The Recipe for the Perfect Push Message

Saturday, February 21, 2015

I’ve got a buddy who is convinced that he wants to open up a New Orlean’s style Creole restaurant (he’s never owned a restaurant). He does cook well (at home) and he is certain that he has perfected his various recipes for culinary success. I tried to point out that 60% of restaurants fail in the first year, but he is undeterred. I wish him luck but am not optimistic.

It’s a similar tale for most app developers. They have a great idea for an app, but it takes more than a great app to succeed. And the chances for app publishing success are even worse than in the restaurant business. You not only have to have a great product, but also need to be skilled in the business of getting users to download and engage with your app.

From a user engagement perspective, one of the tools that is most relevant - but misused - are push messages. If you’re just throwing out the same push message to all your users at the same time, you’re going to see very little engagement.

To help developers refine their push messaging strategy, Localytics has published a new handbook titled “Recipes for Perfect Push Messages.” It explains how you should use all the user data at your disposal coupled with creativity in leveraging that information in a way that resonates with your users.

The publication discusses broad concepts and more esoteric insights into push messages. For example, have you really thought about what “words” are more effective to get higher click rates? Yes, there actually are high value words that have shown to increase engagement rates and these are discussed in the handbook.

You’ll also learn what the optimal length of a message should be, the best times to send, and how to use automation to manage your push messaging campaigns. If you’d like to read the full publication, you can download it here.