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The Push for Push Notifications

A point-of-view by Matt Klein from our US Strategy team 

In the war for attention, the mobile home screen is an overlooked new battlefront.

Brands, publishers and apps are all beginning to rely upon the push notification as another means of reaching their audience. Opposed to regularly sifting through seas of information and content across the web, individuals and brands are both utilizing the push notification as a means to save time while the mobile function is now being strategically employed as a direct and personal form of communication.

Some time ago, Facebook unveiled Notify, a sole platform for users to subscribe to news publications and receive straightforward headlines. Taking advantage of the most valued real estate, the locked home screen, Notify attempted to capitalize on one of our most sacred spaces. It didn’t take long for Notify to shutter and reform itself within Facebook-proper. The concept made sense, saving time and allowing users to engage implicitly, but the idea may have been too soon… or late.

It has been reported by KPCB that we check our phones over 150 times a day and it can only be inferred that the number of times we glance at our home screen will increase as we’re becoming even more dependent upon our mobile devices. The push notification just makes sense. When it came to the power of the notification, Notify’s Michael Cerdo, commented, “It’s the most intimate way for you and information you’re interested in to connect.”

Not long before Facebook pushed out Notify, The New York Times designated an 11-person team led by Andrew Phelps to solely focus on developing their app’s message and push functions. Phelps forecasted 2016 as a big year for push, but sport scores, weather updates, breaking news and even health reminders like fixing your posture, were all already vying for our attention. The push needed a breath of fresh air, which came when Apple released iOS10 last year. Here, the push notification evolved into something more dynamic with the newfound abilities to interact without ever unlocking or opening the app itself.

As the concept of the push takes on new forms, consequential modernizations will emerge including detailed preferences and settings. Push notifications can easily become hyper-relevant and contextual as apps could leverage insights from individuals’ growing profiles filled with pertinent data. As our connected devices multiply, our homes become smarter and the presence of beacons spread, push notifications can advance from mere 1-way pings to complex interactive triggers.

More so, when we imagine our future with virtual assistants within the home, the mobile push notification can potentially be embodied within Siri, Alexa, Cortana and Google Assistant. The idea of Alexa pushing us reminders verbally is not far off.

However, with considerable power come extensive responsibilities. As the Internet is built upon advertising, it is only a matter of time before irrelevant or abusive content begins to be pushed our way. We must also consistently contend the everyday distractions of our whizzes and whirs, as some argue we are turning into digital Pavlovian subjects.

Ultimately, just one too many notifications can instantaneously splinter a user’s trust and tarnish the value of the push notification entirely. At the New York Times, Phelps agrees, “How much is too much is one of the questions we’re wrestling with.” Mobile marketing agencies should be careful in their approach when it comes to using mobile push notifications. Performance marketing is about a lot more than numbers.

If you would like to hear more about what we do here at M&C Saatchi Performance, then don’t hesitate to get in touch