Push can be one of the least expensive ways to message customers: unlike SMS, it generally avoids carrier per-message charges and goes straight to the phone or browser, though the platform may still charge by usage, audience size or tier. The buyers using it describe a channel that depends entirely on what sits behind it. For a banking app, a streaming service or a news site, push is a core way to bring people back. For a store that built an app mainly to send push, it often reaches the same customers its emails and texts already reach — and every notification too many risks the customer switching them off.
What is push notification software?
Push notification software sends short messages to a customer's phone or browser through an app or website they have opted into, and usually also manages in-app messages shown inside the app.
Most companies send push from a cross-channel messaging platform such as Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Iterable, Klaviyo or MoEngage; others use a dedicated push tool such as Airship or OneSignal, or the push feature of an app builder such as Tapcart. As one lifecycle leader puts it: “anyone who sits in a seat like mine is going to want push notifications to just be built into your journeys.”
What the interviews add is how push actually performs:
In these interviews about two-thirds of companies with a known setup send push from a cross-channel messaging platform; dedicated push tools and app builders cover most of the rest. Results split by business: app-first companies describe stronger experiences with push and in-app messaging, while retailers whose apps mainly serve as another marketing channel often report limited additional value.
The risk buyers raise most is notification fatigue, and few measure what push adds on its own.
What is the difference between mobile push, web push and in-app messages?
Mobile push reaches the lock screen when the app is closed; web push does the same through a browser; in-app messages appear while the customer is using the app. Most buyers mean mobile push when they say push.
Web push is a minority channel. A news publisher likes it for breaking news, while ecommerce buyers describe it as relatively small — “It's kind of like a secondary email in a sense,” one says. In these interviews it appears mainly in desktop-browser use, although mobile browsers can support it too.
In-app messages work when they are contextual and fail when they look like generic pop-ups: “When you have a pop-up, it literally looks like spam because it doesn't look like it's coming from the app,” one buyer says of a platform's in-app templates.
Mobile push
A message on the phone's lock screen from an installed app, reaching only customers who allowed notifications.
Web push
A browser notification from a website the visitor opted into, mostly seen on desktop.
In-app message
A message, card or banner shown inside the app while the customer is using it, from nudges to full-screen takeovers.
Who runs push notifications?
Usually the CRM or lifecycle team — and often with developers' help. Buyers in market for push tools are more than five times as likely as the companies interviewed overall to hold CRM, lifecycle, retention or loyalty titles. At some companies the product or engineering team owns push instead, and marketing is handed the result: “That's the decision that's made by product. Marketing doesn't get to make that decision.”
Twice as many companies say they need developers to set up or send push and in-app messages as say marketers can do it alone — for deep links, message payloads, in-app content and the separate iOS and Android setup some tools require. Many companies with push in a separate tool from their email and SMS want one place for all three: “To have to do those in different tools and coordinate would just be a nightmare.”
What do companies send by push?
Five main kinds of message, led by re-engagement. Among companies that describe what they send by push, these appear in this order:
- Re-engagement and reactivation
- Promotions and sales
- Order and delivery updates
- Loyalty offers and rewards
- Content and news
Onboarding sequences, abandoned-cart reminders and location-based messages are smaller jobs.
Re-engagement and reactivation
Bringing lapsed users back into the app: “For a reactivation campaign, we're now able to target a user with a push notification.”
Promotions and sales
Sale announcements and new products — useful at the right moment, “if you have some type of sale or a promo, it can be effective,” though one brand says discount pushes do not fit its customers at all.
Order and delivery updates
Transactional messages customers want to receive — order confirmed, out for delivery, appointment reminders.
Loyalty offers and rewards
Points, tiers and member offers, often sent from the loyalty platform itself: “They manage our loyalty tiers, and we use them to send out push notifications.”
Content and news
New releases, articles and schedules for publishers and media apps — the use where web push works best too.
Results split by the kind of business. App-first companies — including banking, streaming and news businesses — describe positive results from push and in-app messaging. One fintech reports that “takeovers when you open the app are incredibly effective,” which shows the value of contextual in-app messaging rather than of lock-screen push specifically. Retailers that run an app mainly to send push are more doubtful: “It's redundant to who's already on our SMS or email list,” one says. Fatigue is the shared risk — “If you get push notifications, you're just going to turn them off,” another warns — and several companies send the same push to everyone because their tool cannot target it.
Which push notification tools do buyers rate highest?
Klaviyo rates 7.7, Braze 7.5, Iterable 7.1, MoEngage and Tapcart around 7, Salesforce Marketing Cloud 6.8 and Airship 6.1. These are overall product ratings; for the messaging platforms they cover email and SMS as well as push.
| Tool | Rating | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | 7.7 | Push bundled with email and SMS for ecommerce brands; buyers who comment on its push call it basic next to app-focused platforms. |
| Braze | 7.5 | The platform most companies here send push from, praised for push and in-app targeting; cost and setup effort are the complaints. |
| Iterable | 7.1 | A cross-channel platform praised for testing push against email and in-app within one journey. |
| MoEngage | around 7 | Too few buyers for a decimal. A mobile-first platform praised for support and value; some find it less polished across channels. |
| Tapcart | around 7 | Too few buyers for a decimal. An app builder for Shopify brands with push built in; views on its push split. |
| Salesforce Marketing Cloud | 6.8 | Push and in-app alongside its email tools; buyers find its in-app templates and trigger speed limiting. |
| Airship | 6.1 | The dedicated push tool named most; praised for easy setup and high-volume sending, criticized for support and interface. |
Cross-channel messaging platforms
Braze · Salesforce Marketing Cloud · Iterable · Klaviyo · MoEngage · CleverTap · Insider
Dedicated push and app builders
Airship · OneSignal · PushOwl · Pushly · Tapcart
What does push cost, and how do companies measure it?
Push typically costs less per message than SMS, but its reach depends on notification permissions, and few companies measure the additional value it delivers. No prices are published here.
Buyers who compare push with text messages describe it as the cheaper channel — “SMS is really expensive so you try to use it sparingly,” says one — and some send through the app what they would otherwise text. The limit is reach: mobile-app push requires customers to install the app and permit notifications, while web push requires browser permission, so the reachable audience is smaller than the customer base and several companies' first goal is “getting more people on the app, opted into push and where we can talk to them.” Measurement lags behind. Several buyers say they cannot tell what a push campaign earned or whether it was incremental, and no company here gives an opt-in rate. Moves between tools mostly run toward consolidation: companies leaving a dedicated push tool usually say they are moving push onto a platform they already use.
Due for a stack physical?
Book mine →Should you use push notifications?
Yes, if your app is where customers already spend time; be careful if it is mainly a second inbox. For app-first businesses push and in-app messages are core channels. For retailers whose customers already get email and SMS, push may add reach to only a small group — and fatigue to everyone.
Three things follow from the interviews; the recommendations are ours, not practices buyers describe. First, count your opted-in app users before you buy, since that number caps what push can do. Second, set a frequency limit across push, email and SMS together, because turning notifications off is the risk buyers raise most. Third, hold out a group from push for a few campaigns to see what it adds beyond the channels you already run.
For the channels beside it, see what is SMS marketing, what is customer journey orchestration and what is marketing automation.
Common questions
What is push notification software?
Push notification software sends short messages to a customer's phone or browser through an app or website they have opted into, and usually also manages in-app messages shown inside the app. Most companies in these interviews send push from a cross-channel messaging platform such as Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Iterable, Klaviyo or MoEngage, while others use a dedicated push tool such as Airship or OneSignal, or the push feature of an app builder such as Tapcart.
What is the difference between push notifications and in-app messages?
A push notification reaches the customer's lock screen or browser when the app or site is closed; an in-app message appears inside the app while the customer is using it. Web push is the browser version of push. Buyers find in-app messages work when they are contextual and fail when they look like generic pop-ups.
Do push notifications work for ecommerce?
It depends on the business. In these interviews push and in-app messaging work best for app-first businesses, such as fintech, streaming and news apps, where the app is the product. Several retailers that added an app mainly to send push say it adds little, because it reaches the same customers already on their email and SMS lists. Few companies measure what push adds on its own.
Is web push worth it?
For most retailers in these interviews it is a small, secondary channel. A news publisher describes it as strong for breaking news, but ecommerce buyers using web push call it modest, and in these interviews it appears mainly in desktop-browser use, although mobile browsers can support it too. Few companies discuss it at all compared with mobile push.
Is push cheaper than SMS?
Buyers who compare them say so: unlike SMS, push generally avoids carrier per-message charges, so some companies send through the app what they would otherwise send by text, though the platform may still charge by usage, audience size or tier. The limit is reach: mobile push needs the app installed and notifications allowed, and web push needs browser permission.
Who owns push notifications?
Usually the CRM or lifecycle team, though at some companies the product or engineering team owns push and marketing does not decide how it is used. Twice as many companies say they need developers to set up or send push and in-app messages as say marketers can do it on their own.
Why do customers turn off push notifications?
Mostly because they receive too many. Notification fatigue and opt-outs are the risk buyers raise most, and some companies cap how often a customer hears from them across channels. Some also send the same message to everyone because their tool cannot target or segment push.
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