With traditional marketing channels becoming stagnant, marketers are looking for innovative ways to reach out to customers. Marketing with web push notifications is now heading to the mainstream especially for eCommerce websites. In this article we will explore web push templates; retail marketers should be using for e-commerce websites to drive sales.
Online shopping is growing at an unprecedented rate. E-commerce businesses generate more than $1.2 Billion every half minute according to AdWeek. However, this boom has led to millions of Ecommerce websites vying for your attention. Therefore it is most important to engage with customers who have already landed on your website. With the right re-targeting strategy, you can convert these visits into sales. Web Push lets you reach out to customers instantly before they can change their mind about a purchase or look for other options.
Coming to the biggest bane of e-commerce platforms, abandoned carts cause about $4 Trillion loss of sales annually. Nearly 70% carts are abandoned on average, and till now there was no real-time channel to address these.
Your Customer is Changing
- Millenials prefer to shop online.
- Men and women report spending 5 hours per week shopping online.
- Customers prefer stores that offer a variety of products, rather than specific/niche outlets.
- More than 60% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device in the last 6 months.
- 80% of shoppers have used a mobile phone to look up a product, read reviews or compare prices.
- Top factors which affect or influence online shopping habits: Price, Shipping Cost, and Speed. Here speed refers to both website optimization and speed with which the transaction is completed. Most e-Commerce platforms have switched to a single-page checkout as a result.
The key takeaway here is that mobile has become the biggest channel to reach customers who are now always online. This medium simply can’t be ignored anymore and requires specific attention. Web Push has an added advantage for mobile devices. Smartphone users are already familiar with notifications, and web push provides the same ability to your websites across platforms.
A Valuable Channel
With E-commerce websites trying to find new ways to interact with their customers and re-target them, Web Push soars ahead with its clear advantage. This real-time channel is already familiar to mobile users and with contextual information desktop users are also coming onboard.
Web Push not only helps boost conversation rates but also provide meaning information at the right time. Be it product updates, sale, shipment information, Web Push provides an intuitive way to reach customers with products they are already interested in. This is the reason Web Push has gained popularity as a re-targeting tool among e-Commerce websites.
You can easily integrate Web Push notifications on Shopify, WooCommerce, Joomla, BigCommerce, PrestaShop and the likes. For more details, you can visit our integration guide here.
Marketing with Web Push Notifications
Given the succinct nature of web push notifications and their direct approach, you have to really precise with the content of the push. The information is sent across in real-time, which adds to making them even more effective re-targeting.
Why use web push notifications for your e-commerce website?
- Boost conversions by segmenting your users based on interest in specific products, and on-site behavior.
- Increase sales by engaging and retaining customers on both desktop and mobile, without the need for an app.
- Recover abandoned carts by retargeting customers.
- Web Push Notifications are not blocked by adblockers: Unlike retargeting ads, push notifications cannot be blocked by ad-blockers. They are delivered directly to your customers desktop or the notification shade on a smartphone. This leads to better visibility and higher impact.
- Push notifications have higher CTR compared to email, making them more effective.
- Most people still prefer to shop through desktop and mobile websites, then through platform-specific apps.
Web push provides an easy way to send notifications and schedule them based on a sale or event. You can also segment customers based on interest, activity on the website and previous purchases. With triggered notifications and conversion funnels, you can direct customers back to the original flow even after they have left the website. You can customize the notification with emojis, large hero images, and your own title and message.
Web Push Notifications – E-Commerce Use Cases
Announce new products based on interest
Buyers love to know when the products they liked, wishlist or browsed are available. It could be a new summer dress in a collection, a new book by their favorite author or a product they have been browsing. The hard work has already been done in bringing the customer to the store, now all you need to do is segment them based on behavior and interest.
Once you have that in place, you send targeted push notifications to these segments about new products. You can also add a discount with an expiration date to create urgency.
Seasonal Sales / Holiday Offers
You can welcome a new season with exciting offers on fresh arrivals. Boost conversions with web push messages to your customers announcing upcoming sales about new collections. Use hero images to show-off the new arrivals, encouraging customers to refresh their wardrobe according to the new season.
Festivals are another time where customers look to shop, both for themselves and for gifts to their friends and relatives. This is an amazing opportunity to convert both existing and new customers with exciting offers or discounts. Similarly, you can also share discounts on clearance sales, end-of-season sales on products to get maximum return on investment.
Recover Abandoned Carts
We have already talked a lot about abandoned carts. A user arrives on the website, adds products to a cart and leaves without making a purchase. One of the most effective ways to counter cart abandonment is to send a push notification within a limited time-frame.
Customers generally compare product prices across websites. They add products to cart to check shipping charges or if they can apply a coupon. You can easily convert them with web push messages. Another reason for cart abandonment is that the customer got distracted while making a purchase. Since adding an item to a cart shown an intent to make a purchase, a well-timed reminder about the articles in the cart can lead to a conversion.
Moreover, using cart abandonment statistics, an informed decision can be made on the reasons for cart abandonment along with how customers can be brought back to recover lost revenue. This could involve free shipping for some regions or an added discount.
Price-drop, Stock, and Re-targeting
Customers often add products to their wishlists, planning to buy them later. If there is a price drop on the products, they can be easily called back with an automated notification.
Another reason for customers bouncing from the store could be that the product they wanted was not available. Here, a notification when the product is back in stock can help with a conversion. In this way, customers can be re-targeted to make a purchase for products that they had shown an intent to buy.
Reminders
Buyers need to be reminded from time to time about sales that you may be running. A single email or message is not enough as people get busy with their day-to-day routine. Reminders about upcoming sales, expiration, and coupons help in reaching out customers at the right time.
Pre-sale reminder
Last minute reminder
Coupon expiration reminder
Building loyalty with individual offers
Customers who purchase regularly from the store can be offered coupons or individual offers. This again helps build loyalty towards the brand. Another way to build loyalty is giving offers on the next purchase or adding a bonus credit on a purchase which can be used later.
This makes sure that the customer will come back to the store to make a purchase.
Inform buyer of purchase, shipment, and delivery
Web push notifications are not only used for promotional messages, but you can also send informational messages to your customers. These help customers keep track of the products they have ordered and adds to the user experience.
Right from purchase to delivery, the smooth process helps build loyalty and increases trust in the brand.
Here are some more resources that will help formulate your e-commerce notification strategy:
30+ Web Push Notification Templates for e-Commerce that Convert
Add user attributes and segment customers based on the city they live
5 Automated Push Notification Examples to Recover Abandoned Carts – A Guide for eCommerce Sites
Complete Guide To Marketing Automation With Web Push Notifications