Take a look at the digital landscape.
Thousands of online stores are running promotions on social media, email and other platforms to reach their target audience.
Everyone’s competing for attention from a similar consumer market and brands are seeing a drop in their customer loyalty, leading to lower number of repeat sales.
So how can you boost customer engagement to increase online sales amidst all this noise?
In this article, we’re discussing how online stores can use web push notifications to stand out and reach their shoppers at the right time with the right message to boost customer engagement.
What are web push notifications?
Web push notifications are push messages that a store can send to an internet user via desktop or mobile.
These messages can be seen sliding in at the top or bottom right corner on a desktop screen, depending on the system they’re being viewed on. On mobile, they are similar to a push notification you receive from mobile apps.
Here’s a glimpse at the desktop web push notification:
And here’s what a mobile web push notification looks like:
But you know what makes web push notifications an effective channel for customer engagement? They get delivered to the shopper’s screen – desktop or mobile, regardless of whether or not they are on the site.
But just like every other marketing channel, push notifications need a dedicated strategy.
You can’t just spam users at every opportunity and expect to continue generating results.
Push notifications get the best results when offering personalized, timely, relevant information and updates to users.
And that’s hard to achieve through any channel.
Fortunately, we’re going to share how you can use web push notifications to boost customer engagement and increase online sales.
Web push notification campaigns to boost customer engagement
Every online store is different. Each brand sees different types of shoppers come in and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to converting them.
But here are a few web push campaigns that top grossing stores like HeadPhone Zone use with PushOwl.
1. Flash sale
Who doesn’t love saving?
Flash sales are one of the best ways for you to drive quick sales bumps.
They’re super popular, but due to their nature, the messages alerting users to their commencement need to be extremely well timed.
That’s where using web push notifications is a smart move. The message gets delivered straight to their screen, instantly. Not only is it delivered instantly, but it causes their phone to vibrate and beep drastically increasing the chances of bringing them back to your store.
2. Price drop alerts
A lot of your shoppers are price-sensitive. In fact, in studying what shoppers want in return for giving you their informations, promotions came out top of the list (by a huge margin).
Price sensitive shoppers make a wish list or add a few products to the cart but leave without making a purchase.
Price drop alerts via web push notifications are a great way to re-engage these shoppers. Letting them know their favorite product’s price has dropped for a limited period, can increase online sales drastically.
3. Back in stock notifications
Too many stores don’t offer enough information on inventory levels. Being out of stock of a product is the #1 inventory mistake leading to loss of customers.
However, just because you don’t have the product in store today doesn’t mean the customer is lost forever.
A back in stock notification is the most effective method to quickly let these disappointed shoppers know you now have what they want.
most effective when they reach the shopper as soon as stock is replenished, which is why web push notifications are perfect for this job.
4. Buy more, save more
What makes you head to the store to make a purchase? A discount or a sale that promises to get more for less.
Similarly, you can set up a buy more, save more campaign on web push notifications. When sent out with time-sensitive copy, this campaign is sure to boost customer engagement and increase online sales.
5. Special edition promotion
With so many stores wanting to grab a similar audience’s attention, you want to make sure your customers remain loyal to your brand.
Loyal customers are the backbone of successful ecommerce stores as they’re more than happy to handle your brand’s promotion for you.
Thing is, to remain loyal they need a little something from you.
One simple way to keep loyal customers happy is with an exclusive, limited edition product selection.
Promote your limited edition or special range of products to your existing customers with a message that shows exclusivity via web push messages. This will make them feel special about being the first to be notified!
6. Product hacks
Consumers love brands that don’t just offer them good deals, but also help them make an informed purchase and help them make the most of it.
Helping your customers get the most out of their current purchase encourages repeat purchases.
That’s why sharing product hacks or advice using web push notifications is a great way to engage shoppers. You educate and nurture them into buying products instead of being too salesy about it.
7. User generated content
User generated content is one of the most influential elements for increasing sales.
However, simply adding user generated content on your product pages isn’t enough.
If you want to get all those posts your customers are sharing on social media, promote them using web push notifications. You never know which shopper you might inspire to get the same look by buying those products from your store.
8. Event and holiday focused
The best way to engage your shoppers and drive them back to your store to make purchases is to join in the festivities.
Be it around the time of Christmas when everyone is looking for gifts or back to school, use web push notifications to reach your shoppers at the right time. Get more products discovered and increase online sales.
9. Product recommendations
Based on what the shopper has shown interest in or purchased from your store, you can use web push notifications to reach out to them with recommendations. Promote products from a similar range or an exclusive collection that is curated for them.
10. Referral campaign promotion
Word of mouth marketing is the most effective in today’s date. But getting your shoppers to participate can be tough. Using web push notifications, you can regularly reach out to your customers and promote why they should join the referral program. Highlight the value they earn and what their friends gets, and see your store go viral!
11. Thank you and feedback
Another way that even the biggest online retailers like Amazon use to boost customer engagement, bring back shoppers and increase online sales, is saying thank you. After a shopper makes a purchase, they reach out to them asking for their feedback and requesting for a review or rating. This makes their shoppers feel valued, building customer loyalty.
Increase online sales with customer engagement
Web push notifications are increasingly becoming a popular choice for online stores to engage their shoppers. Right from cart recovery campaigns to those targeted at keeping shoppers interested in what the brand has to offer, the medium has proved to be very effective. Stores like Proozy are already getting 299x ROI using web push notifications.
After all, the right message at the right time via the right channel, is the only way to boost engagement and increase online sales!
But what’s best, is setting up web push notification campaigns take only a few minutes with apps like PushOwl. The ready to use templates along with smart automations have your customer engagement campaigns up and running in no time.
So ready to engage your shoppers with web push notifications?
Set up your first campaign today.
About the author
Vanhishikha Bhargava is the Content Marketer at PushOwl. It is a Shopify app that enables online stores to set up web push notification campaigns to boost customer engagement, increase their sales and revenue. You can follow her blogs here or connect with her on LinkedIn to discuss more conversion strategies.