Did you know that 52% of Gen Z react positively to push notifications? Unlike email, which often gets lost in crowded inboxes, or SMS, which can be expensive, push notifications are fast, cost-effective, and deliver impressive engagement rates. They offer a direct line to your audience, helping you stay top-of-mind for your most loyal customers.

Whether you're promoting flash sales, sharing VIP updates, or sending friendly reminders, push notifications are a powerful tool for enhancing customer loyalty, increasing retention, and driving conversions.

What Are Push Notifications and Why Are They So Impactful?

Push notifications are short, real-time messages delivered directly to a user’s mobile device through your app. With engaging visuals like GIFs or images, they grab attention instantly and drive action. Here’s why they’re so effective:

• High Open Rates: Push notifications boast a 20% average open rate, compared to just 2% for email.
• Cost-Effective: Unlike SMS, push notifications are free to send.
• Owned Channel: Delivered directly through your app, they bypass crowded inboxes and unverified senders.
• Seamless UX: Notifications lead users directly into your app, reducing friction and boosting engagement.

Pro Tip: For optimal results, send push notifications 2-3 times a week to stay relevant without overwhelming your audience.

Leading eCommerce brands leverage push notifications as part of a customer retention flywheel—alongside email and SMS—to increase lifetime value (LTV), reduce churn, and indirectly lower customer acquisition costs (CPA). By keeping already-acquired customers engaged and loyal, push notifications transform app users into inherently VIP customers.

According to Julie Chalker, Director of Digital & eCommerce at BÉIS:

Push notifications go beyond just driving sales; they’re also a unique opportunity for brand-building and value-based messaging. Smart brands use them to maintain a strong presence in their community with simple, on-brand messages like “Happy Friday!” or an inspirational note. This keeps customers connected without feeling overwhelmed.

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Why Push Notifications Outshine Email and SMS

Push notifications consistently outperform email and SMS in engagement and ROI. Here’s why:

• Built-In Trust: Notifications come only from verified apps, unlike email, which is prone to spam.
• Instant Action: Perfect for time-sensitive promotions, they reach users in real time.
• Retention Boost: By engaging existing customers, push notifications reduce churn and enhance lifetime value.

Take BrüMate, for instance. The brand drives 10% to 20% of its monthly revenue from app-based push notifications. By using this channel, they effectively re-engage customers and reinvest ad budgets into acquisition.

Reckless, a leading digital marketing agency, found that across all industries like fashion, home decor, and travel, push notifications achieve a 20% average open rate, compared to just 2% for email.

The reason is clear: emails can come from any source—whether it’s a trusted brand or a spammy “prince” asking for help (please don’t click those). Push notifications, however, always come from verified mobile apps, which must pass Apple’s and Google’s rigorous approval processes. This added layer of trust ensures push notifications reach a more engaged audience.

Unlike email or SMS, push notifications integrate directly with mobile apps, providing an owned marketing channel for brands to engage users directly. This means that when a customer taps on a notification, they’re directed right to the app, minimizing friction to checkout. As a result, push notifications are a powerful tool for boosting customer retention, increasing lifetime value (LTV), and reducing churn—all while lowering acquisition costs by  maximizing the value of existing customers. 

Another key advantage of push notifications is speed. Push notifications are delivered instantly, ensuring time-sensitive promotions or alerts reach users when they matter most. While SMS offers similar immediacy, it comes with a hefty price tag—campaigns can cost upwards of $1,000 to reach 100,000 recipients.

Brands like Type One Style now have completely replaced their SMS channel with push notifications, citing their cost effectiveness and reach. By using push notifications, brands are not cost-capped when trying to reach their fans directly. 

Types of Push Notifications

Push notifications come in many forms, each offering a unique way to connect with your audience. Remember, your loyal customers have opted in to hear from you—so make sure your messages provide value, reflect your brand voice, and, dare we say, add a little fun! Because the push notification engagement channel feels the least spammy, it’s the best way to authentically connect with your community. 

To spice up your strategy, use push notifications to: 

• Promote Flash Sales
• Announce In-Store Events
• Introduce New Products
• Send On-Brand Messages
• Feature App Exclusives
• Promote Sales Channels
• Showcase Customer Reviews 
• Announce New Content

Transactional vs. Non-Transactional Push Notifications

Not all push notifications are created equally. The two major categories are Transactional and Non-Transactional. Each category has its own place and time to be used. From brand to brand, it will differ when and how often to send out these notifications.

Transactional Push Notifications

Transactional notifications are designed to drive immediate action, such as making a purchase, adding to an order, or renewing a subscription. In fact, 40% of shoppers have made a purchase directly from a push notification from a mobile app. 

These messages are highly effective for:

• Announcing app-exclusive sales or early access to collections.
• Promoting discounts, limited-time offers, or flash deals.
• Encouraging customers to act immediately, fostering a VIP experience for app users.

Pro Tip: Use Tapcart to create app-exclusive promotions that make your app customers feel special.

Examples:

• “🚨 Flash Sale: 20% off for the next 2 hours! Tap to shop.”
• “ Early Access: Our new collection just dropped—shop now🛍️!”
• “🌎Celebrate Earth Day With 20% off all items – in-app only!”

Non-Transactional Push Notifications

Beyond driving sales, brands can use Non-Transactional notifications to foster emotional connections and align with your customers’ values. Simple, thoughtful messages—like “Happy Friday!” or an inspiring quote—can resonate deeply and keep your brand top of mind.

‍As David Baker, Chief Digital Officer at Beekman 1802, shares:

“Push, which has a really special place for us, allows us to reach into our users mobile phones who have built a relationship with the brand…What we can’t do once we are given that trust is just bombard them with sale, sale, sale.”

These messages let fans know that the brand cares about them, not just their wallet. By focusing on value-driven content, you can deepen relationships and build long-term loyalty. 

Examples:

• “✨ Happy Friday! You’ve made it through the week—time to sit back and relax”
• “Hey YOU! Take a moment to just enjoy where you are now. (and be proud)🤍!”
• “It’s Gonna Be May ☀️! IYKYK – Happy May 1st!

The Key to Balancing Your Push Notification Strategy

To maintain engagement and avoid overwhelming your audience, mix transactional and non-transactional notifications. Balance sales-driven messages with value-driven content to keep fans excited and connected without feeling spammed.

Pro Tip: Push notifications should feel personal, relevant, and in line with your brand's overall messaging.

Best Practices for Push Notification Marketing

Crafting effective push notifications requires more than just clever wording. To truly capture attention, drive action, and build customer loyalty, brands should follow these best practices to strike the perfect balance between creativity with strategic thinking.

1. Keep it Concise and Impactful: 

Push notifications must grab attention quickly. Stick to 40 characters or less for titles and avoid filler words. Start with the most critical information, and clearly communicate the value of a brand's message.

2. Use Emojis and Action Words: 

Emojis and action-driven language can significantly boost engagement and click-through rates. Power words like “exclusive,” “limited,” and “hurry” evoke urgency and excitement, while emojis add visual appeal. Incorporating emojis can increase click-through rates from 3.01% to 4.94%.

Example: “🎉 Your exclusive early access starts NOW! Tap to shop.”

3. Diversify Your Messaging:

Mix transactional and non-transactional notifications to keep your audience engaged without feeling spammed or overwhelmed. Pair promotional pushes with value-based messages that reinforce your brand identity.

Transactional: “🚨 Flash Sale! 20% off ends tonight—shop now!”

Non-Transactional: “✨ Happy Monday! Hope it’s everything you want and more.”‍

4. Timing, Timing, Timing: 

The timing of your notifications can make or break engagement. Experiment with different times to learn when your audience is most responsive. Consider using unique send times, like 5:33 PM, to stand out. Once you’ve sent a substantial number of notifications, use Tapcart Insights to analyze the best days and times for your audience.

Pro Tip: Avoid oversending—2–3 notifications per week strikes the right balance.

5. Stay on Brand: 

Push notifications are an extension of your brand’s voice. Whether your tone is humorous, inspirational, or authoritative, maintain consistency to reinforce recognition and build trust.

Example: “💬 Hey [First Name], ready for your weekend glow-up? Tap to shop our must-haves!”

Partner with Tapcart for Tailored Strategies

If you’d like to find the best strategy for your brand, reach out to your Account Manager to set up a strategy call! Their role is dedicated to your success and with their knowledge of mobile apps and your knowledge of your audience, together magic is made real. 

Drive Engagement and Retention with Tapcart’s Push Notifications

Tapcart delivers an unparalleled push notification experience that makes it easy and fast to send these notifications directly from the Shopify dashboard. Whether sent in real-time, or scheduled in advance, Tapcart’s native push notifications are designed to save marketers time, enhance engagement, and increase conversions. See how easy it is to get started by following our step-by-step guide.

Of course, not everyone wants to send notifications in real-time. Have no fear– Automated Push is here! These are pre-built flows that are triggered based on custom parameters set. They allow you to ‘set and forget’ so that fans can be reached at any time without a brand needing to lift a finger.

Ways to Use Tapcart’s Push Notifications

1. Product-Specific Notifications: 

Highlight individual products or collections using images, GIFs, or text pulled directly from your Shopify store. These notifications link users directly to product pages within the app, helping you drive conversions and create excitement. 

Example: Get people hyped for the latest collection and when it drops, send out a push that directly correlates so fans don’t miss out. 

2. Custom Notifications: 

Get creative with custom images and flexible deep-links. Unlike product-specific notifications, these can direct users anywhere—like an account page, blog post, product page, and even a customer’s wishlist!  

Example: Share a new recipe and when customers tap the notification, not only do they see the recipe, but can easily purchase the products needed to make it.

3. New User Welcome Series:

This is triggered when a new customer downloads a brand’s app. Maybe this provides a 10% new app user discount or even just a ‘Hey welcome to the family!’ style message. This helps ensure that users continue to use the app.

4. Abandoned Cart:

Triggered when a user abandons their cart. It can be a simple message of ‘Hey you forgot this!’ to bring the user back into the app to complete their purchase. Conversion rates soar after these messages are delivered.

5. Post Purchase:

‍Once a customer completes a purchase, these notifications are sent out to provide confirmation that their order was received. This helps customer loyalty as fans feel seen and they understand next steps.

6.Customer Win-back:

For those customers who make a purchase but do not make another one. 

Example: If someone buys something on May 1st, on June 15th they will get a notification saying something like ‘Hey, we miss you! Here’s 10% off your next order.’ This helps increase retention rates.

Tapcart Insights: Turning Notifications into Measurable Success

What good are notifications without the ability to measure their impact? With Tapcart’s Insights Dashboard, brands gain access to valuable metrics such as delivery rates, revenue generated per push, conversion rate, and more. This allows marketing teams to continuously refine their strategies so they align with customer behavior and preferences. 

The result? Smarter campaigns, better timing, and stronger connections with your audience.

For Naked Harvest, push notifications have become its chief retention channel. By focusing on the app audience, the brand has seen impressive growth results: 

• 45% higher lifetime value (LTV) for app customers compared to website customers
• 30% higher purchase frequency in-app than on the website

These numbers highlight the potential of reaching your fans on a channel designed just for them and that is reserved just for you. With Tapcart, brands like Naked Harvest aren’t just retaining customers—they’re building lasting loyalty and increasing profitability.

Partnering with Klaviyo: Elevate Your Push Notifications

Tapcart enhances its native push notification capabilities by integrating seamlessly with Klaviyo, a leader in the email and SMS marketing space. This partnership allows brands to elevate their push strategy with advanced segmentation and personalized messaging, creating a cohesive and sophisticated customer experience. 

Segmentation for Advanced Personalization: 

Tapcart integrates with the segment brands already use in Klaviyo, making it easy to tailor push notifications to specific audiences. Segments can be based on:

• Behavior (browsing history)
• Preferences (product categories)
• Purchase History (loyal vs. one-time customers)
• Location (local promotions)

Example: Target users who frequently shop the “Women’s” collection with notifications about new arrivals or exclusive sales for women’s items. By delivering highly relevant messages, brands can increase engagement and drive higher conversion rates.

Automated Flows for Seamless Customer Journeys: 

Just like how brands set up flows within Klaviyo for email, they can create push notifications for key customer touchpoints too! These flows save time while ensuring your customers feel connected at every stage of their journey.

Examples of Automated Flows: 

• Welcome New Users: Greet new app users with a special discount or a friendly “welcome to the community!” message
• Wishlist Reminders: Notify customers about items they’ve saved to their wishlist.
• Order Updates: Send updates when an order has been fulfilled or shipped.
• Back-in-Stock Alerts: Inform customers when a popular item is available again.

This integration ensures your push notifications are as impactful as your email and SMS campaigns, creating a unified marketing strategy across all channels.

From Connection to Conversion: Stand Out with a Direct Line to Your Customers

Push notifications are more than just a marketing tool– they are a direct connection to a brand’s audience. By leveraging Tapcart’s native push notification capabilities and integrating with platforms like Klaviyo, brands can deliver personalized and impactful messages that drive engagement and conversion. 

From transactional alerts that spark immediate action to non-transactional messages that build brand loyalty, push notifications are an essential part of any modern marketing strategy. By combining best practices with the right tools, brands can stand out in the crowded digital landscape and make meaningful connections with their audience.

If you don’t have a mobile app yet but want to harness the power of push notifications, let’s schedule some time with an app expert here to learn how you can.