Undoubtedly, the ultimate goal of every e-commerce store is to make more sales. But more often than not, users don’t plunge into the conversion funnel and make a purchase on their first visit.
It requires you to engage, retain and retarget users to make them click on the ‘Buy’ button.
This article shows how Web Push Notifications can be leveraged to take your business to the moon.
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With more than 250,000 merchants around the world selling on Magento, it is undoubtedly one of the most popular platforms.
It gives store owners the advantage of shaping their store (the look & feel, the content, and the functionality) to create distinctive branding experiences.
Magento is a customizable hero when it comes to making constant alterations to the store with the ever-changing customer buying patterns.
The users are evolving and their expectations are going through the roof. Web push notifications come to the rescue as a fresh approach, challenging the beaten-to-death marketing techniques that no longer work.
What Are Web Push Notifications?
Web push notifications are byte-sized clickable updates sent to users on mobile and desktop, even when they are not on your website.
They help send automated notifications saving you time to concentrate on other important things.
They help marketers engage, retarget and retain their users. You can read more about web push notifications in this extensive guide.
How Can Users Subscribe To Web Push Notifications?
Users can opt to push notifications with just one click. Since subscribing to web push doesn’t require users to share their personal details, unlike email or sms, it helps in building the marketing list quicker.
Tip – Tell the users the kinds of notifications they will be receiving – is it an alert when you add new products that match their interest, or will they be notified when a sale starts, and so on.
Here is a subscription prompt that lured me to opt for CROV’s notifications –
Interesting Read: Reasons Why Your Magento Store Needs A Mobile App
Engage Users With Personalized Notifications
For users to click on your message and visit your store, you need to gradually nurture them.
Engage with contextual notifications, build a bond and encourage them to convert. Check out these use cases you could try-
Welcome users in style
Engagement needs to start from day one to help build a strong base. Thank them for subscribing and try your best to impress them.
After all, first impressions are the best impressions. Give them first time offers, encourage them to browse your store, and ultimately encourage them to buy.
Users need to be taken by the hand and shown pages that they might like (it could be your best-sold products to start with).
Here is a sequential flow you can look at –
Make an announcement
Having a sale? Let your users know! Delight them with flash sales, one-time offers, promotions, and encourage users to visit your site.
Induce a sense of urgency to make users click on the notifications and convert quicker.
Explore: Mofluid – Best Magento Mobile App Extension
Reactivate dormant users
Been a few days since some users visited your store? Let them know how much you miss them.
Show them what is currently hot on your website now or what they have missed while they were away.
You could also give them special offers to lure them into revisiting your site.
Automate retargeting and sell more
Users need to be nudged to take the desired action. By constantly reaching out to them with contextual notifications, you encourage them to revisit your site and convert. By retargeting effectively, you can recover sales that would otherwise have been lost forever.
Here are a few use cases-
Recover Abandoned Carts
One of the biggest challenges e-commerce stores face is recovering abandoned carts. The key here is reaching out to the users at the right time, encouraging them to convert.
We have observed that the quicker a user is retargeted, the quicker they convert. We recommend that a notification should be sent in a gap of half an hour after a user abandons a cart.
The next notification can be sent in an hour followed by another one in 2 hours. Here’s how Bajaao, an e-commerce store, has scheduled its notifications –
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They saw a 17% increase in revenue by automating their push notification campaigns. You can have a look at how this was achieved in their case study.
Enable back-in-stock alerts
Imagine the plight when a user wants to buy something and it is out of stock. That is a potential sale lost!
You need to inform the users as soon as the product is back in stock. This helps to keep them in the loop and builds trust.
Price-drop alerts
Some users are price sensitive. And when such a notification is sent to them, it won’t be long before they visit your store and convert, especially if it is a product they have recently viewed.
Retarget product viewers
What products have the users recently viewed? Target them with personalized notifications, encourage them to make a purchase.
Praise their taste, give them reasons as to why they should buy that particular product, or excite them with amazing discounts. Look at the flow that is followed here –
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Engage Category Visitors
Have you added a new collection to a users favorite category? Awesome! They deserve to know before they find it in another store.
These personalized, real-time notifications help in keeping users updated, and urges them to browse the new products and convert.
Retain customers to drive repeat sales
For a new buyer, an average conversion rate is between 1 to 3 percent. For repeat customers, the percentage increases from 60 – 70 percent.
You need to retain users to extract more sales from them. Here are a few use cases to turn customers into advocates –
Attract them with discount coupons
Exciting offers catch the attention of users. Like this notification below, users will be tempted to buy a product as they would get another one for free! Target customers who have previously purchased from your store and give them special offers.
Run loyalty programs
Appreciate the users who have been regularly buying from you. Show them how important they are by giving them exclusive offers. Run special offers and motivate them to convert yet again.
Also Read: WooCommerce Vs Shopify
Keep them in the loop with shipping alerts
Once a customer completes a transaction, let them know every detail about their order and don’t keep them guessing if the order is confirmed.
Inform them when the order is dispatched, when would it be delivered, and so on.
Best Practices
Send users contextual notifications
Segment users based on geography, demographics, interests, and behavior and send them personalized notifications.
The users need to feel as if the notifications are specifically crafted for them and not pushed out to an entire audience.
Personalize notifications by adding the product they have placed in their cart by sending notifications according to their interest or a recent activity they have performed on your site.
Make use of attractive copy
Make sure that the headline is catchy, something that would grab the users attention. A supporting image also helps in amplifying the message and adding CTAs encourages users to take an action.
Check Out: Ways To Speed Up Your Store For Kick-ass SEO
How do you use push notifications to increase sales? Let us know in the comments below.
Cassie Riley has a passion for all things marketing and social media. She is a wife, mother, and entrepreneur. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, language, music, writing, and unicorns. Cassie is a lifetime learner, and loves to spend time attending classes, webinars, and summits.