Push Notification Best Practices and Examples

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Copywriting is not a skill we are born with, but we can learn it and start applying it into our campaigns for a better engagement. In today’s article we’ll learn the best practices for push notifications.

Why is it important to excel in copywriting?  

Because it can make the difference between a profitable and a non-profitable campaign! Trust me - we are into paid push advertising from the very beginning, and we know our business perfectly!

Let me explain why push ads can be complicated sometimes. 

1. Space is limited: the push title should be no longer than 30 characters and the description no longer than 75 characters.

2. The icon (first image) must be 192x192 pixels.

Here is an example of a good push ad copy:

The icon shows a clear image of a smiling girl. The title is eye-catching and the description tells a lot and provokes the future buyer to click on the ad, and that is your goal - make the user click.

Fortunately, the media buyers have some tools at their disposal to achieve higher CTR:

1. The “Power words”

If a media buyer uses them correctly, they can make a bag of money. For your convenience, we separate them into a few categories:

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- Marketing words that tap into emotion: Play with your visitor’s emotion carefully:

Obsession, Surging, Pioneering, Unsurpassed, Confidential

Bold, Tempting, Unconventional, Astonishing

Epic, Explosive, Secret, Unusual, Daring 

Imagine, Discover, Create, Polarising, Inspire

- Marketing words that tap into fear: The fear of missing out on something (a promotion, a sale) or the fear of making a mistake that can cost your clients money, for example:

Fooled, Beware, Blinded, Alarming

Devastating, Heartbreaking, Hoax, Prison

Revenge, Risky, Avoid, Scary, Backlash, Costly

Assault, Frantic, Hazardous, Untested

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- Marketing words that make people feel safe: It’s important for people to feel safe. Make this and you will make money too.

Authentic, No-Strings Attached, Secure

Privacy, Backed, Lifetime, Tested

No-Obligation, Forever, Proven, Money-back, Protected

Verified, No Questions, Endorsed, Certified, Anonymous

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- Marketing words that call a sense of urgency: Be sure they will take action now, not later:

Now, Exclusive, Scarce, Rare

Immediately, Instantly, Hurry, Only Temporary

Limited, Limited-time, Limited-edition 

- Marketing words that show value: Show them the value of engaging:

Free, Proven, Lucrative, Unbelievable

Bargain, Double, Affordable, Convert

Essential, Detailed, Better, New

Remarkable, Professional, Best-Selling, Guaranteed

Unique, Improved, Tested, Immediately

Bonus, Easy, Advanced, Results

Effective, Massive, Impactful, Increase

Expert, Lifetime, Highest, Lowest, % Signs, $ Signs

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2. Images

Use simple ones, the fewer the excessive details, the better.Unsplash is a good image source that I personally suggest using.  A free, open-source alternative to Photoshop is GIMP - use it to edit the images.

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3. Emojis‍

Use emojis to increase your CTR, but in the right measure. The best option is to A/B test an ad copy with and without emojis and see which one will work best. An excellent source for emojis is Emojipedia. 

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Now it's time to open our favourite spy tool - Anstrex, and analyse some good (and bad) ads.

The Antivirus vertical

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See the differences yourself. The first ad copy is poor, but the second one is far better.

The “bad” one can’t convince us our system needs protection and there isn’t any information - protection from what, how they will give us the protection? And most importantly, why do we need protection? Anyway, I need to admit the “!” sign for an icon is a good idea! 

The second ad is cool - it  has emojis, it also says your Android phone already has a virus (and nobody wants it) and they offer you a solution - download the protection tool. Good job!

The Casino vertical

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Again, the first image doesn’t give us any information - why should we search for online casinos? Why do we need them and what to do when we find them? The second one obviously has advantages - they offer hot bonuses for Aussies, 120 free spins. 

Also, a discrete “fire” emoji. I like it.

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In this list, you will find a few books that will help to improve your copywriting (pay special attention to  “The Boron Letters” and “Breakthrough Advertising” books).

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The Insurance vertical

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With both hands, I am voting for the second ad copy - they have added a sense of urgency with “Get a free quote today”, they have also explained what travel insurance we need - fast, easy and affordable. As a con here, we can consider there are no emojis, but maybe the media buyer already did a split-test and the version with emojis has a lower CTR. The first image has emojis, but they do not tell us why their company is No. 1 in Europe. 

Nutra (weight loss) vertical

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The first image is one of the worst ads that I have ever seen. Seriously - the image is not good for the 192x192 icon, the ad copy is poor. It would be a wonder if this ad had clicks.  The ‘tropical weight loss secret' ad copy is far better - it makes the user curious about what is the “crazy hack” that will help her/him to lose weight. 

As always, I’m going to give you some final advice:

1. Always follow our rules and policies - for example, do not write adult ad copies when you are running mainstream dating.

2. If you are stuck with the copywriting, try an AI tool like CopyShark

3. Do not use words that nobody will believe: 

Groundbreaking, Once-in-a-lifetime, Revolutionary, Perfect

Impossible, Miracle, Once-only, Visionary, Transformative 

Jaw-Dropping, Spell-binding, Game-changer 

Armageddon, Always, Apocalypse

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4. Try to avoid words in your ad copy that calls “Sales” directly in your mind:

Outside the box, Synergy, Optimise, Promise

Satisfaction, Guaranteed, Cutting-edge, Profit, Commission

Hidden gem, Bandwidth, Connect (as in, "when's a good time to connect?)

Programmatic, Quota, Pitch, Leverage, Win-Win, Opportunity

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