When it came to supporting registration, scheduling, and real-time notifications for an event of this magnitude, it’s no surprise that SXSW would deploy a mobile app to stay in touch with everyone attending. And to cultivate the most effective mobile app experience, SXSW turned — as it had in previous years — to their technology partner Airship. 

When registrants downloaded the SXSW Go app, they were welcomed by a helpful onboarding workflow. From start to finish, this experience was powered by Airship. If you attended the event and got your hands on the mobile app, you were using Airship’s App Experience Platform. From before you arrived until you were long gone, Airship delivered everything you needed — recommendations, session information, passes, urgent notifications and even a post-event survey — all tightly integrated with lifecycle messaging to guide and inform you throughout the conference and festivals.

Inside the app, you could easily locate your personal inbox, which housed critical updates, such as weather impacts on outdoor events, need-to-know information for Industry Day, and how to get special access to apps like SXSW TV. The inbox, powered by Airship’s Message Center, remained persistent within the mobile app, so no matter when you needed the information, you could find it with ease.

Airship also partnered with Infillion’s Gimbal to make it easy to set up location-targeted messaging so you could receive customized messages based on your location, including machine learning recommendations to fill gaps in your personalized schedule. The app not only helped you get to your desired sessions on time, it also promoted nearby sponsor events relevant to your interests.

While this year saw the debut of Airship’s no-code native app experiences at SXSW, our company has been a technology partner of this world-renowned festival for more than 10 years. Airshippers were also active participants at SXSW 2023. You may have heard our Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer Tom Butta speaking alongside Lego Creative Director James Gregson in a fireside chat hosted by Brand Innovators. Or perhaps you attended Avocados From Mexico’s House of Good and watched me, Airship’s Senior Product Marketing Manager, talk about the Future of Food with Sprinkles Cupcakes CEO Dan Mesches and CMO Michelle Wong. Airshippers could also be found at the Creative Industries Expo and networking with the best and brightest at Porsche House, Austin City Limits and Wax Myrtle’s.

The most effective technologies are usually invisible to end-users who benefit from them. That’s how it was with Airship at SXSW. In the background — along with partners like event app platform Eventbase — Airship helped SXSW create great app experiences that made life easier and better for everyone involved. That’s what we mean by “the leader behind the leaders.”

The post The Leader Behind the Leaders: Airship Powered SXSW GO Mobile App Experiences appeared first on Airship.

For more ideas, check out our 50+ Ideas for Optimizing Your Mobile App e-book.

Simplify Sign Ups 

To get the most from your mobile app, your customers need to register. However, the prospect of creating and remembering yet another account and password can be a real barrier. 

Simple sign-up options with Facebook, Google, Apple or other major platforms can help. In one survey, 88% of U.S. consumers said they have used social logins, and the number one reason was to avoid filling out online registration forms.

Optimize Onboarding  

A seamless onboarding experience is key to driving adoption among new users. That’s why it’s important to test content, layout and onboarding flows to learn which approaches drive registration and premium upgrades. 

Simple steps like adding an image, adjusting your paywall layout or reducing steps in onboarding can deliver valuable results. For example, the photo editing app Instasize increased premium conversions 16% by testing and optimizing their app onboarding flow. 

Improve Your Opt-In Ask 

Getting your customers opted into notifications and location services is essential to delivering personalized, timely and relevant news and alerts. But what if they decline? When should you ask again? The only way to know is to test! 

For media apps, try asking again after a specific number of sessions, views or articles read. You can use Airship’s event-triggered automation to make that ask at just the right moment. And be sure to give them a reason to opt-in, like not missing essential news or gaining access to exclusive content.

Test CTA Copy

You should also experiment with your CTAs to see which messages move the needle. Test for metrics like start today button clicked, email and password creation, or start free trial.

One of our media partners recently tested a CTA variation that referenced a $14.99 per month cost after a free trial vs. another that touted “less than 50 cents a day.” Customers loved the second option, leading to a 9% increase in conversion on subscriptions! That’s huge! But even a small increase in conversions can have a big impact on your bottom line.

Run Tests with Trials

If you offer trials for your subscription-based or freemium app, you may be uncertain about what those trials should look like. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but you can take guesswork out of the equation with A/B testing.

Experiment with different trial lengths to determine what drives paid conversion and decreases subscription opt out rates. You can also identify specific segments of your user base to convert on certain trial lengths, which helps drill down on the preferences of those segments.

Optimize In-App Ads

If you monetize ads in your app, A/B testing the placement, length, and type of ads can help maximize your ad revenue. The goal is to determine if adding or changing placement of ads has an impact on retention or impressions.

Areas to test include placement, length and ad type. And if you’re adding ads to your app for the first time, test them with a small segment of your user base to ensure you don’t see a negative impact on engagement and retention.

Try Feature Flags

Feature flags are a great way to test and iterate your app through rapid learning. Rather than launching new features to all users simultaneously, you can use feature flags to target a segment of users. By gradually rolling features out to a select group of users, and quickly rolling them back if needed, your team can ensure that the release goes smoothly and reduce the likelihood of unfavorable app store ratings. 

Airship recently launched a free version of Apptimize’s Feature Flags solution, making it easier for mobile app product owners to confidently roll out new services to meet changing needs.

With an ongoing strategy to optimize your media app, you’re ready to deliver massive value that helps acquire, retain and grow your customer base. For more inspiring mobile app optimization ideas and case studies, check out our ebook: 50 Ideas for Optimizing Your Mobile App. 

Let’s Connect

We can help you put together a winning mobile messaging strategy

Contact us today!

The post 7 Mobile App Optimization Ideas for Media Brands appeared first on Airship.

For these consumers, how quickly they get breaking news alerts is more than imperative. It can be the deciding factor on where they go for their news.

For Media brands, meeting these changing consumer expectations and growing their customer base requires three key ingredients for breaking news alerts: Speed, Channels and Preference Controls. 

Speed Is Imperative

It may seem obvious that speed is important to delivering break news, but how important is it? And how much does it affect engagement and opens?

The answer: more than you think. To assess the impact for one of our clients, a major U.S. news source, we analyzed both direct response rates (users that tapped on a breaking news notification) and indirect response rates (users that opened the app shortly after receiving a breaking news alert) to see if speed made a difference. The results were impressive.

We found that breaking news alerts received within two minutes of a major news event have a 2X higher engagement rate over alerts received by users after two minutes. Notifications sent within two minutes saw a direct response rate of almost 4%, while the notifications sent after two minutes went down to a 2% direct response rate. That’s doubling the number of eyes that will open up the app and see the content. 

We also found that the two-minute window is where mostengagement happens for breaking news notifications. The data also showed that 98% of total direct responses came from the users who received the notification in less than two minutes. Clearly, speed is a key ingredient! 

Channels Matter 

When it comes to digital media consumption, consumers rely on an ever-increasing number of channels to get their news.  Having a great app engagement strategy is key to providing a good user experience. But mobile is just one component of a great media engagement strategy.  

An omni-channel approach ensures you can reach your audience on the channel that’s most convenient to them—so they don’t miss essential news. Solutions that make it easier to coordinate those channels on one platform can make it easier and quicker to send important messages. 

An often overlooked channel is web notifications. Consumers still look to media websites as a primary source for staying informed, and web notifications are a great way to engage those website visitors.

The Importance of Preferences 

In the effort to reach your audience quickly across multiple channels, you don’t want to push your audience away by over messaging or sending irrelevant content. The key is allowing consumers to dial in their preferences for messaging.  

According to a two-wave experiment conducted by University of Texas Center for Media Engagement, respondents reported that the frequency of notification and untailored content are what consumers like least about notifications. Somewhat less surprisingly, relevant content and useful information is what they like the most. 

The more that your audiences can control their preferences, the more they will engage with your content. Audience interests vary, whether it’s sports, business, technology, the environment or politics. It’s fundamental to have a messaging strategy that tailors your messaging to audience member preferences. This includes giving them the ability to follow topics and events they are interested in, as well as the ability to choose how often and when they get notifications.

Don’t Miss a Single Ingredient 

To offer your customers the best experience for breaking news alerts, consider these questions:

1. Can I send notifications faster than my competitors?
2. Can I use multiple channels to reach my audience?
3. Can I give my audience preferences for their notifications? 

Make sure you’re using the best tools for messaging your app users. Request a demo or contact us and let us know how we can help you send notifications quickly and effectively. 

Be the First to aler your audience

We can help you send notifications quickly and reliably

Contact us today!

The post The 3 Key Ingredients For Breaking News Alerts appeared first on Airship.

With Airship, AccuWeather Delivers Critical Alerts Quickly & Reliably

AccuWeather is the leading provider of vital weather forecasts to millions of global users every day. These alerts save lives, protect property, and ensure that its users are informed and prepared. But keeping millions of users informed requires massive amounts of segmentation and automation, which can slow down the delivery of time-critical details. Discover how AccuWeather uses Airship Boost to help their customers make critical decisions in record time (Read the story here). 

Seamless Day-of-Travel Experiences, Courtesy of Alaska Airlines and Airship

Alaska Airlines prides itself on creating seamless day-of-travel experiences for its more than 47 million annual passengers. As an early adopter of branded apps, Alaska has long been at the forefront of using new technologies to improve operations and deliver better experiences. Now, thanks to its partnership with Airship, the Alaska Airlines app is more efficient and helpful than ever. Learn more about these day-saving tools and the 68% of users who benefit from them (Read the story here). 

On-the-Road User Retention with GasBuddy and Airship

Over 80 million drivers use the GasBuddy mobile app to locate the best-priced stations with the amenities they need. The Boston-based startup keeps GasBuddies coming back to the app by continuously investing in new features and programs, but these don’t add much value without rapid adoption. Enter Airship: We helped GasBuddy boost traffic and increase retention by 60%  To find out how, read the story here. 

OPB Showcases Its Storytelling With Airship Mobile & Web Notifications

Public media relies on its listeners, viewers and readers to ensure its vital public service continues. OPB — which relies on contributions from its 150,000+ members for two-thirds of its operating budget — is fiercely dedicated to building and maintaining quality relationships with these members. Partnering with Airship, OPB has fostered a 78% long-term user retention rate, creating unrivaled audience loyalty. Here’s how. 

Chicago Tribune Creates Loyal Readers With Airship’s Customer Engagement Platform

As newspapers struggle with flagging subscription and home-delivery rates, the Chicago Tribune is getting proactive with its engagement. Serving over 820,000 daily readers, the Tribune is meeting its customers where they are through a mobile app that gives readers a simple and customizable way to follow their favorite topics and receive exclusive, premium storytelling. Powered by Airship, this customer engagement platform drove a 62% decrease in app uninstalls, and that’s just the beginning. Learn more by reading the story here. 

Let’s See What Airship Can Do For You

Customer engagement transcends industries, and we’re proud of the range and scope of our success stories. These are just our most recent — to read more about what Airship can do for your business, and see who else we’ve helped, visit our customers page.

We create deeper relationships with customers on any channel, at every lifecycle stage.

Learn more

The post Customer Engagement Saves Time and Money in New Airship Case Studies appeared first on Airship.

One could argue that technology has disrupted newspaper and magazine publishing more than any other business sector. Last year was the worst year for media layoffs since 2009, and this year we’ve already seen notable outlets like New York magazine and The Dallas Morning News let go dozens of employees due to financial troubles. And in recent years, legacy publishers (Weekly Standard, Interview magazine, Boston Herald, and others) have been dropping like flies.

At the same time, new media publishers of varying sizes like The Athletic, Stratechery, and Crooked Media have built highly targeted and engaged audiences by developing differentiated content for their specific interests. They’ve incorporated customer feedbackto inform both what topics to cover and introduce new content like podcasts, events and niche newsletters. They have prioritized the customer relationship, which has enabled new business models, new publishing formats, and a focus that traditional media can’t match.

Not all news publishers have been thinking as strategically for the long term. For instance, here’s a memorably questionable alert from last year: “CNN Breaking News: Beyonce pregnant with twins.” While there’s nothing more heartwarming than pregnancies or babies, that development is probably closer to being clickbait than crucial, breaking news for most people. When following politically-charged news events late last year like the Supreme Court hearings, each mobile notification, text message, and email I received seemed more about producing a click than helping me understand what really was going on. And there were dozens of them.

All of these things got me thinking about the broken news business and how too many publishers — concerned with ad revenues — have been scared into desperate tactics thanks to a 40 percent traffic drop after Facebook’s algorithm changes. It also made me focus on how emerging practices could serve as a handful of tips for struggling publishers.

Tip #1: Lean Into Memberships

To drive better revenues, it’s clear newspapers and magazines are increasingly moving to a paid membership model where viewers are offered a limited amount of free content before being asked to fork over cash for more stories, rich media and access. Everyone from The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to Wired and Business Insider has adopted this philosophy. To sweeten the deals, they are typically offered tailored newsletters, thought-provoking podcasts, right-of-first-refusal for events tickets and direct relationships with the reporters and editors. It’s all about adding a layer of exclusivity, or what credit card brand Amex has hyped in its ads for decades.

This aspirational mindset means that viewers’ expectations are going up — especially after two decades of mostly free digital content. So, it’s important for publishers to engender trust among viewers to make the experience worth their time and money.

Tip #2: Create a “Quality Guarantee”

If publishers are going to “Amexify” their brands into something that feels members-only, they need to set expectations for high-quality content internally and externally. In terms of the latter, they should create a pithy, public-facing mission statement that speaks to the effect of a classic “quality guaranteed” symbol. This message should appear next to gated and ungated content, driving home the value of the membership and the strength of the coverage.

This guarantee can be backed by other mandates for coverage that society desperately needs. For instance, people often complain about biased reporting and society is suffering from thought bubbles. Our citizenry would devour a publication with a new format that clearly separated opinion from the news and concisely covered varying viewpoints. I’d gladly pay for that type of ongoing coverage — especially since one cannot regularly find it.

Tip #3: Offer Direct Relationships

Now imagine getting notifications from the reporters who are breaking news about Beltway bribery. The Wall Street Journal seems to have that kind of idea in mind. Via the My WSJ tab of the newspaper’s app for the last several months, users have been able to follow individual Journal writers to receive mobile notifications when they publish new stories. The New York Times recently starting offering the same access.

The potential for getting alerts from beat reporters seems obvious for various content sections — especially sports media who serve rabid fans. Take The Athletic, a startup that’s spent big on hiring writers in local markets but has yet to adopt this tactic. It seems foolish for it to not allow customers to have a direct connection to their favorite writers. Call it one-to-one journalism, where publishers — with the personal brands of reporters to leverage — can position their public-facing media in a way marketers in other sectors cannot.

Tip #4: Deliver Content the Right Way

While a few publisher examples are inspiring, more media outlets need to modernize their game for the 21st Century. The membership model is obviously central to the future of digital news, and there’s going to be winners who go for it while others fall by the wayside.

It’s worth noting that people who cannot afford to pay or don’t want to will read alternative outlets and could be susceptible to fake news, which is the heralding of digital misinformation as verified fact. Thusly, the country may become even more divided about politics, and it’s likely that trust will become an even more important issue.

Too often, I’ve seen media outlets serve up clickbait to drive ad impressions while wasting opportunities to build credibility with their news alerts. Do the opposite by delivering quality content like The Athletics and Stratechcherys of the world. If you’re a publisher, you’d be wise to become a member of that club.

Airship can help media companies build strong customer relationships and engagement. Find out more.

The post 4 Tips for Improving Digital Media’s Customer Experience appeared first on Airship.

Putting movie tickets into mobile wallets is a no-brainer. 67% of Millennials have used a mobile wallet and 52% of all customers want to use mobile wallet for tickets. Those numbers are only expected to rise as more brands look to mobile wallets for payments, coupons, boarding passes, and event tickets like movie passes.

The combination of Google Pay’s new ticket support and the Urban Airship platform offer easy creation and distribution of movie tickets. Through this power combo, Vue is able to create and distribute personalized mobile wallet movie tickets across websites, apps and email, allowing more customers to experience the frictionless convenience that mobile wallet offers. With Vue movie tickets on Google Pay:

• CX is better for receiving tickets: Moviegoers can receive the movie tickets with or without the Vue app, tapping a link to automatically receive a personalized Google Pay or Apple Wallet ticket

• CX is better for using tickets: With the tickets available right in their mobile wallet, customers can just go straight to the ticket taker, show them their phones, and head in. There’s no searching for an email, taking screenshots or even printing out the ticket.

• CX is better for messaging: Through the digital tickets, customers can receive personalized offers like a VIP seat upgrade or special promotions to enhance their experience. 

Ready to catch the latest blockbuster or expand your movie repertoire with this year’s Oscar contenders? Now you can use your mobile pass, walk right in to get to your popcorn and the big show quicker. Let us show you how to create amazing customer experience with mobile wallet tickets for your brand!

Get on board with mobile wallet and Google Pay. Try out a demo with us today!

The post Vue Entertainment & Urban Airship Streamline Customer Experiences with Google Pay Movie Tickets appeared first on Airship.

Mobile and media thought leaders from GameStop, SXSW, TGI Fridays, and Bottle Rocket took the stage at our Dallas Digital Engagement Forum. Here are a few of the insights they shared:

Use Smart Engagement Strategies to Create Great Customer Experiences

“Customer experience is everything,” said Michael Brown, Director of Innovation and Emergent Technologies for SXSW. They’re always looking for ways to use tech to make experiences at the event better — more frictionless, more engaging and more modern. Brown shared a few examples of successful customer-first initiatives:

• Replacing wristbands with mobile wallet passes: customers loved them, and production costs were slashed.

• Implementing location-aware notifications that makes messaging more personalized —  including using beacons to trigger location-specific experiences.

• Piloting the use of a machine learning-powered recommendation engine to help give event attendees a more personalized experience (including discovering events they might not otherwise have uncovered) based on their preferences, which events they’ve been too (gathering data via RFID scans) — and even third-party data like their Spotify favorites and playlists.

To get CX right, Brown encouraged digital marketers to have an experimentation mindset, and to be dedicated to creating ways to get customer feedback — and really pay attention to it.

Mark McKinney, SVP Corporate Strategy at Bottle Rocket echoed this sentiment, “The bar for what customers consider a good experience is going up every day.” He also made the point that customers increasingly equate trust with digital savvy. And the bottom line business costs are growing, too. McKinney said 57% of consumers in a recent study said they’ve stopped buying from a brand and went to a competing brand for a better experience — and 62% of consumers say they’ll tell other people about a bad experience they’ve had.

McKinney also noted the importance of recognizing that brands are no longer competing with their immediate competitors — they’re competing with brands who are creating frictionless, intuitive, highly personalized digital experiences. All the more need to get it right.

Use Data to Be There in the Moments That Matter

GameStop and TGI Fridays talked about ways their brands are using data to better serve customers — by predicting the moments that will matter most, and being there in those moments.

For GameStop, it’s about taking the data they have about their customers — especially their loyalty customers — and picking up and analyzing the “breadcrumb trail” they’re leaving to anticipate what they may want and when they will want it, said Sonia Williford-Gill, Senior Manager, Integrated Communications. Part of the solution is stitching together information from multiple business systems, including Salesforce, display ads and more to really see where customers are in their journey. They’re also looking for ways to make smarter recommendations and understanding customer intent.

At TGI Fridays they refer to these “moments that matter” as “occasions,” said James Washington, Director of Digital. They are listening to the data for signals of what occasions are important to customers — whether it’s an upcoming birthday celebration, pre-movie drinks or needing a quick option for takeout dinner. They want to be there in those moments with messaging that feels like a complimentary service, “not just another brand shouting at you,” said Washington.

Make (the Right) Data Accessible to the Right People

There is a ton of data available, said Washington, the key is making it meaningful, “shining a bright light on the things that are most important.” Staying focused on data points like what areas of the app and website customers have visited and how they engage with notifications are all important. Also important is stitching together what customers have done online versus what they’ve done in stores is a big challenge and a big focus. Connecting those dots — and working to make quicker decisions, and scale them, Washington says, is critical both for serving customers better and meeting TGI Fridays goals.

Look For Smarter Ways to Use Different Engagement Channels

TGI Fridays decided to launch on Alexa last year, and the results were interesting. While they loaded their entire menu into Alexa, their main focus was on promoting ribs — a great product for to-go orders. What did they learn? “Not all channels are created equal,” said Washington. While customers browsing the menu on their phones or on a desktop might want a lot of detail, on Alexa, the team found, customers just wanted to say something very quickly and get in and out of there. They made ordering ribs as easy as saying “I love ribs,” which helped. Another major boost to conversions happened when TGI Fridays implemented Amazon Pay with Alexa, which meant customers didn’t have to go through the multiple steps of connecting their credit card with their account. 

The GameStop team has also taken a deeper dive on how best to engage with customers on different channels, making sure messages on different channels are complementary, not repetitive, and are building out a journey and a story. For example, said Williford-Gill, if an in-store event is coming up for loyalty members on a Saturday, they’ll first send an email about a week before that gives event details and a sneak peek of the deals. Then on Friday, they’ll send a push notification reminding customers that the event is tomorrow, and on Saturday morning, they’ll send an SMS text with a very quick alert that the event is starting or just underway. This approach is driving bretter engagement and results. It’s important to understand how customers are using different channels, and match your messaging to that use, said Williford-Gill.  

Look For New Ways to Get More From Your App

TGI Fridays app is their highest growing channel and their main form of communication with customers. To capitalize on that, TGI Fridays uses the app data they get from Urban Airship to identify what the traits and behaviors of their highest value customers are, then applying that information in paid media channels to be more out of those buys.

For GameStop, it’s adding more and more reasons to use the app so that it has a compelling value prop — for both customers and employees. For example, they’ve added in an app feature that allows customers to estimate the value of a game trade-in, and then lock in that pricing offer for 24-hours. Loyalty program members also get a ton of benefit from the app, including being able to access coupons straight from the app. Selling the app to front-line employees, Williford-Gill added, is a critical step in getting even more adoption and engagement from customers.  

Don’t miss out on our upcoming Digital Engagement Forums, coming to cities near you! See the cities and register to attend here!

The post Insights From Marketing Pros at GameStop, SXSW, TGI Fridays & Bottle Rocket From Our Dallas Digital Engagement Forum appeared first on Airship.

According to Forrester, only 8% of the marketers using push notifications are using rich push notifications today. But the opportunity for driving better engagement with rich push is massive. In fact, our data shows that rich push notifications can increase direct open rates by up to 56%.

In the webinar, Jeff and I shared the stats, best practices, use cases and real-life examples of brands using rich push to drive better outcomes. .

Read on to see highlights from brands who are maximizing the benefit of rich push, and get the webinar recording to get the scoop on everything you need to get started with rich push notifications.

Rich Push Notifications Drive 18% Improvement for NCAA March Madness

March Madness is one of the largest digitally consumed events in the world, so keeping users in the loop and keeping them engaged is paramount.

In the past, NCAA used push notifications to drive more app views of video and other content. In 2017, they introduced rich push notifications into their app to bring fans closer to the action — sharing clips of buzzer beater moments or alerting users to close games.

Rich notifications outperformed standard, text only pushes by nearly 18%, illustrating fans’ appreciation for visual content alongside typical push notification content.

Rich Push Drives More App Opens for USA Today

Media companies are also prime candidates to take advantage of rich push notifications. Many media companies have above average opt-in rates, but below average direct notification open rates. Rich push notifications are a great way to draw users in with the power of picture or video and interactive buttons allow them to save a story to read later, share or learn more.

USA Today reaches nearly 80 million unique visitors each month across digital platforms. Their goal is to provide a more engaging notification experience and drive more users to open its app. USA Today has embraced rich push notifications, with 95% of their push notifications now including rich media. This has led to a 18% increase in the number of app opens per month attributed to notifications.

25% Increase in Direct Open Rates for Ecommerce Brand Dinda

Retailers can showcase the latest clothing, shoes or other products with rich notifications and even include CTA buttons to shop now or see more.

Brazillian ecommerce retailer, Dinda saw a prime opportunity to engage users with rich notifications, as mobile is one of the source of the majority of its their traffic. Together, paired with segmentation and A/B testing, rich notifications have led to a 25% increase in direct open rates and an even higher influenced open rate. (Learn more about their strategy in this deeper-dive case study.)

Best Practices for Rich Notifications

Check our our blog post on mobile marketers’ rich notifications FAQs to get all the technical details you’ll need about file types, sizes, CDNs and more to make rich push notifications successful in your program.

And remember, best practices for rich notifications are the same as for any push notifications: make sure the messaging is a win/win for your contact and your brand. And ask yourself:

• Identify the goal: what do you want users to do?

• Is this message timely & relevant?

• How targeted can I make this message?

• Would interactive buttons help me learn more about my contacts and capture insights?

• Would rich media add immediacy, utility, excitement or other value?

More often than not, the answer for the last question will be yes!

Rich Notification Information and Inspiration

To learn more about the ins and outs of rich notifications, check out our webinar with POSSIBLE Mobile’s Jeff Hasen. And if you’re looking for more ideas on how you can use this channel, check out our Rich Notifications Inspiration Guide, or contact us.

The post How Top Brands Are Using Rich Notifications to Drive Results appeared first on Airship.

The New Zealand Herald (NZ Herald) is the largest newspaper in New Zealand, delivering quality journalism to audiences through print, mobile, and web.

NZ Herald has been using app push notifications to better connect with audiences by alerting them to breaking news for some time. With that channel working well, they wanted to expand their notification strategy to see how their audience would respond to notifications sent via web.  

>> New to web push notifications? Here are answers to the top 10 questions we hear about them from digital marketers. 

Setting A Cohesive Strategy & KPIs

With the overall goal of increasing audience engagement on the website, the team set a target of achieving a 2% clickthrough rate, and a 5% opt-in rate using Urban Airship’s web notifications.

To get there, they decided not to replicate their app push notification strategy — which is primarily about alerting users to breaking news — but to take a complimentary approach.

“For web push content, we’re focusing on stories that are more in-depth from our investigative team,” says Tracey Bond, Senior Product Manager – News, NZME. “It’s helping to remind our audience that we have more to offer than just breaking and spot news — and it’s getting this valuable content in front of more people.”

>> Wondering how web notifications might fit into your marketing mix? Consider these 3 use cases.

This approach is also a way to make sure audiences aren’t getting the same notifications on web and on mobile devices, as well as getting more value from longer feature pieces that require more time and effort to produce.

“By sending web notifications that promote our feature-length pieces, we’re seeing a lot of strong response to content we invest a lot in — like investigative journalism, human interest stories and science content.”

So far, click through rates on web notifications are more than double initial expectations. The audience size is also growing at a rate that puts them well along on the path to hitting their 5% opt-in rate goal, with more website visitors opting in every day.

Implementing Web Push Notifications

The NZ Herald team — including a digital designer, developer and product manager — were able to get web push notifications up and running in just a few weeks. From implementing a secure bridge to designing and deploying a custom opt-in prompt, the implementation was simple and straightforward.

>> Does your site run on WordPress or Drupal? Our integration with these top platforms mean it’s even faster and easier to get started with Urban Airship web notifications. Learn more.

Getting the Opt-In

Making it as easy as possible to opt-in to web notifications is a critical part of maximizing the value of this channel.

In a basic opt-in approach, brands can show the browser’s standard system prompt with no custom interface at all. NZ Herald decided their audience might respond better to a branded, custom prompt.

The prompt the team designed is a great fit with the overall look and feel of their site, effectively explains the value of opting in to web alerts at-a-glance, and makes it very easy to see how to opt in. The prompt is displayed as soon as a new visitor — or a visitor who has not yet opted in to web push — arrives on the site.

On a desktop, visitors who have not already opted in to receive web push notifications see the opt-in prompt in the upper left corner of their desktop.

On a mobile phone or tablet, visitors who have not already opted in to receive web push notifications see the opt-in prompt at the bottom of their screen.

Once a visitor has opted in, a “thank you” page lets them know their opt in was successful, and the window automatically closes after a few seconds before dropping the user back on the NZ Herald homepage.

NZ Herald created a better user experience by removing clicks post-opt-in, instead taking visitors back to the page they were on when they opted in. 

As their high opt-in rate indicates, this approach is really working. The team continues to fine-tune the opt-in process — applying session cookies that will give them the opportunity to re-prompt visitors who said they weren’t interested initially, for example, to improve user experience.

Writing & Scheduling Web Push Notifications

“I’m working on a lot of different projects,” says Bond, “so it’s important that scheduling web notifications in the Urban Airship platform is easy — and it is.” The Web Notify interface is built for marketers, and makes it simple to schedule web notifications days — even weeks — in advance.  

Bond and her team are also watching web notification metrics carefully to see what’s working best.

“We’re getting a lot of interesting learnings on the best send times, the best frequency and the best stories to feature,” says Bond. “Right now, we’re sending three web notifications a day at times we know people have a bit more bandwidth to sit down and read longer pieces. We’ll keep experimenting and iterating to find what works best.”

Web Notifications Next Steps

Right now, the team is establishing a strong baseline for how well web notifications meet their goals — and so far, they’ve exceeded expectations.

As they continue to iterate, Bond and her collaborators will consider incorporating more kinds of stories into web push and trying some segmentation.

“As we’re seeing a great response to web notifications, more and more departments want to use them,” says Bond. “By showcasing the content our talented staff is creating, we’re creating a win/win experience for us and for our audience. We’re looking forward to continuing to evolve our web notifications strategy — and growing the bottom line benefits of this channel.”

About The New Zealand Herald & NZME

The New Zealand Herald (part of NZME Publishing Group.) is the country’s leading daily newspaper with an award-winning website, mobile site and apps. For over 150 years, The New Zealand Herald has connected Kiwis to the nation, the world, and to what matters to them and has a total brand audience of over 2.2 million. [1] NZME is a leading New Zealand media and entertainment business that reaches 3.3 million kiwis [2]. Whether reading, listening, watching, our audience gets the content they want – where and when they want it. NZME offers advertisers a unique opportunity to access its growing audience via a fully integrated multi-platform presence. NZME is listed on the NZX Main Board (code NZM) with a foreign exempt listing on the ASX (code NZM).

[1] Nielsen CMI Fused Q416 – Q317 October 2017 *AP15+, [2] Nielsen CMI, September 2017 fused database: Q4 16 – Q3 17 (population 10 years +). Based on unduplicated weekly reach of NZME newspapers, radio stations, and monthly domestic unique audience of NZME’s digital channels.

Download our Web Notifications Inspiration Guide today to:
– See use cases you can adopt and implement
– Build smarter, more engaging campaigns
– Spark your thinking about web notification possibilities

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The post Web Push Notifications Help Grow NZ Herald’s Audience Engagement appeared first on Airship.

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Future Proofing Your App

“To future proof your app, two things are critical for you and your team: a clear understanding of your app’s business goals, and a roadmap. Taking the roadmap and dividing it into what your release schedule is going to be is another fantastic step towards future proofing. Knowing what your schedule is going to be means you can make plans further out in advance — and be able to more easily adapt as things change.” – Bradford Dillon, Senior Technical Architect, POSSIBLE Mobile

“Before we finalize our roadmap, we wait to see what Apple and Google are doing to announce. At least some of the time, it affects what we deliver.” – Patrick Evans, Senior Product Manager, NCAAA Digital for Turner Sports

“I’m always looking at what other companies are doing in terms of different features and customer experience. Like hey, that was a really great login experience, or that was great video programming or personalization effort. It’s looking outside of the median lines of my business to see what else is happening. Where are those cool innovators that are doing amazing things, and what can we learn?” – Leslie Wilkinson, Senior Product Manager, Cox Media Group

Leveraging Video & Live Streaming

“We have ten TV markets around the country, so when it comes to what stakeholders want, it can be a bit mixed. Video is a common denominator because users watching more newscasts and playing more videos drives the revenue. Live stream is also a big business. It's expensive, but in those moments when news happens, users expect you to be there with a live stream. Making sure people have a positive video experience on any device — and finding ways to make it easy for users to watch video content when, how and where they want it — is mission critical for us.” – Leslie Wilkinson, Senior Product Manager, Cox Media Group

Using Location Services

“We’ve done a lot of work with location — nearly every one of our projects has some form of location services in it. One of the keys to creating a great experience for users with location is getting the opt-in; that can be a big challenge. With location opt-in, it can be better to wait until they try to use the feature that requires location to ask. At that point, they obviously have showed that they’re interested in whatever the feature is.” – Bradford Dillon, Senior Technical Architect, POSSIBLE Mobile

“Location is definitely something our users want. For example, our users want to know the weather in their part of town. So we’re going to continually customize what the forecast looks like. Users also want to know about what’s happening in their particular part of town. We know that when users set up those preferences, they’re going to have more affinity to our brand and our app, and they’ll be more likely to use it regularly.” – Leslie Wilkinson, Senior Product Manager, Cox Media Group

Engaging & Re-Engaging Users

“Brands often do onboarding for the initial app open, but you want to make sure when you’re updating the app and introducing new features that you also share what’s new. You might have the best app, but if you don’t point out features that might catch someone’s eye, you tend to lose those folks that might become a power user or a champion. Maybe someone hasn’t been in your app in the last 30 days. Target them via segmented messaging and show them what they’re missing.” – Andy Pikul, Technical Account Manager, Urban Airship

“There’s nothing quite like a traffic disaster or major hurricanes or tornado. During these moments, people are going to show up and tune in. They’re going to consume everything we can give them. Once we have those users, we know they’re going to keep coming back and that they’re more likely to consume content in the future.” – Leslie Wilkinson, Senior Product Manager, Cox Media Group

Personalization & the Roles of Data, Preferences & Channels

“When users tell you they want to see things like weather alerts or sports scores, they want to see that information as soon as it’s available. Being able to take that data in and handle it quickly and get it to the user as fast as possible — based on their preferences, and including video in the push notification or links to video content — is really important.” – Bradford Dillon, Senior Technical Architect, POSSIBLE Mobile

“In terms of content, you can start from the baseline of giving everyone the same thing. But then there are not only personalizations for user preferences, but also what your content should look like in each individual channel — phone, tablet, watch, etc. The space keeps expanding, and the number of additional things you have to keep an eye on keeps growing. It doesn't seem to be slowing down, either. We want to make sure we’re putting the right experiences in the right environments — and that will look slightly different on each channel.” – Leslie Wilkinson, Senior Product Manager, Cox Media Group

“The folks that I see really doing well are the ones who collect good data — not necessarily more data. You don’t want a lot of white noise that obscures the information you really need. And what you need is to understand — down to a personal level — what your users want, so you can experiment and iterate to deliver it. For example, with push notifications, as you gather more analytics and have more user information about how receptive they may be in terms of content types and frequency, you can experiment and see what users respond to. That gives you valuable intel for your next experiments.” – Andy Pikul, Technical Account Manager, Urban Airship

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