, have you stopped to think about how you can include them in your digital marketing strategy?
Google Web Stories are available in Google Search, Google News and Google Discover and they can work as an additional channel to drive traffic to your website. Of course, as all digital marketing content, you must use them wisely and deliver great content.
Here are some tips on how to create great web stories:
Prioritize video content over images and complement with text information
Use short direct messages, don’t clutter the story with a bunch of text
Add a call to action
Appeal to interaction: add polls and questions
Give a personal touch using your brand’s identity and a first-person storytelling format
Are you already excited to start sharing them? You can use some third party tools, install official wordpress plugins by Google or develop for your custom needs. Check more on how you can create them on Google Web Stories
Page Experience and Google Search Ranking
Page Experience signals measure the way users interact and perceive a web page. Last May, Google announced how these signals would be included in the ranking of sites in Google Search.
In their continuous effort of making the Internet an enjoyable experience, the page experience signals in ranking will come to effect next May 2021. This means it’s time to get ready for the changes and start improving our sites.
Here’s a list of what you should keep in mind and focus on:
Loading times, interactivity and visual stability
Mobile friendly sites
Safe browsing
Page served over HTTPS
Easy user accessible content
Google has a lot of information on how to improve your site and make it a loveable experience for users.
Marketing Tech Updates November 2020
No more third-party cookies
Google’s announcement on eliminating third party cookies might have created some concern in the marketing world. How are we going to engage with our audience now?
The question arises in a digital environment where advertisers are used to following users around and re-targeting them with personalized ads. However, there are solutions on sight that will help publishers keep in touch with their consumers in a world without third party cookies.
Frizbit
Frizbit is a complete multi-channel marketing orchestration platform that offers you the power to communicate with your customers to do retargeting campaigns without third-party cookies whatsoever. You can keep in touch with users during long periods of time and retain their interest. Even though it has email and SMS channels, that’s not the most interesting part as they require personal data.
What is the most interesting in their platform is the power of using web push notifications. This platform works without the need of using third party cookies, making the alternative retargeting solution without ads for a post-cookies future. It’s main feature, web push notifications, allow you to send hyper-personalised messages based on user behaviour to non-registered users that visited your site, even when they’re not on it.
Besides the retargeting campaigns, you can also use push notifications to schedule segmented messages to reach your customer at any time you wish, making it possible to send information about products, sales, discounts, news and basically anything you want to communicate to your audience in a third-party cookie independent environment. You can get a free trial clicking here!
Trust Tokens
As an answer to the elimination of third-party cookies, Google has shown an initiative to replace them with, what they call, Trust Tokens. It’s an API that would give you non-personalized, cryptographically signed tokens to authenticate users.
These trust tokens will allow advertisers to get some information about users without needing to know their identity and not to track them individually. The main purpose is to separate bots from users.
The Trust Token API is available for testing by developers. You can get more information on this subject here.
Permisio
Permisio is a tool designed to customise privacy preferences. Basically, what this tool does is to offer users the power to super-personalize their navigation settings and create a browsing experience that adapts to their preferences.
The user just needs to create an account for free and complete a basic set up process with their privacy choices. Then, when they visit a site they’ll get a personalized navigation experience with fewer pop-ups. This tool allows users to have better navigation at the same time that offers advertisers a seamless way to receive meaningful data and continue to engage with users.
In fewer words, it’s an agreement between users and advertisers that benefits both parts and helps them live in a world without third party cookies. The only disadvantage of this tool is the fact that both parties need to subscribe to the service in order to work.
Social Media Marketing Updates November 2020
Instagram changes in ads
Instagram made an update that affects the way brands advertise content. This new feature allows advertisers to create sponsored posts from users’ accounts.
What this means is that you’ll see your favorite influencer’s regular Instagram post, but with a small caption that reads “paid partnership with (brand name)”. This small tag will identify when their posts are sponsored by a brand.
This update makes the process of creating branded content much simpler for companies. Before, a lot of coordination between both parts was required: the post had to be published first by the influencer as a regular, organic post and then could the brand promote it. Instagram says:
“Now brands have more flexibility with fewer constraints when they want to run Branded Content ads”.
The process is very simple now. The brand sends the content creator a request for ad creation access, the creator accepts the partnership and immediately the brand can submit them the ad for their review. As soon as the influencer approves the ad, it will start running from their account without appearing on their feed.
YouTube is showing ads on non-monetized channels
YouTube decided to implement a change on their advertisement strategies. From a recent update YouTube is now showing ads on non-monetized channels and creators are not receiving any type of revenue form them.
Needless to say that youtubers are not thrilled by this new feature. Showing ads on channels that don’t qualify or haven’t opted for monetization is not the issue here. It’s the fact that this decision was made without their consent and creators are not even benefiting from it.
Normally, any youtuber had to apply and join the YouTube Partner Program for ads to start running on their channel and receive a share of the revenue. With the new advertisement trait even channels that don’t qualify or have opted for monetization will show ads.
“You grant to YouTube the right to monetize your Content on the Service (and such monetization may include displaying ads on or within Content or charging users a fee for access). This Agreement does not entitle you to any payments.”
The change appears on YouTube’s Terms of Service.
This is a sum up of the Digital Marketing Insights for November 2020. Make sure you check out our blog regularly.
Black Friday sale ideas are what every business owner and marketing team is thinking about during the last weeks of November (even in previous months). How to plan a successful Black Friday marketing strategy, that’s both attractive and profitable for businesses, could be a challenge.
The significance of what could easily be the most important shopping holiday of the entire year, can’t go unnoticed. It’s imperative for e-commerce owners to step up their game and maximize revenue. Efficient communication of the Black Friday sale is key to do so, and that’s where web push notifications come in.
5 Reasons why you should use Web Push Notifications for your Black Friday Sale
1. Direct communication (Higher CTR compared to email)
Web push notifications are a direct form to communicate with users. As soon as the Black Friday sale is live on the e-commerce, shoppers will receive the notification instantly on their screen. This creates a big advantage in terms of CTR compared to any other channel, because it just requires one click to generate a session. However, in terms of email they need to first open, and then click, which requires at least two clicks.
No matter if the user is registered or not, if they allow push notifications, the message will be delivered, bringing the customer back even if they’re not navigating through the site at the moment. This tactic guarantees the most effective communication of the sale.
2. Cut through the noise
The most common channel to get in touch with customers is email. However, during important shopping periods such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, client’s inboxes are going to be overflowing with emails from hundreds of stores, both e-commerce and physical. Web push notifications offer e-businesses an efficient way to cut through the noise and increase the odds of clients actually receiving their message.
Remember: what’s not shown is not sold. You can have the best product/sale in the market but if your customers don’t know about it, it’s like it doesn’t even exist.
3. Short, appealing and personalized messages
Having a great product and an amazing deal for your Black Friday Sale is not enough (sorry that you have to hear it from us). How you communicate the message to customers is a big part of the issue. Remember that you’re fighting with thousands of brands, asking shoppers to choose your site to spend their money.
Bottom line: keep the message clear, concise and creative.
4. The quickest way to generate sales
“The early bird catches the worm¨. On average, a web push notification is clicked after a few minutes upon receiving, but an email is opened even after hours. This is a big advantage in terms of offers which have a deadline just like Black Friday. You can generate the sessions from interested shoppers just in seconds.
Besides that, thanks to the “Time to Live” feature of web push notifications you can configure the notifications not to be received after a specific offer deadline, in order not to disturb the shoppers with an offer which is already expired.
5.Create expectation and increase your opt-in rate
If you plan your Black Friday Sale strategy with time in advance, you can start communicating with your audience a lot earlier. Create a hype around the big shopping holiday. Let visitors know in advance that you have something amazing prepared for them in the upcoming days and that you want them to be first to hear about it through web push notification messages.
During this time, you can even implement some A/B testing. Evaluate how and which messages perform and engage better with your audience. You’ll gain an amazing understanding and leverage you can use in your business’ favor when planning your final Black Friday Sale messages.
Remember to take into consideration the time frames when planning your Black Friday push notifications messages. Users should not receive BF themed shopping reminders after the sale has ended!
We hope these tips will help your Black Friday Sale planning!
For more info on how to create an effective strategy check out:
Hi again! Updating you with the most recent trends, events, and updates within the digital marketing world. In this post, we are covering all the important updates that took place in September.
1. Search Marketing Updates September 2020
Google Organic Algorithm Updates
September has been subject to a lot of volatility as many tracking tools showed erratic behavior. At first the SEO community didn’t interpret this as the early signs of a core algorithm update as the client rankings had not point in the same direction. However, things changed in a few days and the community started to talk about dropping rankings and even pages from Google’s Search Index.
Had some key landing pages dropped out the index for no obvious reason today @sengineland@rustybrick – another bug?
In the end it turned out to be a bug related issue but the rankings have been volatile nonetheless.
Free listings on shopping tab becomes available for Europe, Middle East and Africa
After its launch in the US earlier this year, free listings will be there for EMEA businesses on the shopping tab in mid-October. US businesses who used free listings to support their Google Ad campaigns saw an increase of 100% in views and 50% in visits.
That said, you don’t have to advertise on Google to have access the free listings. Retailers will be able to connect with more customers and customers will have more product options and easy access to them.
Google Ads Updates
Dynamic YouTube Lineups With Contextual Targeting
Google puts machine learning to use to analyze each channel’s content. This allows them to create dynamic lineups of channels categorized by specific topics, cultural moments and popularity.
This will enable advertisers to scale their reach while keeping the viewer relevance as high as possible. Advertisers will now be able to find new customers that are seeking content that is aligned with the advertisers’ brand, product or service making the connection at the right time and the right place.
Google gives the best example: “If you’re a home decor brand whose video ads on YouTube focus on redecorating, you can use dynamic lineups to show your ads in videos relevant to your business. These lineups may include videos of house tours, storage solutions, and home improvement projects.”
A recent Ipsos study showed ads based on consumer interest and intent caused 32% higher ad recall and 100% higher purchase intent.
2. Marketing Tech Updates September 2020
Referral Marketing
Word of mouth will yield the most outcome for most businesses when it comes to demand generation. Especially when cost of acquisition and ad spend is increasing year by year to make the market more competitive.
It’s the most authentic way you can increase your brand awareness and loyalty. If you can create a lot of advocates for your company this process will take care of itself. But there is a way to accelerate it. Instead of creating a whole plan and acquiring the resources internally to implement it, you can utilize a software to do it for you.
There are many ways to do it:
Creating gift cards to be shared online
Launching referral programs
Gathering reviews
The most important thing is to find a supplier that easily integrates with your platform and help you A/B test different tactics and show you the results with analytics.
Criteo Dives Deep Into Analytics
Retargeting ad company Criteo announced they’ll have 2 new dashboards and a new reporting tool in their suite.
The Audience Explorer dashboard will provide an exclusive dataset about recurring shopping patterns and the categories and the brands that your existing customers are most interested in.
The Audience Performance Report allows you to compare different segments by size, reach, exposure, purchasing power and gender oriented items to optimize target audiences and campaigns.
The new Shopping Journey Dashboard gives how different audiences move through your funnel. This is great for coming up with different tactics and see how much they move a group from one step to another.
3. Social Media Marketing Updates September 2020
TikTok introduces Duets
Another feature was introduced by TikTok that will increase the engagement levels and the community feel. YouTube and Instagram introduced short content features lately to keep up with TikTok. But TikTok has kept their foot on the pedal with new features.
These were the things that happened in Digital Marketing in September 2020. You can also read all updates on Digital Marketing Insights page.
Definition (what are they, what are they used for, where are they shown and in which formats)
What’s the difference between web push and mobile push notifications?
What’s the difference between pop-ups and web push notifications?
What elements compose a web push notification?
What operating systems do they work on?
What browsers support web push notifications?
What devices support web push notifications?
How do web push notifications work?
Opt-in process
Manual web push notifications
Automated web push notifications by Frizbit
Why should I use web push notifications on my website?
Retention of anonymous users
Reach users outside of the website
Desktops and mobile reach without having and app
Quick traffic generator
Time efficient
Are web push notifications effective?
High opt-in rate
High CTR
Profitable channel
How much can you increase revenue?
How do I send web push notifications from my website?
How to install web push notifications
What metrics should I track to optimize my web push notification campaign?
How to measure web push notifications performance
Metrics to keep track of
Are web push notifications GDPR compliant?
What makes a good web push notification?
It’s relevant
It’s personal
It’s specific
How to choose a web push notification service provider?
1. What are Web Push Notifications?
Web push notifications are clickable messages sent by a website and appear on the screen of a user’s device, even if the website is closed and the user hasn’t filled any type of registration form. It is the latest and a very powerful digital channel for websites to re-engage and communicate with subscribers who opt-in to receive them, providing useful/interesting information.
What are web push notifications used for?
They’re used as a direct communication channel to keep users informed about news, promotions, abandoned products on their shopping carts or general information and updates. Web push notifications can be installed on any website: e-commerce, newspapers, blogs or magazines and their purpose is to entice users to return to the site and complete an specific action.
Where do web push notifications appear?
The format and position of web push notifications changes depending on the operative system, browser and device they appear on. They slide on the top right corner on Mac devices, on the bottom right corner on Windows devices , and on mobile they appear in the same way to a regular push notification from an app.
Windows Desktop Web Push Notification
Android Mobile Web Push Notification
What’s the difference between web and mobile push notifications?
Mobile push notifications are messages sent by an app that is installed on a mobile device or tablet. In order to receive them, users need to give permission and they’re shown on the screen of the device, no matter if the user is actively on that app or not.
Web push notifications are simply the website version of the app push notifications. They are messages sent by a website and delivered through browsers even when the users are not on that website, to both mobile and desktop devices.
The first time a user accesses a notifications-enabled website, users will be asked if they would like to to allow or block them by a browser permission prompt, just like apps would ask their users to allow notifications.
What’s the difference between pop-ups and web push notifications?
A pop-up is a message that suddenly shows-up on a website over the content while the user is currently navigating on it. The majority of them show-up as soon as a user lands on the page. In some cases they can be activated based on users’ actions, such as a click, scrolling down, spending a specific time period or closing a window (exit intent pop-ups).
Web Push Notification
Pop-up
Pop-ups can appear both on desktop and mobile, and are typically used for advertisement with the purpose of directing the user’s attention to a specific message in the site they’re visiting. User experience is usually diminished by these types of messages as they’re considered intrusive and annoying.
Web push notifications differ from pop-ups mainly because they’re shown on the screen of the user not necessarily within the browser window even if the user is not on the website, while pop-ups can only be shown within the browser window when the user is actively browsing on that website.
What elements compose a web push notification?
Web push notifications are composed of various elements that conform their anatomy. They include: icon, headline, description, call to action button, a large image and the page url from where it’s being sent. All the elements are modifiable for each notification, you can change the icon, image, text, CTA for each one if you wish to.
Icon: The icon is usually the logo of the brand. Its position inside the notification varies between different OS and browsers, but is always visible. The icon has to be a square image preferably at least 256 x 256 px.
Tips and insights: if you use your logo, you can adapt the design to match the season or a holiday!
Headline: The headline is the first text line of the notification. It usually appears in bold letters as an attempt to catch the user’s attention in most of the browsers & OS’s. The length of the visible area varies between 43 to 69 characters depending on different OS and browsers
Tips and insights: use the most appealing words at the first 43 characters of your content to make sure it’s visible regardless of the OS and browser.
Description: The description is the textual content that follows the headline and it’s used to offer a more detailed explanation. The length of the visible area varies between 50 to 136 characters depending on the OS and browser.
Tips and insights: use the most appealing words at the first 50 characters of your content to make sure it’s visible in all OS and browsers. Personalise the content using the dynamic parameters in this section as it has more area which can accommodate longer values of parameters
Large Image (Optional): An image that complements the message, it should be descriptive and appealing. It’s only visible on Google Chrome, Windows and Android OS.
Tips and insights:push notifications with images have a 20% higher CTR, according to A/B testing conducted by several Frizbit clients. The ideal ratio of the image to make it visible on all OS and devices is 2×1 horizontal, minimum size being 512 x 256 px and recommended size being 1024 x 512 px. You can read more about the ideal size and resolution for rich web push notifications here.
Page URL: Is the domain of the website that’s sending the notification, the one the user subscribed to. The subscriber can be directed to any destination URL, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same domain.
Tips and insights: send subscribers to a page as close to the lower end of the shopping funnel as possible. This will increase the possibility of conversion. Don’t forget to add UTM tags to track the traffic coming from each different push notification campaign
Action button (Optional): Action buttons (you can have up to two) are optional buttons which can be used as call to action to tell users what you want them to do, what action is expected from them. Its visibility also varies depending on OS and device. It is possible to define a distinct URL to action buttons, other than the main URL of the notification.
Tips and insights: be precise on the CTA (Call to Action), tell the subscribers exactly what you want them to do: finish your purchase, book now. Don’t forget to add UTM tags to track the traffic coming from each different push notification campaign.
Even though all web push notifications include the same elements, how they’re shown will depend on the browser, operating system and device. Some will include the image, some won’t and the visibility of the text and action buttons will vary as well.
All the elements can be highly customised with personalised text, images and even emojis. If you make use of the dynamic parameters, you can include even more specific information such as category name, product name, product image, product price and user name to make the message as relevant as possible for each user, making them feel that you’re talking directly to them.
What operating systems support web push notifications?
Web push notifications are supported by all major operating systems, except iOS. Windows, Android, MacOS work properly with web push while iOS doesn’t support them by default.
Chrome Android Web Push Notification
Chrome MacOS Web Push Notification
Chrome Windows Web Push Notification
Firefox Android Web Push Notification
Firefox MacOS Web Push Notification
Firefox Windows Web Push Notification
Safari MacOS Web Push Notification
What browsers support web push notifications?
All major browsers, Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera and Microsoft Edge support web push notifications, except Internet Explorer.
What devices support web push notifications?
Web push notifications are shown on desktop, mobile and tablets even if the user has left the website. Their appearance and where they’re shown will vary depending on the operating system of the device.
2. How do web push notifications work?
From the publisher’s perspective
Web push notifications work for any kind of website. Any brand or business that owns a website can configure and send web push notifications very easily. No mobile app is required to do so, and the implementation is fairly simple by adding a small piece of code from a web push notification service platform to their site. We explain the process with more detail ahead in this article.
From the user’s perspective
Web push notifications is a permission based marketing channel, which means that it can be only sent to a user if they allow a website to do so. In order to start receiving web push notifications all a user needs to do is basically to opt-in (give permission to that particular website to send push notifications) and become a subscriber. This can be done by two ways:
Native opt-in: is the browsers’ default prompt to ask users their permission to subscribe to the web push notifications channel. It includes a non-customizable text and uses the language settings chosen by the user. It triggers when a user visits a site for the first time and they have to click “allow” or “block”.
Custom opt-in: is a form of opt-in which shows first a pop-up that can be customized with the website’s branding that also appears the first time a user visits the site. It offers the possibility to personalise the message and include the logo of the brand. It can be shown on the top middle of the screen and after clicking “allow” on, it triggers the browsers’ opt-in prompt, in which the user must give permission again to become a subscriber. The downside of using a custom opt-in, is that it requires two clicks from users in order to actually allow the notifications and this results in a 3x decreased opt-in rate.
Opt-out: How to disable web push notifications?
When it comes to this channel, the users have complete control over them. In order to unsubscribe from web push notifications, subscribers just need to access their browser settings panel, look for the notifications option, find the website they would like to opt-out and select “block”. The process may vary a little depending on the browser you use, for details you can check these articles:
There are two types of web push notifications: manual and automated. Depending on the service provider you choose, you’ll have more options regarding the type of messages you can send. The difference between them is their triggering mechanism:
Manual (bulk) push notifications: manual web push notifications are used to send manually a massive communication to all or a segment of users informing about special discounts, promotions, time sensitive sales or new products. They could be understood as the push notification equivalent to email newsletters. You can send messages regarding:
News
New blog post
Event information
Flash sale
New products
Automated (triggered) push notifications: automated notifications are highly personalised messages sent to users based specifically on their individual behaviour on the site. They’re designed and scheduled to be sent automatically in predetermined time frames after a user completes an action. You can define as many scenarios as you wish to trigger an automated web push notification, depending what type of site you have:
E-commerce: you can define events that send a message to users for every step of the funnel. Ex. Cart Abandonment, Product Retargeting, Category Retargeting.
Travel: you can define events to trigger notifications to recover lost reservations of the users that didn’t complete the booking or to improve the UX of the trip. Ex. Last Seats for a specific destination, last available room, check-in, boarding, luggage reminders.
B2B/SaaS: you can generate more leads by sending a sequence of web push notifications to nurture leads that visited a page but dind’t complete a sign up.
Real Estate: you can generate more leads and interactions by communicating with users about a listing they have viewed but didn’t engage with it or recommending similar properties or announce them about new listings.
Why should I use web push notifications on my website?
Web push notifications present a direct and real-time communication channel with users. Subscribers receive the message when they’re online, which highly increases the chances of interaction within minutes of the notification being sent. There’s no other digital marketing channel that has this inherent power that web push notifications have.
Engage anonymous users
The main reason web push notifications are becoming so popular amongst marketers, is because it is a unique channel to retain users that didn’t leave any personal information on the website. To become a subscriber, a user has to simply click “allow” on the opt-in prompt without filling any form, sharing their email address or any other type of personal data. This presents a major opportunity for businesses to create a flow of communication with users that might never decide to drop their email.
Reach both desktop and mobile without having an app
One the most attractive features of web push notifications is that they don’t require an app to function. In order to send a push notification, you just need to have a website and you can reach your subscribers on both desktop and mobile devices. This means that you don’t have to wait for users to check their emails to get the message through. Being able to reach people at any time, on any device is a unique advantage of web push notifications.
Reach users out of the website
What makes web push notifications so special is that they can reach audiences even when they’re not actively browsing your website. If a user subscribes, leaves and starts navigating any other site, they’ll still receive notifications from you. There’s currently no other direct digital marketing channel you can do this with, which adds to the list of reasons why you should use web push notifications on your website.
Generate traffic in seconds
Web push notifications is a real-time communication channel. This means users get the message the moment they’re online which inmensely increases the chances of interaction. On average, most notifications are clicked within the first hour after receiving it. For example, with manual web push notifications, you can direct lots of traffic in a very short period of time. In less than a minute after sending it, you’ll see sessions being generated on your web and users engaging with the site in real-time in your web analytics solution.
Time efficient
Digital and online businesses are used to working with multiple marketing tools to get their message across. Most of the time it would seem overwhelming to add one more channel to the mix. However, web push notifications is different. The campaign setup is extremely simple and you don’t have to spend a lot of time creating each message and manually sending it. Using automation you can create templates that will be sent automatically when triggered by an event you define on your site. You’ll only need to invest some time once to configure your campaigns and that’s it!
Are web push notifications effective?
The most simple and straightforward answer is YES! But let’s dig a little deeper. If used wisely it can become the most effective retargeting channel for online businesses.
High opt-in rate
Web push notifications have proven to be much more effective than other traditional channels. They have an average 3x higher opt-in rate than emails, which can easily be related to how seamless the process is. With just one click, visitors can become subscribers without handing over their email address or other personal information. Reducing the steps one person has to follow and complete to opt-in to any type of digital communication, will decrease the hesitation and make them more open minded to subscribe.
High CTR
Stats have shown that web push notifications have a 4x times higher click through rate than emails. That’s a 8,5% over in comparison to the 2.4% CTR of emails. The hyper-personalisation capabilities of web push notifications, allow to significantly increase the CTRs. When people feel like you’re really talking specifically to them, it will translate into more clicks and that is one of the biggest benefits of using web push notifications.
Profitable channel
Web push notifications present a very valuable alternative for marketers that allocate a big part of their marketing budget to retargeting ads. Most web push notification services are based on monthly fees that vary on the amount of subscribers or visits to the website. There are no extra fees for the amount of messages sent, implementation nor PPC rates involved. You can send unlimited notifications.
This makes the cost of retaining a customer very profitable. Consider that returning users that have already converted are the biggest asset to your business. Web push notifications allow you to bring them back without having to spend a large marketing budget chasing them around with expensive retargeting ads.
How much can you increase your revenue with web push notifications?
Web push notifications offer varied results depending on the industry, type of business and amount of traffic of the site. You can access our calculator and introduce a few data to estimate how much you can increase your revenue using web push notifications in just a few clicks: https://get.frizbit.com/revenue-calculator/
How do I send web push notifications from my website?
1. Upload Service Worker
The process of implementing web push notifications is very simple and can be done in any website. The first thing you have to do is to upload the Service Worker file of your provider to the root folder of your website’s domain. A Service Worker is a file that allows a browser to run functions that don’t need a web page such as sending push notifications to a user when they are not on your site.
2. Add JavaScript snippet
The next step is to add the JavaScript snippet of your provider that will help you create a user profile for every person that visits your site, allowing you to to track their behaviour. There are two options to do this:
A) Via Google Tag Manager: most web pages nowadays already use GTM and you can easily add this snippet as a tag on GTM. Besides, a web push notification service provider such as Frizbit can offer all the implementation on GTM in a few moments.
B) Adding directly to the web: if you don’t work with Google Tag Manager, you have the alternative to directly add the JavaScript snippet by copying and pasting it inside the <head></head> section of your website.
Working with a web push provider makes the process very simple, since they can take care of all the configuration, onboarding and then they hand everything over to you. After the setup is complete, you’ll instantly start collecting subscribers when they visit your site and opt-in. All that’s left is to design the notifications. Some providers, like Frizbit, will offer you templates, advice and support for the optimization of your campaigns.
How to create a web push notification?
Web push notification service providers usually have a dashboard where you can create the content of push notifications. Frizbit’s dashboard allows you to design your messages personalising with the use of all kinds of dynamic parameters and also see the changes in your design in real time for each browser and operating system. This way you have complete control and awareness of how the notification will be shown to users.
Access the dashboard, select “New” and enter a name for your campaign
Fill in the information of the title, and description and include the icon
Select the options for Google Chrome and add a large image, write the message for the call to action. You can add a second one if you wish to.
Follow the same steps for Safari
In the “Advanced Options” tab, you can set a timer and add a tag for your campaign.
Proceed to select when and how you want the notification to be delivered: right now, scheduled, recurring or event triggered.
Next, continue with the audience segmentation. Here you can select as many filters as you wish, such as language, country, type of event, browser, device and much more.
Once you’re done, you can save your design as a draft or publish immediately. The web push notification you created, will be saved on your dashboard and you can edit it later or copy it for new creations.
Remember you can perform different versions and conduct A/B testing. You can assign percentages of users to each campaign variation and see for yourself which one performs better. Use the results to optimize your notifications as much as possible and get the best results.
What metrics should I track to optimize my web push notification campaigns?
Web push notifications significantly increase user engagement and improve retention rates. There are several metrics you should keep an eye on in order to constantly improve your campaigns.
Opt-in rate: is the percentage of the unique users on your site clicking “allow” and becoming subscribers. Keeping track of this information will give you hints on where to ask users if they want to receive notifications from your site and adjust accordingly. You can place the opt-in prompt in any page you want, and trigger it by an action of the user. It’s not necessary to ask permission within the second a visitor enters the site.
Click-through rate: is the percentage of subscribers that click the notification over the total number of subscribers you sent it to. It’s so important to keep close track of this number, because it lets you know what type of notifications your subscribers are responding to. You can test different messages changing the title, image, description and CTA and analyse which ones are resulting in more clicks.
Time spent on a page: when sending a notification, you tell users what to expect when they click on it. Directing them to a good landing page that fulfills their expectations is key. That’s why you should keep track of how much time subscribers spend on a page after they click the notification. This will give you valuable insight on how the messages portrayed in the notification meets the landing’s information. If there’s no connection between the copy of the notification and the content of the page you send users to, bounce rate will increase, letting you know there’s an issue in copywriting.
Opt-out rate: shows the number of people that unsubscribed from web push notifications from your site. This is a vital metric to keep track of. Naturally your opt-in numbers should be much higher than opt-outs. If you discover that your opt-out rates are increasing over time, ring your alarm bells and start looking for the problem. In this case it’s usually related to low relevance of your notifications, or maybe you’re sending too many notifications that your subscribers perceive as spam and decide to opt-out.
Conversion rate: this is the ultimate goal of your campaign and the main metric of any type of business. This metric indicates the accomplishment of your goal, whether completed sales, signup or another type of engagement. All of the improvement efforts for other metrics should be aimed at ultimately increasing conversion rates. You can have great opt-in rate or click-through rates, but if they’re not translating into conversions, it is time to evaluate your web push notifications campaign strategy in place, identify the problem and do whatever it requires to resolve it.
You can keep track of the majority of these metrics, setting goals on Google Analytics and checking the reports that provide your web push notifications provider.
Are web push notifications GDPR compliant?
Web push notifications are GDPR compliant by nature. They present a direct communication channel with users with no personal data requirements. This means that users have to give consent to become recipients, but they don’t have to provide their name, email, phone number or any other type of personal information.
These instant alert messages are device oriented. The user is not targeted based on some personal data they share, but to their device. The subscription information is all stored in the browser, so businesses have no access to it and can’t use it or sell it in any way.
The user is the one in complete control by having access to the notifications panel, where they can easily decide to opt-out if they wish to.
What makes a good web push notification?
The best web push notifications have three attributes that bring results: they’re relevant, personal and precise. This channel offers many possibilities that can greatly benefit your online business if used correctly. If you exploit all its features with a well-thought strategy and avoid common mistakes, you’ll be a web push notification lover just like us.
A great web push notification is:
Relevant: Tracking the user’s behaviour on your site gives you all that you need in order to make the notification as relevant as possible. Define different scenarios to trigger a specific notification based on each user activity, so that the message they receive is directly linked to what they did on the site. You also want to keep in mind user segmentation. You don’t want to send a special offer on a product today, to a customer that bought it the day before. The same way you should keep in mind to send notifications about sales or special offers during the time they’re active and deactive the campaign the minute the promotion is over. Web push notifications that are highly relevant, have much higher click through rates.
Personal: Make use of all the dynamic parameters available: user name, product name, category name, image or any other available parameter to design a super personalised notification. If a user feels that you’re talking directly to him, the message will present a higher value and the user will be more enticed to engage with it. You should also contemplate language and time zone. Customize the campaign for each language and country you’re sending it to. The content of your web push notification has to appeal to each subscriber as an individual.
Specific: Great web push notifications let the subscriber know exactly what you want them to do and what they can expect when clicking that action button. Make it clear and precise with your title, message and CTA. Write the text keeping in mind how it will display on each OS and browser. Write the most important message in the title to make sure it’s always visible and make sure you link to the right landing page where your subscribers will find all you promised in the notification.
How to choose a web push notification service provider?
There are a list of features and considerations to be made when choosing a web push notification service. It’s important that you do your research and don’t jump ahead and go for the first service you find online. The main aspects you must consider are:
Customer data protection
There are many well-known free web push notifications service providers in the market. You might feel enticed to choose one of these instead of a paid one. The thing is, that free web push notifications services might sell your customer’s information, they’re “free” for a reason. When using one of these providers, you allow them to collect and sell your subscribers behavioural data, which can be purchased by your very own competitors. You have to decide which price to pay: a normal service fee or to sell subscribers personal information to third parties.
Subscriber portability
When choosing a web push notification provider, you want to make sure you collect subscribers under your own domain. Some of the providers offer you an alternative way of subscription where the users will be subscribed to a subdomain of the provider rather than the domain of the business itself. If you agree to this, all the subscribers that accept and opt-in to notifications from you, won’t belong to your website, they’ll belong to the website of your service provider. This means that, if one day, you wish to change providers for whatever reason, you’ll lose all your subscriber’s base and will have to start from scratch.
Personalisation and automation
Make sure you select a platform that offers the option of hyper-personalisation through dynamic parameters. As we mentioned before, customised notifications that include details like user name, have higher CTRs and lower opt-out rates. The same happens with automation. Notifications triggered by the behaviour of users on the website, have high relevance that translates in better engagement.
Good customer support
Whether you’re new with web push notifications, or have been using them for a while, good customer support is extremely important. You want to choose a provider that’s always going to be present if you have any doubt, concern or issue with your campaigns. Frizbit offers its clients a step by step onboarding, ready-to-send templates for your automated campaigns and consulting of any type.
When choosing a push notification provider, seek one that offers a trial period. This will help you ensure it ticks all the boxes and put you at ease with your decision. If you want to request a demo from Frizbit, click here and let us know!
