Push Notifications CTR, Success Rate and Metrics for 2023

You already know that push notifications can dramatically increase user engagement. When used as part of an omnichannel marketing effort, such notifications are a valuable channel for information and alerts. Leading to greater retention and interaction.

Push Notifications have a delivery rate of 90%, which is 50% higher than open rates of Emails. The click rate, too, is seven times higher. What’s more, 40% of users interact with push notifications within an hour of receiving them.

To get the most from push notifications, marketers need to be aware of some important metrics. Acting on these numbers can help you enhance the performance of your campaign for the best results.

This guide will show you:

• The Metrics to Look For
• The Current Yardsticks
• The Factors to Watch
• Measures to Improve Metrics

By monitoring the metrics and taking steps to improve them, your push notifications can get you compelling results. Listed below are the factors that determine notification delivery.

Source

The Metrics to Look For

1. Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Open Rate

Quite simply, a CTR is the ratio of clicks received on a notification compared to the total number of subscribers the notification was sent to. It’s one of the most important indicators of how well your push notifications are doing. A greater CTR, naturally, means greater engagement. An Open Rate, meanwhile, is simply the ratio of people who have “opened” the notification.

2. Opt-In Rate

The opt-in rate shows you the number of people who have subscribed to your push notifications, expressed as a percentage of the number of people who have visited your website. Tracking this throws up information on the best times to send notifications, whether an incentive or more information is needed, and which web pages work best for push notifications.

3. Frequency and Timing

Opt-in and click-through rates should also be measured in terms of when notifications are sent, and how often. These are valuable indicators of the best times to reach users. Often, changing these can produce great results.

(Caption: A look at the dependency of CTR on the time notifications are sent)

4. Conversion Rate

Often, push notifications are sent with the aim of making the consumer take a specific action. A retailer can send a push notification with information about a sale, for instance, or a fintech company can ask people to sign up for its newsletter. A conversion rate measures how many consumers behaved in the desired manner, versus the total number of notifications sent out.

The Current Yardsticks

Now let’s get to the heart of the matter. When it comes to the above metrics, what numbers should you be looking at?

Obviously, the numbers will vary depending on the category you’re in and the strategy and goals of the campaign.

One study of mobile app notifications in 2019 showed that opt-in rates for Android devices were 91.1%, and for iOS, it was 43.9%. The CTR was 4.1% on Android, and 1.7% on iOS. The reports found the overall average push notification reaction rate was 7.8%.

For web push, a 2019 survey found the sign-up rate (meaning, opt-in) among site visitors for web push notifications was between 5 to 15%. As many as 60% of web push subscribers signed up from their phone browsers.

Moving on to next year, a 2020 study found that the average CTR is 15%. However, for campaigns that are transactional or targeted to smaller groups, this can go as high as 30%.

The opt-in rates were dependent on the industry. On average in 2020, this was 0.5-5% for e-commerce, 0.5-6% for media, and 0.5-10.5% for financial services.

For the media and entertainment industry, here are the latest figures.

The overall 2021 benchmarks across verticals reveal rising numbers.

The Factors to Watch

As discussed above, frequency and timing can affect the efficacy of push notifications. The volume of push notifications has a significant impact on user action and behavior. Hence the frequency becomes critical while planning any campaign.

Clearly, the frequency can be much higher or lower than average, depending on the goals, the type of users, and whether they’re at the start, middle, or end of the funnel. Some even say that a 4x higher conversion rate is seen by sending push notifications twice a week.

As for the timing, here are the results of one survey that indicate the particular days that have shown high click rates for most brands.

Among the other factors are the inclusion of images and other media. These are called rich push notifications. One survey showed significantly higher open rates of up to 56% with such notifications.

Segmented push notifications also make a big difference. They can have a 50% higher click-through rate than messages sent without using segmentation.

Measures to Improve Metrics

We’ve already mentioned some of the factors that the best-performing push notification campaigns make use of. Among these are segmentation and timing.

Savvy marketers will always dig deeper. Here are some other aspects, to squeeze every bit of efficiency and boost metrics.

• To begin with, here’s a case study that shows how using automated amplification led to a 10% increase in push notification delivery rate, and a 16% increase in-app purchases.
• For businesses with brick-and-mortar stores, geofencing is especially effective. These notifications are activated when the user is near a physical location and can lead to a 45% click-through rate.
• The results of one study proved that push notifications sent after A/B testing have a 10% higher click-through rate than those without A/B testing.
• Research shows that 15 out of 100 push notifications sent don’t get delivered. Here’s a report with data-backed insights into factors that impact notification delivery rates, and best practices to improve them.

To sum up, push notifications can give your marketing efforts a powerful push. It’s important to know about and to keep an eye on the measurement yardsticks. This way, you’ll see what to improve, what to change, and what to retain to achieve your goals.