Marketing messages have one primary goal: to grab the recipient's attention and encourage them to take specific actions. They can take many forms. But the question is, which one is best? Today, we're taking a closer look at two types of messages: PUSH notifications and newsletters. How do they differ? Which solution is more cost-effective? Which should you choose? Learn more.
Permission Marketing – What is it?
Both newsletters and push notifications are forms of permission-based marketing. What is it? You know those requests for permission to send notifications that appear on various websites? Until you confirm that you want to receive information, the website cannot send it to you. It's similar with newsletters – to receive them, you must provide your email address and confirm that you are interested in receiving messages from a given brand.
This "opt-in" factor ensures the sender is reaching initially interested recipients . They may be at different stages of the marketing funnel, but reaching out to each of them is valuable and may sooner or later yield results.
There's another important psychological advantage. Since the recipient has consented to receiving the message, they've taken some action. Therefore, they're somewhat involved in the communication process. This "foot in the door" also increases the likelihood that the established relationship will result in a purchase.
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However, it's important to remember that permission marketing also brings challenges: above all, it requires building a database of people who have voluntarily decided to subscribe to news. Nevertheless, the results are worth the effort, and skillfully planned and targeted campaigns yield good results. Therefore, it's definitely worth pursuing this path.
Newsletter and PUSH notifications: how do they work?
Before we answer the question about the advantages of individual permission marketing tools, it is worth taking a closer look at what exactly each form of communication looks like.
PUSH notifications
PUSH notifications are short messages that appear on the user's device screen with their prior consent. They can be generated by applications installed on the phone, among others, but the most important ones are SMS and web PUSH messages, meaning those displayed through web browsers.
These notifications:
- are small in size – they contain literally 1-2 sentences of text and small graphics,
- they are displayed automatically at the time chosen by the advertiser,
- are enriched with a CTA element, which usually refers to a website with more information.
Newsletter
A newsletter is a form of communication via email. It involves regularly sending new messages to an interested group – whether it's information about new products and current promotions in the store, or interesting posts on the company blog.
Newsletter:
- it can take various graphic and text forms – it can be very simple and minimalistic, or it can contain a long message,
- also most often contains a CTA directing to a website.
What are the similarities between these tools?
Apart from the similarity discussed earlier, namely that in both cases the messages are sent after receiving consent from the recipient, other similarities can also be identified.
Both forms of communication:
- can be used at any stage of the marketing funnel – aimed at building brand visibility as well as arousing interest in products or the desire to buy immediately,
- they must be attractive to the recipient so that he or she wants to interact,
- can be used in conjunction with marketing automation tools, which in turn streamlines the entire communication process and reduces service costs in this area.
The cost of sending both types of messages may be similar, especially when calculating the cost per click.
Newsletter vs. PUSH notifications: the most important differences
Despite significant similarities between these forms of communication, there are also many differences. Here are the most important ones.
- Time needed to plan a campaign
PUSH notifications work a bit like Google ads – they contain minimal content but a very dense CTA. Since they're displayed through the browser, there's no need to design a graphical layout or perform other tedious preparations. All you need to get started is catchy, short text that encourages action and a small graphic.
A newsletter may require a much broader strategy, with consideration given to layout, content, communication patterns, and much more. Preparing an email campaign can therefore be more time-consuming.
- Shipping time
Even automated email delivery to a large subscriber base can take a long time, sometimes up to several hours. Such delays can result in emails arriving late and being ignored. PUSH notifications are displayed in real time.
- Ease of delivery to the recipient
Browser push messages are not blocked by AdBlock software or other systems. The only limitation is whether the user has their browser open when the message is sent.
In the case of newsletters, it's not always so rosy – overly sensitive spam filters can intercept such an email. It can also get stuck in the less-visited "offers" tab or remain invisible among dozens of other emails.
- The speed of growth of the customer base
With PUSH notifications, two clicks are all it takes to receive messages. Furthermore, the recipient doesn't need to provide any personal information or register. Signing up for the newsletter requires at least an email address and confirming their willingness to receive messages by clicking the activation link provided.
These features translate into increased effectiveness in acquiring new subscribers. As you might guess, PUSH notification subscribers are growing much faster than newsletter subscribers.
- Probability of reading/conversion
PUSH messages typically require an immediate response and quick action. This can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, a user might dismiss them without even looking if bombarded with too many such messages. On the other, they might instinctively click, for example, if they learn that a flash sale at a store ends in 30 minutes.
Emails are most often viewed a few times a day, but if a recipient does decide to look at a newsletter message, they usually examine it more closely than a quick notification.
Does this mean you should replace newsletters with push messages? Not necessarily. A newsletter is a key element of any good inbound marketing strategy, and its effects can have long-term impact. Web-PUSH has a more short-term impact. These tools aren't mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they can complement each other.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
Explains what push notifications are and how they work as a tool to quickly reach users without having to obtain an email address.
Discusses the benefits of using push notifications, showing that they are an effective, fast and engaging alternative or complement to traditional newsletters.
