What is a push notification?
A push notification is a clickable pop-up message that is sent by a mobile app on a mobile device. Push notifications display text and visually appealing media, like images, buttons, etc to prompt users to click on it and take a specific action.
Push notifications resemble SMS/text messages, they can be used for completely different purposes. App developers use push notifications to deliver important information such as latest news, pending friend requests, or status updates on orders. Push notifications are generally considered effective because they practically cost nothing compared to SMS or email, and enable mobile apps to communicate with their users on a more personal level.
Each mobile device platform has their own push notification system in place, but the process is pretty much the same between Apple iOS, Google Android, and RIM Blackberry. When a user installs an app, they get prompted to allow or block push notifications for that app, and the user has the ability to allow or block push notifications from that app. If a user declines to receive notifications then it is pretty hard to get the permission back; it is therefore extremely important for app developers to make the permission process as user friendly as possible. The best way to ask for push notification permissions is to explain why and how often you would reach out to a user during app onboarding.
You can leverage Branch’s deep links to create app-to-app experiences with push notifications. For example, promoting content of a sister app via push notifications would attract new users to that app, and Branch deep links will make sure that they see what they were looking for on every platform.
