When it comes to digital marketing, we can’t stress enough the importance of using mobile push notifications to successfully engage your account holders. While email is commonly seen as the easiest tool to use – after all, nearly everyone has an email address – it’s not a failsafe channel. There are security concerns that your account could be compromised to send phishing or spam messages to all your contacts. Even if your email is secure, if it isn’t written properly, the recipient’s email client could decide your message is unsafe and quarantine it, leaving it forever unread.  

It’s also worth pointing out that email is more of a disruptive channel. For example, how often do you stop to take advantage of the clearance sale from your favorite store that came across your inbox only five minutes before your first morning meeting? Chances are, you read about it, filed it away in your head for later, and promptly forgot about it.

With all that said, we’re not here to knock email, because it’s seen as a must-have tool for marketers. Email can and should be a strong pillar of any successful marketing strategy. But to be really successful, we think you have to look beyond email, and that’s where mobile push notifications come in.

Push notifications are powerful

According to one study, Americans check their phones on average every four minutes, and spend nearly three hours a day on their phones. Mobile communications therefore are a prime channel to reach your account holders -- Enter push notifications, stage right. Those brief messages that appear on the account holder’s lock screen allow for immediate action and are much more targeted than email – whether it’s a simple reminder about a bill coming due that may overdraft their account or alerting them to your low auto loan rates when they’re at the car dealership for more than 30 minutes. Push notifications are powerful because they’re proactive, keeping you top of mind when your account holders may not be thinking about you just then. They’re also more trustworthy because they’re coming from an app they know and trust – their financial institution’s app. Throw in the fact that your message is almost certainly going to be seen the day you send it, and you have a real chance to influence and encourage your account holders in every stage of their financial journey. That’s pretty powerful, no?

Like any marketing channel, mobile push notifications can be overused, so you want to be sure to use them wisely. Many people consider their mobile devices as a gateway to their personal lives, so it’s important to personalize your mobile-based communications based on the needs of the people you’re reaching – don’t lump your users into one bucket and assume they’re all interacting with your app the exact same way. You also want to make sure you don’t overdo it – just because people pick up their phones eight zillion times a day doesn’t mean they’re eager to hear from you each time they do it. You risk your users opting out of notifications entirely or even uninstalling your app.  

All that said, push notifications are a critical tool that can help you build an omnichannel presence (that’s where you tie the various ways you reach people, such as email, social media, website, etc., together to create a seamless digital experience where information is received based on the actions, or inactions, they take) that drives engagement and more brand loyalty.

To be successful in marketing, you must consider all the ways your account holders receive information and process it. That may mean more than just email. Push notifications are a great way to meet your account holders where they are and ensure they see critical information from you that’s relevant to them, when it’s relevant. This encourages them to engage with you more and perhaps explore additional products and services you offer that otherwise they may not know about.

Ready to see how push notifications can help you improve engagement with your account holders? Larky can help. We deliver customized push notification campaigns directly through the mobile banking app. Use them to alert your account holders of new products and services, community events in their area, changes to branch locations or hours, and more. Contact us to learn more or see it in action for yourself.

‍