Study finds Android outperforms iOS in user reaction time for push alerts

Accengage, a push notification technology company for Mobile Apps, Websites and Facebook Messenger, is has released the 2017 Edition of their annual Push Notification Benchmark. In addition to updating Push Notification opt-in and reaction rates for Mobile Apps on iOS & Android overall, by industry and country, the study reveals for the very first time: mobile app retention rates thanks to Silent Push Notifications, Web Push Notifications’ performance by industry, and Facebook Messenger Push Notification reaction rates.

In order to build this yearly report enabling marketers to benchmark the performance of their Push Notification campaigns in terms of opt-in rates (% of users who accept to receive Push Notifications) and reaction rates (% of users who click on the notifications), Accengage analyzed the metrics of 65 billion Push Notifications and 50,000 Push Campaigns sent by its customers in 2016 to 750 million consumers worldwide.

Mobile App Push Notifications

100% of Android mobile users are automatically opted-in for Push Notifications when they download an app (passive consent), versus 43% of iOS users who manually accept to receive them when prompted (active consent). The average opt-in rate increases by 2 percentage points compared to a year ago (43% vs. 41%): mobile users are more than ever interested in receiving Push Notifications. It is in the Telecom industry that opt-in rates are the highest (49%), followed by Travel (48%) and Finance (46%).

The average Mobile App Push Notification reaction rate is of 8.4%. Just as in the previous editions, Android greatly outperforms iOS (12.2% average reaction rate on Android versus 4.5% on iOS) thanks to the historical possibility to create richer formats (image, multiline text, AlertBox...) on Android. However, we notice a slight decrease in reaction rates on Android (-0.9 percentage points) and an increase on iOS (+0.2 percentage points), what is certainly linked to the new Push Notification formats with Images, Videos and GIFs now available on Apple devices since the release of iOS 10 in 2016. The top 3 industries include: FMCG (23% on Android / 8% on iOS) and Travel (18% on Android / 5.5% on iOS) followed by the Telecom sector (17% on Android / 8% on iOS).

“When we look at the performance metrics of Push Notifications for Mobile Apps per country, we see that the Top 3 countries with the highest opt-in rates are Brazil (47%), followed by Russia (46%) and France (44%). In terms of reaction rates, Germany is in first position at 11%! Italy is second at 10.5%, while France comes third at 10%” says Jérôme Stioui, CEO of Accengage. “Europeans are fond of Push Notifications, much more than Americans which have a reaction rate of 7.5% on average”.

Thanks to the Silent Push Notification technology of Accengage, it is now possible to answer the question which all app marketers want to be answered: “how many people still have my mobile app installed?”. Among all its customers, Accengage calculated that 67% of downloaded apps (except gaming) are still installed on the device 12 months after download.

Web Push Notifications

Web Push Notifications are a new communication channel enabling brands to send Push Notifications to people who have visited their Website on Desktop or Android. After 2 years of experience on this innovative technology, Accengage publishes the 1st Web Push Notification Benchmark. On average, 12% of unique visitors of a website accept to receive Web Push Notifications. The Travel industry is ranked #1 with 21.5% of opt-in users. The Media industry is #2 at 16%.

Web Push Notifications’ reaction rates are spectacular: 18% on average!

“The E-Commerce industry outperforms with an average reaction rate of 27%, mainly because of abandoned cart Push retargeting scenarios which, just as for display retargeting, work really well. The Media industry is second at 24.5%. These impressive results are linked to the great visibility of Web Push Notifications: on desktops, they are displayed on the foreground, even when the web browser is reduced in the taskbar; on mobiles and tablets, Web Push Notifications wake the device just like standard Push Notifications for Apps… without having to install the app! Advertisers realized that, and this is why Web Push Notifications are being deployed intensively on websites across all industries lately, especially since it was implemented by the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter” says Jérôme Stioui.

Facebook Messenger Push Notifications

Facebook Messenger Push Notifications enable advertisers to send Push Notifications through Facebook Messenger to consumers who granted the permission via their website, their Facebook Page or by engaging with their Bot. Facebook Messenger Push Notifications are received within the standard Facebook Messenger discussion feed, among all other messages.

“The first Facebook Messenger Push Notification campaigns which were launched by our customers show amazing reaction rates: 35% on average! The fact that these Push Notifications land within the Messenger app among all personal messages helps a lot. With this new channel, consumers let their brands get into their private space: their #1 Messaging App. Of course, they are among the most engaged customers with the highest value. It is therefore not so surprising that reaction rates are that high” concluded Jérôme Stioui.