What are push notifications? How they work and when to use them.
05-12-2025
Push notifications are an increasingly popular way to engage users with timely and relevant information. Despite their popularity, it can be tricky to understand what push notifications are, how they work, and why they help improve user engagement.
In this article, we'll provide a clear definition of push notifications and explore their distinct types and benefits.
What are push notifications?
Push notifications are messages from a sender that appear as pop-ups on a user’s device, typically a cell phone or tablet. You’ll normally see push notifications as pop-ups or banners, but how they appear depends on the device and operating system. It’s common to think of push notifications in relation to mobile devices, but web apps use them too. If you have a mobile device that uses Apple iOS, your push notifications can appear in your notification center or your lock screen. The Android operating system uses a similar method for mobile devices.
Businesses use push messaging to capture the attention of customers who might not be interacting with their brand in the moment.
App vs. web-based notifications.
- App-based notifications. App-based push notifications are the most common notification type used today. These are sent through apps installed on a device – usually a tablet or smartphone. They can be highly personalized but are limited in reach by app installation. These can be great for notifications of new stories or order confirmations.
- Web-based notifications. Web-based notifications are sent to a person’s web browser — the benefit being that these notifications can also reach desktops. While it can reach a broader audience, even those without an app, users need to have some form of subscription. These can be used for product promotions or empty shopping cart reminders.
Push notification example.
Push notifications are comprised of several key elements — the app icon, title, main body and a call to action (CTA).
- App icon. The app icon is an important element. It provides context and lets your reader identify your brand quickly, rather than feeling as though they’re being spammed by something unrecognizable.
- Title. This headline should grab attention, include a hook, and advertise a time-sensitive event or offer. For example, “Your order has arrived!”, “Shop Til’ You Drop – New Ranges”, “You’ve got an upcoming appointment…”, or something time-sensitive such as “Don’t miss out! Your birthday bonus expires soon!”
- Main body. Try not to include more than 180 characters in the main body of your push notification, and include relevant and concise information. For example, “Get 20% off when you place an order before 8pm”, or “Order #56789 has been confirmed! [Tracking Link Here]”.
- Call to action (CTA). CTAs should be designed to encourage action. These are short, snappy, and compelling. Additionally, you should focus on relevant offers, user benefits, and encourage swift action. For example, “Book now”, “Learn more”, “Claim your discount.”
Why are push notifications used?
From a consumer engagement perspective, it’s nice to be notified immediately of certain milestones, offers, and other alerts, rather than having to consistently open a mobile app or log on to a website.
For example, a banking institution might use push notifications from their mobile app to alert customers of strange activity on their credit cards. The customer sees the alert when they pick up their mobile device and can react in a timely manner.
From a marketers' perspectives, interactions between customers and the brand help boost customer retention. Push notifications also encourage customer engagement that might not happen otherwise.
Those are just two examples, but the benefits are many:
- Boosting user engagement. By providing personalized updates, users are more likely to engage with your brand. Done right, push notifications can be incredibly convenient for users.
- Re-engaging inactive users. Push notifications can re-engage users that may be drifting away from your brand. With targeted encouragement to return, great offers, and relevant user content, you can increase retention rates.
- Immediately notify users of time-sensitive events. Push notifications are perfect to send quick messages or additional notifications. This could be a reminder of a flash sale, an appointment reminder, or a banking alert.
- Skipping extra SMS fees. Unlike SMS messages, push notifications tend to have a fixed cost rather than being charged per message. They also don’t come with strict character limits and have a good open rate.
- Personalizing the user experience. Push notifications, especially app-based notifications, are great at providing a personalized user experience. Marketing personalization can be a powerful tool to boost user engagement, so taking any opportunity to add personalization is good.
- Increasing app usage and driving retention. Push notifications encourage app usage and engagement. Done right, you can promote retention and keep people in your app ecosystem.
How do push notifications work?
From creation to receipt, the journey of a push notification looks something like this:
- App registration/push notification services. Before push notifications can be sent, an app needs to register with a push notification service. This could be Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) on Android or Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) for iOS).
- Token creation. Your app will receive a device token. This token determines the specific device with a unique identifier. Essentially, it functions as the device’s “address” to send the push notifications to.
- Server message. Next, your app server will send a message to the push notification service with the designated device token to send the notification. You may choose certain trigger conditions for this, such as date, time, or certain actions.
- Device delivery. Once the message has been sent, it will arrive on the designated user device as a pop-up, banner, or alert.
- Data statistics. You can track engagement data with notifications, such as click-throughs or dismissals, to monitor the effectiveness of certain strategies.
The different types of push notifications.
- Reminders. For example, cart abandonment reminders and next steps.
- Updates and offers. Including relevant event details and timely discount codes.
- Calls to action and general deals. For example, a notification to confirm a delivery address.
Implementing push notifications: best practices.
Though there are guidelines for proper push notification etiquette, such as not sending too many, a lot of companies don’t follow them as closely as they should. The logic behind this decision is that many people have dozens of apps on their phones that send notifications. Brands feel they can’t limit their notifications for fear of getting lost in the crowd.
But these aren’t the only best practices to consider. Here are some push notification best practices you might want to adopt:
- Push notification preferences. One of the best notification practices is to give users the choice to customize their push notification preferences. Giving customers this choice will make them feel more in control, as well as more appreciative of the brand for understanding their needs. Customers will tune out brands that are too aggressive with their push notifications or they will just turn off notifications in their phone settings. It’s essential you give customers the ability to choose how they interact with your brand, app, and notifications.
- Provide tailored experiences. Tailored experiences can be easy to deliver at small scale, but what about when a business grows? Leveraging user data, such as preferences or behaviors, sending personalized messages, and providing relevant content is an essential part of keeping users engaged — no matter how large your user base.
- Utilize AI. With artificial intelligence, you can create push notification campaigns at scale. For example, you can utilize Adobe AI Assistant to personalize new content, generate content based on specified fields, use reference content, simplify and optimize language, and rephrase messages for a diverse audience.
Getting started with push notifications.
Push notifications are an easy-to-understand method of contact, which can lead to a smoother customer experience, increased retention, and more efficient customer communication. With the ability to personalize customer experiences and deliver timely promotions, push notifications are a great tool for any business.
Ready to give your customer engagement a push? Adobe Campaign gives you the tools to manage the entire customer journey, including push notifications, dynamic emails, and customer profile analysis.
Sign up for a demo today and watch our product overview video to learn how Adobe Campaign can help you send engaging push notifications to your customers.
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