Web push notifications can skyrocket your conversion rates, but only if you do them right. Push notifications can be tricky because they require a deep understanding of your target audience and a high level of personalization. With the right segmentation, you can increase personalization and subsequently, conversions. Here’s how to do it right.
Why Segmentation Matters
It seems like common sense to cast a wide net to capture more people. However, three big problems with this method can tank any marketing initiative before it has a chance to convert, making segmentation strategies key.
- More clicks don’t equal more conversions — More people clicking on an offering doesn’t encourage more people to buy. Most people will see a product ill-suited to their needs or one that’s completely irrelevant, hurting conversion rates.
- Higher unsubscribe rates — Unsubscribe rates for email or other messaging campaigns can kill trustworthiness and ensure more messages end up in spam. Instead, targeting a specific customer helps companies deliver value and reduce unsubscribe rates.
- Sabotaging engagement for returning customers — Another benefit of targeting messaging and marketing efforts is increasing engagement for repeat customers, making it easier to nurture those relationships and increase customer lifetime value.
Segmentation allows businesses to treat customers more like individuals. It provides the foundation for personalization, something most customers now expect in a sea of choices.
Common Methods for Segmentation
Choosing a segmentation strategy is a vital part of directing marketing efforts. Different segmentation strategies offer different benefits.
- Device type — More than half of website traffic occurs on a mobile device, so generating positive user experiences depends a great deal on what type of device your customers use for browsing.
- Location — Location data offers a way to personalize experiences to a specific locale and deploy marketing efforts based on geographic trends.
- Source — The source of the lead is also a vital clue. If a large number of warm leads come from a specific source (think a certain PPC campaign or blog post), efforts directed there can increase leads further.
- Activity — Activity data is a treasure trove that includes things like last login, last purchase, empty cart, site interaction, and other triggers for targeted messaging.
- Position in the customer journey — New customers need a different nurture sequence than returning ones, which are often engagement-oriented.
- Conditional tags — Companies may also set customized tags based on marketing goals, such as targeting customers who’ve given poor customer service reviews or those who haven’t visited your site for six weeks or more.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of segmentation choices. Companies designing personalized experiences can develop messaging based on one or more of these segmentation strategies to bring valuable communications that increase engagement and improve conversion rates.
Building a push notification strategy is a complex but worthy goal. Now, it’s time to consider the place segmented push notifications hold in different stages of the conversion and retention process.
Leveraging Web Push Notifications at Different Stages
Push notifications can increase conversions at different stages in a customer journey. With segmentation, businesses can provide real value through personalized nudges. Even more importantly, those nudges arrive at just the right time to trigger a response.
Customer acquisition
New customers who don’t complete a purchase might receive an email with a discount incentivizing returning to the cart. If the notification comes too late, the customer may have moved on to a different company. Too soon or too frequent, and the customer may disengage immediately.
Instead, this initial series of communications can gently set the tone for the business relationship. Potential customers begin the process positively with the impression that a company understands exactly what they need.
Engagement
Much like engaging new conversions, nudges help re-engage customers who’ve either halted an action or haven’t been active in a while. In some cases, offering loyalty incentives through web push notifications can bring someone back to the site. A reminder of an unfinished cart could bring a customer back to finish the deal. A quick notification with recommendations for similar products can be an ideal complement to something they were searching for.
Retention
Retention marketing is a profitable business to the tune of a 40% increase in lifetime value. Push notifications can improve:
- Onboarding – Nudging customers to complete registration and/or interact with the business first thing leads to higher conversion rates over time.
- Engagement – Targeted push notifications encourage customers to engage with the site, making it a habit, i.e., an integral part of their lives.
- Customer lifetime value – As users return again and again, repeat conversions become the norm.
Segmented push notifications at this stage increase both CLV and reduce churn, providing a larger lifetime value per person. Those new funds can go into acquiring new customers.
Conclusion
Segmenting website push notifications allows companies to personalize their customer experiences based on who their customer is and how they interact with the brand. It ensures customers move from initial interest to conversion and that they continue to return. With segmentation, businesses show that they value their customers’ time and can build trust to reduce unsubscribes or churn.
CleverTap offers a full suite of products designed to optimize the customer lifecycle and develop a push notification strategy that converts and retains. Marketing teams can automate communications, including web push notifications, and gather valuable data that makes it easy to engage and retain customers.
