Try these top 10 push notification best practices

We’ve all heard the phrase: there’s an app for that. And while modern mobile apps offer a lot of convenience, they also come with a unique challenge: download fatigue. 

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Shoppers usually don’t want to install a new app for every store, no matter how much they love the brand. We only have so much storage on our phones (and most of that’s reserved for pet pictures, anyway).

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Now imagine there’s a way to get audiences to engage with your mobile app and retarget every ad click without requiring downloads. 

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Sounds too good to be true? Well, unlike a limitless ice cream machine—it’s real.

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Your secret weapon for re-targeting: Reactiv Clips

Reactiv Clips are lightweight versions of mobile apps that allow users to access a specific part of the app's functionality—no download required. It’s a better landing page experience than a your desktop website fitted for mobile.

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Once a shopper engages with the clip, it allows you to send unlimited iOS notifications over 8 hours to anyone who clicks from your ad, email, or SMS. 

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Don’t just take our word for it, either: 60%+ of Reactiv Clips get opened. 

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(You too can become a “pusher”—of push notifications, that is.)

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Use these top 10 tips to turn yourself into a certified “pusher” (the good kind!) and help avoid user notification fatigue, personalize every nudge, and turn mobile pings into conversions.

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1. Align push notifications to your ideal customer journey

Push notifications are an essential tool at every stage of the customer journey, from acquisition to win-back campaigns. 

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But did you know you can map push notifications to key moments in your customer journey?  Reactiv Clips allow you to create different types of push notification campaigns based on where the user is at. 

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Here are a few examples:

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• Brand awareness – Use campaigns linking to Reactiv Clips Collections that introduce your story and showcase core products.
• Sales and promotions – Boost sales with campaigns driving to Collections featuring sale-specific offers.
• New product launch – Put your newest products front and center with Clips that are impossible to ignore, linking to Clips Product Pages or Collections.
• Seasonal campaigns – Tailor Clips Collections for holidays or seasonal must-haves, driving up average order value (AOV) at key times.
• Upselling and cross-selling – Increase cart value with product recommendations on Clips Product Pages.
• Re-engagement – Win back shoppers with personalized emails, cart recovery Clips, and push notifications that link to Reactiv Clips Product Pages.

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First, segment your users, then send them the right notifications based on the stage they’re at. A powerful push notification marketing strategy helps you decide what to send, when, and to whom.

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Example: How Missouri Star Quilt Company mended a broken app experience and stitched together a new success story

After their previous app partnership unraveled overnight, Missouri Star Quilt Company (MSQC) was left with no support and hundreds of thousands of customers to answer to. They needed a new solution—and fast. That’s where the team at Reactiv stepped in. 

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With their help, MSQC built a community of 50,000 app users in just two weeks(!). Not to mention, 10% of their total revenue was generated from Reactiv alone. 

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They now use push notifications to share valuable content with engaged users, like alerts about new fabrics, digital patterns, or ebooks in their app's library. This ensures every message adds value at the right stage in the user journey.

2. Have one clear goal for each notification 

Words to live by: keep it simple. The average smartphone user in the U.S. receives at least 46 push notifications every day. That means you’re competing with 45 other messages to stand out. 

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Don’t ask your user to do too many things in a single notification. With notification fatigue, it’s best to keep it simple and hyper-targeted to optimize conversions. 

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Is your goal to re-engage? Drive a sale? Increase app downloads? Every push should support a measurable outcome.

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That’s why it’s best practice to make it clear what action you want users to take. Decide if you want users to:

• Browse a new product drop
• Sign up for your rewards program
• Shop your limited-time only sale 
• Complete their purchase

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The beauty of push notifications is that they grab your customer’s attention. But it’s what you do with that attention that really matters. So, make it count!

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3. Keep your CTAs short and sweet 

Here’s a CTA for you: Get to the point. Quickly. 

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Use clear, concise language with a strong call to action between 5-10 words (like we did above, see how easy it is?). Try to create a sense of urgency that drives your users to your store at that moment.

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Here are some examples:

• For an abandoned cart: “Looks like you left something behind 👀 Finish checking out now before it’s gone!”
• For a new product release: “Just dropped: our newest arrivals. Shop the drop before they sell out.”
• For personalized discounts or flash sales: “Your 10% off code is waiting! Grab your discount and complete your order today."

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4. Personalize notifications with event-based triggers 

The best way to stand out is through one-to-one remarketing tailored to each specific user. 

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For timely engagement, use real-time triggers and user behavior. This includes browsing history, cart abandonment, price drops, back-in-stock alerts, and individual shopper activity.

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The best part is that Reactiv Clips makes this easy. Users can interact with a specific feature or product without needing to download the entire app, and enable push notifications for up to 8 hours without the shopper having to “opt in.”

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The best push notifications are personalized based on event-triggered nudges, like these:

• Viewed a product? Send a reminder later with the product photo and a “Still thinking it over?” message.
• Abandoned checkout? Trigger a follow-up with a soft nudge like “Don’t forget what’s in your cart — it’s waiting for you!”
• Just purchased? Send tracking details or suggest downloading the app for faster order updates.
• Browsed a category but didn’t buy? Recommend bestsellers or trending items from that same category.
• Engaged mostly at night? Schedule notifications based on their active hours.

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Example: Med School Bro’s big-brained approach to targeting medical students

Med School Bro has a very unique customer journey. It sells study resources for medical students at different stages of their studies. This means it’s vital for them to keep a pulse on each customer's academic journey. 

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To get a better handle on their customer data, Med School bro worked with Reactiv and Lazer Technologies to build out unique features like daily and weekly quizzes, a loyalty program, personalized product recommendations, customer segments, and more. Then, they use this specific data to try to upsell customers.

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“A natural kind of upsell is if we have a cardiology question of the day and 20% of the people get it wrong, we can immediately send them a push notification or an offer in-app giving them 15% off our cardiology guide,” shared Brandon Portnoff, co-founder and CEO of Med School Bro.

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5. Use rich media to increase engagement 

Don’t just tell. Show. 

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Using rich media in your push notifications can increase open rates by 56%. 

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Adding pictures, emojis, GIFs, or videos to your push notifications stretches your word count a lot further.

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This is especially handy when you send a notification about a specific product. For a cart recovery notification, include a picture of the product the customer left behind for a visual reminder of what they’re missing out on. 

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6. Time notifications for when users are most active

Timing is everything. You’ll want to get in front of your users when they’re most likely to engage. 

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This varies based on your customer base, time zones, and preferences. A general rule is that most users ignore notifications during the day. 

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So, what’s the sweet spot? We found it’s between 9 PM and midnight. Good old nightly scrolling time. 

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During this window, we’re seeing conversion rates hit 6.8% for Reactiv Clips. This outperforms the 5.7% ecommerce industry average conversion rate for behaviour-based push notifications (source). 

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7. Don’t be too pushy with notification overload

Stop us if you’ve been here: you opt into notifications from a brand, and suddenly your phone’s buzzing nonstop. Ping. Ping. Ping. It quickly goes from helpful to a headache. 

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Before you know it, you’re digging through settings to make it stop. And just like that, a potential customer turns into an annoyed unsubscriber.

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It’s good to send regular notifications to stay top of mind. But how many messages is too many? 

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46% of users would say that between two to five notifications in a single week would drive them to opt out (source). 

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Optimize your push notification frequency with weekly thresholds to avoid overwhelming or frustrating users. 

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8. Ensure a seamless post-click notification

Getting someone to tap on your push notification is great, but it’s only half the battle. If users land on a slow, clunky, or misaligned experience, that click means nothing.

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Make it as easy as possible for users to follow through on the CTA with an effortless post-click notification. The landing page should align with the message, whether it’s a product, app page, or content. 

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Reactiv Clips help you overcome this barrier by bringing customers exactly where they need to be without downloading an app. 

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Let’s say your push notification reads: "Your exclusive 20% off ends tonight. Tap to apply it at checkout.”

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Instead of opening a generic mobile site or being asked to log in to their account, a Reactiv Clip takes the user straight to that exact sale page or Clip Collection featuring specific offers. 

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That seamless experience eliminates drop-off and drives results.

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40% of users will abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Considering 70% of all web traffic takes place on mobile, every second counts.

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9. A/B test push notification elements regularly

Don’t just pick one push notification strategy and stick with it forever. Refine it through ongoing testing.

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You can use Reactiv’s dynamic segmentation tools to create targeted groups for more precise testing. 

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For example, you can test elements like:

• Timing and frequency – Try testing morning vs. evening and playing around with notification frequency 
• CTA style – Compare different approaches like “Shop Now” vs. “Don’t Miss Out”
• Media formats – Experiment with text-only vs. image or GIF-based notifications 
• Tone and language – Casual and emoji-filled vs. clean and formal

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10. Track performance metrics and optimize as you go

Like any other marketing tactic, it’s important to track your push notification performance and optimize it over time. 

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Go beyond open rates and track metrics like clickthrough rate (CTR), conversions, opt-outs, and revenue impact. 

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Friction kills conversions, so make sure to identify post-click pain points and optimize your landing experiences. Use your data to inform things like: 

• Frequency caps 
• Message timing 
• CTAs

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Reactiv’s dashboard provides real-time data syndication capabilities. This helps you seamlessly integrate with third-party analytics platforms for timely performance tracking.

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Drive more growth with Reactiv Clips

Put these top 10 push notification tips into practice and watch your conversion rates soar through the roof. 

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Reactiv Clips can help take your strategy even further by eliminating post-click friction and turning your push notifications into high-converting, app-like mobile experiences—no downloads needed.

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Reactiv Clips offer:

• App-like experiences, without the app store friction
• Real-time retargeting, allowing you to re-engage users who didn’t convert the first time
• Fast-loading, dynamic pages that match your brand 
• Deep analytics and data integrations so you can track, test, and optimize performance

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(Reactiv Clips really is that girl.)

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Turn your next push into a powerful conversion opportunity. Get started now.

If email is the nice guy sitting in your inbox hoping you’ll reply, push notification marketing is the friend who shows up at your front door with snacks and a plan.

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This isn’t just another channel to blast promos through. Push notifications—done right—are your most direct, scalable, and high-converting line to customers. They show up in real time, live on the lock screen, and get clicks when it counts.

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Let’s break down how push notification marketing works and why it outperforms your other channels.

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What is push notification marketing?

Push notification marketing is direct communication where brands send timely messages to users’ devices via desktop, mobile, or in-app notifications—whether part of a broader push notification ad network or standalone campaigns tied to engagement.

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Common use cases of push notification marketing:

• Abandoned cart reminders
• Sale alerts
• Product launches
• Win-back campaigns
• Shipping and delivery notifications 

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Notably, push notifications are not the same as SMS messages. Push notifications:

• Require users to download a mobile or desktop app (unless you’re using Reactiv Clips—more on that later). 
• Give users control over what type of push notifications they can receive compared to a simple opt-out. 
• Are great for hyper-personalized messages that are specific to the user.
• Are short and typically less than 10 words. And with limited attention spans, sometimes it’s best to get straight to the point. 

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Push notification marketing is a type of remarketing that works well with users who are already familiar with your brand but may need a reminder. 

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What Makes Push Notification Marketing So Great?

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s look at why push notifications outperform other channels—and how they drive real business impact.

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Higher engagement rates than email 

It’s all in the name—push notifications literally push users to view your branded touchpoint. Compared to an email that can get lost in an inbox, push notifications stay present in the notification center until a user clicks on them or dismisses them. 

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The average open rate for push notifications is around 50%, while the average open rate for emails is around 20%, meaning push notifications give you a better chance of being noticed, opened, and read. 

And this gets even better with Reactiv, reaching 60%+ average open rates from push notifications and converting on average 3x higher.

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Direct access to high-intent users

Push notifications reach people who’ve already opted in or clicked on one of your ads, making them perfect for remarketing.

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They work especially well as part of a push notification traffic strategy, re-engaging people who didn’t convert the first time. Just because someone doesn’t convert the first time around, doesn’t mean they’re lost forever. 28% of users who click on a push notification end up making a purchase. 

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Need some retargeting inspiration? Check out this blog.

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You can make it personal and timely 

Push notification marketing is perfect for event-triggered messages based on specific user behavior. You’re not just sending a mass SMS blast to everyone on your subscriber list and hoping something sticks. 

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You’re getting specific based on actions like browsing history, cart activity, or previous purchases.   

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Less inbox competition

Whether you’re an inbox-zero type of person or you shamefully hide your email count, you probably receive an overwhelming amount of promotional emails every day. Survey shows that 63% of users receive at least 10 emails every day, and almost 50% said they only open a few of those. 

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With email marketing, you’re putting all your eggs in one basket and hoping that your subject line convinces users to open the full message. 

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Push notifications don’t get lost in clutter. They show up directly on the device’s screen in real time, which makes it a perfect strategy for flash sales and time-sensitive offers.

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Strategies to Maximize your Push Notification Ads

Push notifications work best when paired with strategy, segmentation, and smart landing experiences. Let’s walk through push notification best practices to make the most of them.

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1. Build a notification journey that mirrors the buyer’s journey

If you’re only sending push notifications to announce a new product, you’re missing out. Segment your audience based on their lifecycle stage and send personalized push notifications that nurture them every step of the way. 

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Here’s how you do it:

• Acquisition: Awareness campaigns tied to best-selling products or viral content.
• Engagement: Product education, social proof, or user-generated content.
• Conversion: Abandoned cart reminders, promo codes, and low stock alerts.
• Retention: Order updates, loyalty program nudges, and win-back notifications.

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Take Missouri Star Quilt Company, for example. They built a community of 50,000 app users in two weeks using Reactiv’s AI-powered mobile app platform.

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And with the goal of providing a smoother UX, the quilt company implemented personalized push notifications to share content like new patterns or digital fabric drops. 

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2. Use segmentation and behavioral, event-based triggers 

Have hopes to stand out? Make it personal. 

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Let’s say you’re an avid runner and you download an app for a sporting goods store. Are you more likely to open a notification prompting running vests or one guiding you to baseball equipment?

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The former option is relevant to your interests and needs, and it’s just simple segmentation that allows brands to tailor push notifications based on browsing history. 

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Here are ways to do it:

• Viewed a product? Send a follow-up with an image card of that product a few hours later.
• Abandoned a cart? Offer 10% off with a CTA to finish checkout within the next X hours. 
• Purchased before? Upsell with complementary product recommendations.

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Med School Bro did this in their push notifications strategy. The company sells study guides for medical students and runs daily trivia. Med School Bro then uses quiz data to identify knowledge gaps for specific app users. Using personalized and behavioral segmentation, they sent targeted push notifications offering study guides based on areas users struggled with in the quiz.

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3. Keep the message short and CTA clear

Your push notification ads should have a focused goal. Not only is having a really obvious CTA just good marketing sense, it’s proven to pay off. The average CTR for ecommerce push notifications jumps from 5.6% to 9.8% when there is a CTA button. 

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CTA examples:

• “Your cart’s waiting — checkout before midnight!”
• “Back in stock: your saved item.”
• “Flash sale ends soon — shop now! ”

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The best CTAs cut the fluff. You have to make every character count. And sometimes an emoji communicates more than your 10-word limit can. Using rich media in your push notifications can increase open rates by 56%.  

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4. Optimize timing based on user behavior

Reactiv insights show that users engage most with push notifications between 9 PM–midnight. Notifications sent during this window via Clips see 6.8% conversion rates, outperforming the industry average of 5.7%.

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How to know what your optimal push notifications send times are? A/B testing will highlight send times to match your specific customer behavior and preferences. 

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You can set a time delay for certain event-based triggers rather than targeting a specific time of day. For example, if a shopper adds something to their cart at 9 AM. Instead of waiting 12 hours, you can send an abandoned cart notification 2 hours later to stay top-of-mind. 

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5. Retarget seamlessly with Reactiv Clips

Reactiv Clips allow for unlimited real-time push notification retargeting for up to 8 hours post-click—without the shopper even having to opt in to receive push.

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Here are some actionable ways to use Reactiv Clips in your push notification strategy:

• Checkout pages: Send customers straight to checkout with relevant products and discounts in their cart for the quickest route to a sale.
• Product detail page (best sellers): New customers who may not know where to start—so show off your most popular products and let the 5-star ratings speak for themselves.
• Product bundle pages: This is a great way to drive cart value up. Show shoppers complementary products and works really well during popular gifting seasons. 
• Collection page, new arrivals: Perfect for dormant customers and brand advocates alike. Whenever you drop a new product, send push notifications to customers who have bought or browsed similar products in the past. 
• Collect page, sales: Who doesn’t love a good deal? One of the most compelling types of push notifications is one announcing a limited-time offer or discount. Direct shoppers directly to all your promotions in one place through a Collection Page. 

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We also have a full list of the best retargeting ad practices that focus on conversion. 

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Push further with Reactiv Clips

Push notification marketing is more than an extra channel to reach potential customers. It’s a tried-and-tested retargeting strategy to deliver real-time, personalized messages to high-intent users that actually convert. 

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With Reactiv Clips, you can deliver rich, app-like experiences without the app download friction. Explore Reactiv Clips more here.

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Don’t take this personally: if you’re still sending a blanket marketing campaign to everyone on your list, you’ve got some catching up to do.

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Customers today want to feel like you’re talking specifically to them. In fact, they demand it - 71% of shoppers expect personalization from brands today and 76% get frustrated when they don’t receive it. 

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While personalization can take many forms (emails, offers, even handwritten notes), one of the most overlooked—but most powerful—is the humble push notification. Especially when it's delivered at just the right moment.

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In this article we’ll explore how and why push notifications convert, the different types of push notifications and strategies for implementing them to start reducing your CAC today.

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Personalized push notifications work—they just get a bad rap

We’re all familiar with push notifications. But too many brands use them as generic alerts instead of what they really are: high-intent conversion opportunities.

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Push is a type of remarketing tactic where a notification appears as a pop-up message on a user’s mobile home screen, device notification centre, or desktop browser. But Personalized push notifications can act as gentle nudges to complete a purchase, re-engage with a product, or check in on an order. 

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And they work. In fact, the average user on Reactiv sees a 60% open rate on personalized pushes and a 5-7% conversion rate. Not to mention, they can receive up to 400% more engagement compared to untargeted campaigns.

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That’s because push notifications—when timed right and tailored to the customer—do something that email and SMS often don’t: they show up when your shopper is already on their phone, doomscrolling, without needing an opt-in or inbox competition.

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The 4 types of push notifications and when to use each

There’s more than one way to personalize. Here are the four most effective types of push notifications and how to use each to your advantage.

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1. Promotional pushes that spark urgency

We’ve all seen this one before - one of the most obvious use cases for push notifications is to create hype about upcoming promotions for existing customers. Whether it’s a new product launch or site-wide sale, remarketing can get your audience excited and encourage them to re-visit.

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It works because it’s simple. People love deals from brands they’re familiar with. 65% of ecommerce mobile app users said they would open push notifications that offer discounts or deals. 

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Promotional notifications are a great way to re-energize your audience and make them feel like they’re getting something exclusive.

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2. Behavioral nudges that reclaim lost sales

People love digital window shopping. As a result, there’s no ecommerce brand on the planet who isn’t familiar with cart and browse abandoners. It’s on the rise too… Online cart abandonment has skyrocketed to 70.19%.

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But that doesn’t mean you should give up on those sales. It’s a huge missed opportunity to just rule them out - they could be this close to finishing that purchase.

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We’ve talked about the importance of remarketing and retargeting cart abandoners before. And push notifications are particularly great at bringing these shoppers back: CTRs on push notifications are 37% higher than email for cart abandonment campaigns. 

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These reminders work best when they reference what the shopper was looking at (a product photo helps) and keep the message light, like “Still thinking it over?” or “Your cart’s still here 👀.”

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For a deeper dive on this, check out our blog on retargeting best practices.

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3. Transactional updates that build trust

Hot take: you’ll still want to target customers even after they complete their purchase. Why? 

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Post-purchase push notifications are where operational updates meet customer experience. Order confirmations, shipping progress, delivery ETAs—these all keep the customer looped in and reduce WISMO tickets.

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90% of customers want to actively track their packages - they actually prefer to receive constant updates on the progress of their package. 

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Knowledge is power!

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4. Lifecycle messages that build community

You’re likely noticing a trend here, but once a customer has used your app, placed an order, and received it, there’s still opportunity to drive revenue with push notifications. 

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That’s because the ultimate goal is bringing customers back to your store to make more purchases in the future.

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Personalized push notifications aimed at relationship and loyalty building is a powerful way to accomplish this. Depending on your store and customer preferences, this can take a few different forms:

• Loyalty program notifications - use these to remind customers that they have points to redeem for a reward. This is a great way to drive repeat purchases. 
• Birthday and milestone notifications - a great tool to let customers know you value their loyalty and make them feel good on their special day. 
• Relationship-building messages - these notifications can humanize your brand and build an emotional connection with your customers. Our friends at Top of the Mornin’ use these to build brand loyalty through fun, lighthearted (or light-roasted) messages like “have a great day!”. These help them stay top-of-mind and make their customers associate them with a positive serotonin boost. And maybe a craving for coffee.

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Personalized > generic. Every time.

Regardless of which type of push notification you want to test first, you need to make sure they’re personalized. 

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A random blast of generic messaging is akin to throwing darts with a blindfold on. Personalized push notifications lead to 59% more engagement compared to non-personalized ones, so take that blindfold off and get personal! 

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The best personalized push notifications are event-triggered nudges. This helps you create a flow to ensure you’re reaching out about the right thing at the right time. For example, if a customer:

• Viewed a product: send a reminder later with the product photo and a “Still thinking it over?” message
• Abandoned at checkout: trigger a follow-up with a soft nudge like “don’t forget what’s in your cart - it’s still waiting for you!”
• Just made a purchase: send their tracking details or suggest downloading your app for timely order updates
• Browsed a category but didn’t buy:  recommend bestsellers or trending items in their category of interest
• Engaged mostly at night: Schedule notifications based on their active hours

When is the best time to send push notifications?

When Shakespeare coined the phrase “timing is everything”, you’d swear he was talking about push notification marketing.

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Think about it - if you were driving to the office, would you open a push notification reminding you about a jacket you were browsing? Even once you’re (begrudgingly) settled at your desk, you’ve got a million other things on your mind. You can’t be thinking about jackets! Before you know it, you’re deep into your workday and that jacket notification goes unnoticed and unopened until it’s eventually swiped away. Gone too soon, little buddy.

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The fact is, most people ignore notifications during the day. But according to data across brands using Reactiv, between 9PM and midnight, when they’re relaxing and aimlessly scrolling? That’s when a nudge to revisit a product or complete a purchase actually works. 

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During that window, we’re seeing conversion rates hit 6.8% for Reactiv Clips.

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While this is a reliable rule of thumb, it may vary based on the behavior of your customers. For instance, if most of your customers visit your site between 7AM and 10AM, you might want to try sending push notifications in that window. 

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Testing different times or running A/B tests within your customer base is a surefire way to determine the best-converting time frame. 

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Designing the best push notification flow with Reactiv Clips

With all of this talk about push notifications, you might be thinking that the biggest hurdle of all is getting customers to download your app so you can send them. 

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Lucky for you, with Reactiv Clips customers don’t even need to download your app or opt-in to receive push notifications. 

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A Reactiv Clip is a lightweight version of a mobile app that allows users to access a specific part of the app’s functionality without having to download the full app. Once a shoppers engages, you have an 8-hour window to send push notifications without them even having to opt-in to receive them.

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Let’s take a look at a customer’s typical journey with Reactiv Clips:

• A customer sees an ad on social media
• They click through to the Reactiv Clip, which launches the product page
• They leave the page
• They’re retargeted with a smart push notification based on the product they viewed
• They click on the notification and are brought back to the app to complete their purchase
• They receive another personalized push notification confirming their order
• This all happens without the shopper having to actually download the full app. One interaction with a Reactiv Clip is enough to unlock the follow-up.

The bar for mobile engagement is a lot lower when you can meet people where they are, and when they’re ready. Reactiv Clips builds these connections to make that happen.