Web push notifications 101: Boost sales with notifications

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Many believe that web push notifications are just intrusive, fleeting messages with little impact on consumer behavior. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Web push notifications have proven their worth as a powerful marketing tool. 

Omnisend research has found that 28% of consumers who click on a push notification message proceed to make a purchase. This showcases the extent to which push notification marketing can impact ecommerce sales.

In this post, you’ll discover the following:

• What are web push notifications?
• Types of web push notifications
• What are web push notifications used for?
• Examples of web push notifications
• The anatomy of web push notifications 
• How to implement push notifications 
• How can web push notifications be used with different channels?

What are web push notifications?

Website push notifications refer to clickable messages sent by a website to a subscriber’s browser. They are sent only to subscribers who opt-in and they’re an effective way to send time-sensitive messages.

The big difference between these and mobile push notifications is that they exist on websites and are accessible across various devices based on the user’s browser.  

Moreover, web push notifications are an effective and powerful marketing tool utilized by ecommerce businesses to connect with and engage their audience. They also help keep your customers up-to-date with important information, sale announcements, and enticing offers. In turn, these help drive greater and better ecommerce conversions. 

Here’s a short video that shows how marketers use web push notifications:

Types of web push notifications

Web push notifications come in various forms, each serving a unique purpose. Understanding these types can help businesses tailor their messaging for maximum impact.

Here are some common types of web notifications:

• Welcome push notification: Sent to new subscribers with a greeting.
• Informational push notification: Shares news, updates, or educational content to keep subscribers updated.
• Promotional push notification: Drives sales by highlighting special deals, discounts, or limited-time offers.
• Cart recovery push notification: Reminds users to complete their purchase.
• Back-in-stock push notification: Alerts customers about restocked items.
• Transactional push notification: Includes transaction-related notifications like order confirmations.
• Recommendation notification: Suggests relevant products.
• Browsing abandonment notification: Targets users who browsed without buying.

What are web push notifications used for?

If you’re wondering if you should use web push notifications, here are a handful of reasons why they can be so effective for your ecommerce store.

Targeting specific audiences

Targeting specific audiences is a key benefit of web push notifications in ecommerce. One of the benefits of web push notifications is they allow for more specific, segmented communication. 

Ecommerce stores can send messages tailored to each user’s behavior, purchase history and preferences.

Quick content delivery 

A benefit of web push notifications is that clicking on ‘send notification,’ or setting up automated web push notifications, leads to direct, immediate messages to users. 

While email is one of the most effective communication channels for ecommerce businesses, there’s still the risk that your email may go into the spam folder or fail to deliver. The users may also never open or see your email. Web notifications are guaranteed to reach your users within a very short time.

High conversion rates

Web push notifications have a no-nonsense style that helps push users to the specified link via a single click and a short message. 

But this means that using enticing notification headlines is necessary for captivating your audience. 

In fact, in-depth research shows that automated web push notifications boast a whopping 59.09% open rate.

Increase returning visitors

By sending relevant messages or offers, web push notifications can help increase returning visitors to your ecommerce website. 

Crafting messages that resonate with a user’s previous interactions is important. For example, you can send limited-time sales or new product updates. 

A vast audience

Web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari boast a market share of 63.14%, 3.06%, and 19.91%, respectively. This means that using these browsers can give you access to a wider audience.   

Examples of web push notifications

Let’s take a closer look at some examples of push notifications to understand better what kind of push notifications can get you the best results for your ecommerce business:

• Welcome notification with a first-order discount
• Promotional notification for seasonal engagement
• Abandoned cart notification with a ticking timer
• Notification with personalized shopping recommendations
• Promotional notification with an upsell opportunity

Welcome notification with a first-order discount

Welcome first-time buyers with enticing offers. For instance, ‘Our welcome gift to you – Enjoy a magical 10% off your first order!’

This approach not only celebrates the customer’s first interaction with your brand but also provides a tangible incentive to make a purchase. 

Offering a first-order discount via web push notification creates urgency and exclusivity, making this an effective strategy for boosting conversion rates.

Promotional notification for seasonal engagement

Send personalized push notifications and retarget past customers based on buying behaviors. For example, ‘Chilly winds are on their way. Stay warm with the help of these cozy yet stylish coats.’ 

Because this kind of targeted communication taps into the customer’s current needs, it prompts immediate action. It’s a strategic way to drive sales by staying top-of-mind with timely and relevant offers.

Abandoned cart notification with a ticking timer

Abandoned cart notifications such as ‘Tick-tock, time’s running out, and your items are waiting!’ are valuable. They serve as a nudge for customers to return and complete their purchases. 

The notification reminds shoppers to revisit their carts and finalize purchases they were previously considering. This strategy helps in recapturing the customer’s interest and increasing the likelihood of completing a sale.

Notification with personalized shopping recommendations

Personalized recommendations can be made based on the user’s behaviors or preferences. A good example is, ‘Three classy black dresses handpicked for you.’ 

This strategy makes shopping more convenient and enjoyable as it presents curated product choices that resonate with a subscriber’s taste. This can enhance the customer experience and increase the likelihood of a sale.

Promotional notification with an upsell opportunity

Upsell opportunities encourage leads to turn into loyal customers: ‘Enjoy free shipping by spending $5 more!’ 

This approach not only motivates an increase in the average order value, it also fosters customer loyalty by offering a tangible benefit for a small extra amount. It’s a smart way to drive sales while enhancing the customer’s perception of value.

The anatomy of web push notifications 

Web push notifications are pretty simple to understand. Here are the main components of effective web push notifications:

Notification/push title

You can choose to feature your brand name here. However, using an enticing title related to your message can be more effective. Ideally, keep your title between 40 to 75 characters to ensure visibility and impact.

Notification content/push message 

Browser character limits may vary, so concise messages are often ideal. Aim for 50 to 225 characters. This keeps things brief yet comprehensive enough to convey the necessary details.

Notification URL 

This refers to the domain sending the web notification. It’s usually pulled from the sending domain, so there may be no need to manually add it.

Notification image 

The image should be a clear, high-quality graphic that aligns with the message. Product images should be well-lit and focused. Logos or icons must be recognizable even in smaller sizes. Omnisend recommends 192×192 pixels for icons and 360×180 pixels for images.

The image below showcases a web push notification setup page. It features fields for the campaign name, title, message text, and destination URL. Additionally, it indicates where to add an optional image for improved visual appeal.

How to implement web push notifications 

Web push notifications work perfectly with Shopify, BigCommerce, and API-integrated ecommerce stores. However, they only work if your site has an SSL certificate. For the most part, setting up web push notifications yourself can be a bit of a task. 

Here are the steps you need to take:

• Get a web push notification app
• Turn on push notifications
• Create a push notification campaign 
• Select the recipients (if you don’t have the recipients yet, start collecting push notification subscribers)
• Review and confirm the campaign

Get a web push notification app

Choosing the right app is the first step in leveraging web push notifications. There are several apps you could utilize for your push notification campaigns. However, Omnisend stands out due to its ease of use and its high rating of 4.8/5.0 on the Shopify App Store.

Turn on push notifications

Activating push notifications is straightforward on Omnisend. Follow these easy steps to set them up:

• Step 1: Log into your Omnisend account.
• Step 2: Click on the drop-down menu in the top right corner (where your store name appears).
• Step 3: Navigate to Open Store Settings → Push Notifications.
• Step 4: Enable push notifications for your store using the toggle switch. 

• Step 5: Watch for a success message to confirm that you’ve set things up correctly.

Create a push notification campaign 

With push notifications enabled, the next step is to create your first campaign. Here’s how to do it on Omnisend:

• Step 1: From the dashboard, choose ‘Campaigns’.
• Step 2: Click on ‘New Campaign’ and select ‘Push Notification’.

• Step 3: Enter your campaign details, including the title and message.

Select the recipients

Choosing the recipients for your push notifications is easy with Omnisend. Here are the steps involved:

• Step 1: Click on ‘Next step’ after creating your campaign (from earlier steps).
• Step 2: Select the target audience for your push notifications.

Review and confirm the campaign

Before your campaign goes live, a final review is crucial. Here’s how to achieve this on Omnisend:

• Step 1: Preview your push notification to check for errors.
• Step 2: Review your recipient list for accuracy.

• Step 3: Click on ‘Send now’ to launch your push notification campaign.

Best practices when implementing web push notifications

Let’s discuss the top practices to keep in mind when using web push notifications. 

Tech requirements

Often users wonder whether it’s necessary to use HTTPS/SSL to send web push notifications. The answer to this question is yes. A majority of browsers require you to use HTTPS, apart from Safari. If you’re using Google Chrome, Opera, or Firefox, you’re going to need HTTPS to send web push notifications.

If your website lacks HTTPS, it’s recommended you set up one to use push notifications effectively. Although there are various tricks to get around the HTTPS requirement, they all essentially involve duping people into subscribing to receive web push notifications from you.

Since one of your main goals in your ecommerce business strategy is to gain your customers’ trust, it’s not recommended to use this. Setting up HTTPS is pretty easy—and it should be installed on all ecommerce stores by default.

After that, use marketing platforms like Omnisend to send not only web push notifications, but SMS and emails as well, all with automation, segmentation and other advanced, high-converting features.

Browser differences and limitations

Most browsers support web push notifications. However, each browser comes with its different set of limitations and differences. You’ll notice subtle differences between the appearances of the form of various browser opt-in prompts, for starters. 

When it comes to the actual notifications, the significant difference to keep in mind is related to custom icons. While Safari does not support this feature, other browsers do. It is necessary to keep this feature in mind when you’re designing your campaigns.

Last but not least, the most significant limitation is the absence of iOS support. As of now, no browser boasts the ability to send web push notifications to iOS devices.

Timing

Luckily, push notifications are more similar to email than to SMS. With text messaging, your subscribers get the message immediately on their phones (which can be annoying at 3am).

However, with push notifications, they’ll only get it when they open their web browser. Nonetheless, be mindful of what time you’re sending your push notifications. Try to stay in the “normal” daytime hours (9am-7pm), and experiment with mornings, lunchtime or early evenings to see which timings give you the best results.

How can web push notifications be used with different channels?

Integrating web push notifications with other channels can significantly elevate customer engagement and conversion rates.

Omnichannel campaigns can bring significant value to your ecommerce business by ensuring consistent, complementary marketing messages across different platforms.

Here are effective ways to integrate web push notifications with SMS and email for better marketing impact:

Email and web push notifications	SMS and web push notifications
Send an email to introduce a new product or offer. Follow up with a web push notification to remind users to check their inboxes.	Send an SMS for immediate promotions. Reinforce the message with a web push notification. This helps to capture the attention of users who prefer different channels.
Use web push notifications to alert customers of urgent updates in your newsletters. This increases the chances of your emails being opened.	Use web push notifications after sending an important SMS. Such a message could be one featuring a time-sensitive discount code. The notification can serve as a prompt for customers to take action before the offer expires.

Strategically using web push notifications with email and SMS can be highly effective. This approach creates a seamless communication flow, encouraging immediate action. Additionally, it helps in building long-term loyalty among your customer base.

“It’s harder and harder to reach the customer, so a combination of push notifications and text messages works so much better. We’ve been testing it against email only, and email plus text and push gives us a much higher turnaround.” Marcin Bielen, President of INGLOT Cosmetics Canada Read case study

Summary

Web browser push notification is, without a doubt, one of the most influential and straightforward marketing communication channels. What makes it stand out from other marketing methods is the lack of restrictions and the instant delivery.  

Web browsers aren’t strictly for marketing and promotional purposes. Instead, you can utilize them to deliver helpful information such as order status updates, abandoned cart alerts, enticing offers, even breaking news and so on. 

If you want to learn more about push notifications and how to use them, start Omnisend for free today.