Would you ever pour water in a bucket with holes? Probably not (unless there was some viral social media challenge happening). But that principal applies just as much to other situations. And anybody who’s paying attention to today’s business landscape has seen a lot of brands doing the marketing equivalent: namely, building an app without a first putting a mobile messaging strategy in place.

Even if your app is great, there’s no guarantee that it will have your customers will download or or pay attention to it—after all, the average US resident now uses more than 30 different apps on their smartphone every month. Customers who don’t visit your app regularly can easily become lapsed customers, even if they have positive feelings about your brand, potentially tanking your mobile engagement efforts before they even really begin.

Okay, so how can you avoid this dire situation? Two words: Push notifications.

How To Send Push Notifications That Drive Stronger Mobile App Engagement

To retain customers and drive real, long-term brand loyalty, you can’t rest on your laurels—you have to prioritize customer engagement. And push notifications can help make that happen.

Push notification campaigns are a great way to re-engage users who might have downloaded your app but don’t use it regularly. Just sending one high-value push notification, you can give your less-engaged users a compelling reason to come back and check in, boosting the odds that they’re retained over the long haul. Push notifications can also help retail-based apps increase sales by sending notifications to users with abandoned carts. (And if you’re feeling really generous, you can give them a discount!)

You can get even more value by leveraging personalization in your push campaigns. With customer engagement platforms like Braze, it’s possible to create customer segments based on real customer data and build out automated campaigns where each message is personalized for every recipient. For a closer look at how that approach can work in real life, let’s take a look at the way the American Cancer Society (ACS) is leveraging personalized push.

How the American Cancer Society Mastered Personalized Push

ACS is one of the largest and most respected health organizations in the world. Volunteers across the United States are the backbone of the organization that provides support in cancer research funding, access to lifesaving healthcare treatments, and cancer prevention. Every year, various fundraising events raise millions of dollars for improving cancer survival, decreasing the incidence of cancer, and enhancing the quality of life for cancer patients and their caregivers.

Since 1985, the annual Relay for Life event has raised over $5 billion for cancer research and other ACS programs. To create a deeper connection and awareness around fundraising, the ACS utilized push notifications on their mobile app to share impactful and inspiring content around the Relay for Life events.

To increase engagement and, ultimately, donations, ACS sent messages thanking Relay for Life participants and using personalization to showcase how the money they raised went directly to fight cancer on National Cancer Survivors Day. For example, participants who raised over $100 received a push notification showing that their money paid for one night in a Hope Lodge for a patient.

Tens of thousands of additional dollars of in-app funds were raised—an estimated 34% increase. Overall, 50% of recipients started a session within three days, and new messages were opened at a rate of 30%. Through these personalized push notification campaigns, ACS was able to increase its fundraising efforts and help more people living with cancer everywhere.

Final Thoughts

While push notifications are a powerful tool for driving customer engagement, they can’t reach their full potential if your brand isn’t clear about what you’re looking to use them for. If you haven’t thought through the kinds of information your audience is likely to be interested in receiving, or the kind of actions you’re looking to get them to take when they do use your app, it’s difficult to send messages that resonate with users—or help you reach your business goals.

Similarly, while push notifications can do a lot to drive mobile app engagement, retention, and long-term customer loyalty, they’re not the only arrow in your quiver. By using push together with other channels, including in-app messages, email, and SMS, you can see even stronger engagement, making it easier to reach your business goals.

Interested in learning more? Check out our exclusive cross-channel data report to find out how you can boost your user engagement by up to 844%!