News, information, promotions: the main thing is that added value is communicated. That’s what push notifications are all about. They are used by companies to provide their B2B customers with relevant internal news bit by bit and invite them to become conversions on the side. But careful – hot air scares off the coveted target group.
What are push notifications?
Push notifications, also known as push messages, are usually short messages which companies send to their customers via their end devices – namely smartphones and tablets. They appear, for instance, as short screen flashes and are used to communicate new products, discount promotions or other marketing activities. Important is that the user has agreed to receive such messages via an opt-in. The receiver does not have to do anything to read them, as they appear automatically in the respective software environment.
B2B companies use this tool, on the one hand, to bind customers and, on the other, to animate them to become conversions. The business partner, for instance, should visit the online shop and order from it. When well made and lightly dosaged, push notifications can be a very effective tool in B2B marketing.
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Types of push notifications: Messenger Push, Web Push and App Push
There are many types of push notification formats. Some appear as short text boxes; others showcase short video or audio content or are interactive thanks to the use of integrated buttons. Here is a short overview of the most frequent types of push notifications:
- Messenger push are messages which appear to users via Messenger. These include services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and iMessage. Because these are used first and foremost on smartphones and tablets, they are particularly suitable for B2B communication via mobile end devices.
- Web push notifications, also known as browser push notifications, are more suitable for computers. They function without any special app, but with standard web browsers (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera). These simply have to be opened to be received and shown as a push message. The advantage: they are independent of the website being visited at that moment.
- In contrast are messages via app push, which are less universal as they are linked to a certain program. In order to receive messages in this way, the user must download the respective app. This limits the target group on the one hand, yet on the other is received by an audience that is potentially highly interested in the content.
Effective strategies for push notifications in the B2B segment
Push notifications alone are not an effective marketing concept. Instead, they function like a small cog within the entire sales machine, which, however, can have a huge impact.
Especially effective is a strategy for push notifications when they are developed from the very start along with a new campaign for omnichannel marketing. The efforts to include them later on are much higher. In any case, it’s about using the right channels. Social media, email or search engines are distribution paths also frequently used by B2B customers. In this case, the respective suitable format – text only, images, graphics, videos – plays a big role for the target group too.
„Especially effective is a strategy for push notifications when they are developed from the very start along with a new campaign for omnichannel marketing. “
Who should receive the messages? The user themselves decide by opting in. Whether they do this or not depends mainly on the type of communication. A plain, uncommented browser push request scares off many visitors and quickly leads to rejection. Especially when the message appears immediately upon opening a website. Better: the request appears after several visits. Up to that point, the user has already gained a level of trust towards the offer.
Push notifications are a real-time marketing tool. To ensure it works, the data of B2B customers must always be up to date. If not, the messages will easily miss their point. If, for instance, a product is continually offered which the customer has already bought, he most likely will not enjoy receiving the information. What’s more, when planning your personnel, remember to think that they will later be creating and formulating the push notifications in line with the target group.
Push notifications: what to keep in mind
B2B customers often have little time. Which is why they are interested above all on concise and current information. If push notifications don’t offer them any tailored added value, they will ignore the service sooner or later. In worst case, they will be bothered and unsubscribe completely. This can also happen when they are contacted quite often. For this reason, it’s important to find a quantitative middle road. This includes the right timing – depending on the engagement by the user, which is determined with the use of reporting tools that track the customer journey, amongst others.
