Push notifications are one of the most powerful tools in the mcommerce arsenal. They allow you to reach your customers directly, without relying on email or social channels. Usually the customers who have enabled push notifications for your app are well-placed to be highly responsive, meaning that each message will almost certainly receive direct interaction. The key if turning passive activity into sales.

These are three types of push notification that can get immediate benefit for your online store if used correctly:

 Product Announcement/Pre-Order

If you regularly release new products to your customers, you know that there is some inherent risk involved during the early stages. Will they be interested? Will they actually buy? It’s a bit of a gamble if you go in blind. Fortunately push notifications can alleviate these issues and make new releases more of a sure thing.

First, you can use messages to announce new products in advance, release details about those products, and build interest before the initial release. When the product is actually rolled out, your loyal fans will already be eager to buy! If you want to take it a step further, you can direct customers to a pre-order page from your message. This allows you to know exactly how many people will actually pay for a new product before it is even available.

Flash Sale

One of the most tried and true methods for moving inventory quickly in physical retail locations is through a flash sale (a sale of items normally lasting an extremely limited period of time or until the inventory runs out). Ecommerce sites traditionally have faced some challenges with this idea because of their reliance on passive communications such as email, which is often checked irregularly and by a small number of customers.

Push notifications make the concept of a flash sale a reality for ecommerce sites. It can be as simple as creating a “Flash Sale” category on your site and then sending a push notification letting customers know the game is on! Alternatively, you can get more complicated, such as having specific items go on flash sale regularly and then sending a new push message once one sale is done and the next begins. Push notifications give you the flexibility to reach out as often as you like and be more or less guaranteed views by a large number of your app users.

News Flash

The other two items in this article revolved around sales, because they are obviously the lifeblood of your online store. However, push notifications can also help in outreach efforts, particularly as regards important news or updates. The immediacy of push notifications allows you to get in front of your customers quickly so that they are kept up to date on relevant goings on for your store.

Push notifications are a powerful tool, and one of the best ways to use a mobile app in your marketing efforts. Let us know if you want any more tips on push notification marketing and more!