You spend weeks building the perfect mobile app. The design is spot on, the features work brilliantly, and you're confident users will love it. Then you send your first push notification and... nothing. A measly 2% open rate stares back at you from your analytics dashboard. Sound familiar? You're not alone—most app developers struggle with push notification messaging that actually gets users to engage.
The problem isn't that push notifications don't work; it's that most of them are absolutely terrible. Users see dozens of notifications every day, and yours needs to stand out amongst all that noise. The difference between a notification that gets ignored and one that drives real user engagement often comes down to just a few words and the right approach to messaging.
The average smartphone user receives 60-80 push notifications per day, but only engages with a tiny fraction of them
After working with hundreds of apps over the years, I've seen what works and what doesn't when it comes to push notification messaging. The good news? Writing notifications that users actually read and act on isn't rocket science—but it does require understanding a few key principles about human psychology, timing, and communication. Throughout this guide, we'll break down the exact strategies that turn ignored notifications into powerful tools for user engagement. From understanding your audience to crafting compelling copy that speaks to real needs, you'll learn how to write push notifications that users welcome rather than immediately dismiss.
Understanding Your Audience
Before you write a single push notification, you need to know who's going to read it. This sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many apps send generic messages to everyone and wonder why nobody responds.
Your users aren't just numbers in your analytics dashboard—they're real people with jobs, families, hobbies, and problems they're trying to solve. The teenager playing your gaming app at 3pm on a Saturday has completely different needs than the busy parent checking your shopping app during their lunch break.
Who Are Your Users Really?
Start by looking at your app's purpose. What problem does it solve? A fitness app attracts people who want to get healthier; a banking app serves people who need to manage their money quickly and securely. But that's just the surface level.
Dig deeper into how your users behave. When do they open your app most? What features do they use? Where do they get stuck? Understanding your audience's behaviour patterns tells you what matters to them and when they're most likely to pay attention to your messages.
Different Users, Different Messages
Your new users need different messages than your loyal customers. Someone who downloaded your app yesterday might need gentle guidance about features; someone who's been using it for months might want updates about new content or special offers.
Think about your users' context too. Are they commuting? Working? Relaxing at home? The same message can feel helpful or annoying depending on when and where someone receives it. A notification about a flash sale works great during lunch breaks but might annoy someone trying to sleep.
Understanding your audience isn't about perfect demographics or complex user personas—it's about recognising that real people are using your app, and they deserve messages that respect their time and needs.
The Psychology Behind Push Notifications
Let's talk about what happens inside people's heads when they see a push notification. Understanding this is the difference between messages that get ignored and ones that actually work for your messaging strategy.
When someone receives a push notification, their brain makes a split-second decision. We're talking milliseconds here. The person isn't sitting there carefully weighing up their options—they're reacting almost instinctively. This reaction is based on three main factors: relevance, timing, and emotional response.
The Relevance Filter
Your user's brain is constantly filtering information, deciding what matters and what doesn't. If your notification doesn't seem relevant to them right now, it gets dismissed immediately. This is why generic messages like "Check out our app!" perform so poorly. The brain can't find a connection to the person's current needs or interests, so it gets ignored.
The Emotional Trigger
People respond to notifications that make them feel something. Fear of missing out works (though use it sparingly). Curiosity works brilliantly. So does the promise of solving an immediate problem. The key is understanding what emotional state your users are likely to be in when they receive your message.
Your notification has about 2-3 seconds to prove its worth before the user decides whether to act. Make those seconds count by leading with the most compelling information first.
The most effective notifications tap into existing user behaviour patterns. If someone always checks their fitness stats after a workout, that's when they're most likely to engage with a fitness-related notification. Work with these natural patterns rather than against them, and your user engagement will improve dramatically.
Writing Clear and Compelling Copy
The biggest mistake I see with push notifications is thinking they work like email subject lines. They don't. You've got about three seconds to grab someone's attention before they swipe away or ignore your message completely. That's not long!
Your message needs to be short and to the point. Most phones cut off notifications after 40-50 characters on the lock screen, so every word counts. Don't waste space on pleasantries or company names—get straight to what matters to your user.
The Three-Part Formula That Works
After years of testing different approaches, I've found that the most effective push notifications follow a simple pattern. They tell you what happened, why you should care, and what to do next. Sometimes you can combine two of these elements into one punchy sentence.
- What: "Your order has shipped"
- Why it matters: "Track your delivery"
- Action: "Tap to see location"
The best notifications feel conversational but urgent. Write like you're texting a friend, not sending a corporate memo. Use everyday words instead of business jargon—say "ready" instead of "available" and "get" instead of "obtain."
Power Words That Drive Action
Certain words make people more likely to tap. Words like "new," "free," "limited," and "your" create urgency and personal connection. But don't overuse them or they lose their impact. The word "you" is particularly powerful because it makes the message feel personal rather than broadcast.
Test different versions of your copy—change one word and see what happens. You might be surprised how much difference a single word can make to your open rates.
Timing and Frequency That Works
Getting your push notification timing right is one of those things that sounds simple but can make or break your messaging strategy. Send too many notifications and users will switch them off—or worse, delete your app entirely. Send too few and you'll miss opportunities to keep your users engaged.
The golden rule? Start conservative and work your way up based on what your data tells you. Most successful apps begin with one notification per week, then gradually increase frequency if engagement remains strong. Your users will tell you when you've crossed the line—open rates will drop and opt-out rates will spike.
When to Send Your Messages
Timing depends heavily on your app type and user behaviour. News apps might send breaking news alerts any time of day, but a fitness app probably shouldn't ping users at midnight about their workout goals. The sweet spot for most apps is between 10am and 8pm in the user's local timezone.
Avoid Monday mornings and Friday evenings—people are either catching up from the weekend or mentally checking out for it. Mid-week tends to perform better for engagement, particularly Tuesday through Thursday.
The best notification is one that feels like it was sent just for you at exactly the right moment
Finding Your Rhythm
Every app is different, so what works for others might not work for you. Gaming apps can often get away with more frequent messaging because their users expect regular updates and rewards. Shopping apps might focus on weekly deals or abandoned cart reminders. The key is understanding what your users want from you and when they want it—then delivering exactly that, nothing more.
Personalisation Without Being Creepy
There's a fine line between helpful personalisation and making users feel like you're watching their every move. I've seen apps cross that line more times than I care to count, and the results are never pretty. Users delete the app, leave bad reviews, or worse—they just ignore every notification you send.
The secret is using data you already have in a way that feels natural. If someone frequently orders pizza on Friday evenings, a gentle reminder about weekend deals makes sense. But mentioning their exact location or referencing personal details they never shared? That's when things get uncomfortable.
Safe Ways to Personalise
Start with basic information users willingly provide: their name, preferences they've selected, or actions they've taken in your app. These create personalisation opportunities without feeling invasive. A fitness app might say "Ready for your evening run, Sarah?" rather than "We noticed you usually exercise after 6pm on weekdays near your office."
- Use their chosen preferences and settings
- Reference their recent app activity
- Mention items they've saved or favourited
- Acknowledge their achievements or milestones
- Suggest content similar to what they've engaged with
The Creepy Line
Avoid referencing data from outside your app, being too specific about locations, or mentioning behaviour they haven't explicitly shared. Don't combine multiple data points to create detailed profiles either—that's when personalisation starts feeling like surveillance.
Remember, users should feel like you're being helpful, not like you're keeping detailed files on their daily habits. When in doubt, ask yourself: would I be comfortable receiving this message? If there's any hesitation, tone it down.
Testing and Measuring Success
Right, let's talk about the bit most people skip—actually checking if your push notifications are working. I get it, writing the perfect message feels like the hard part, but if you're not measuring what happens next, you're flying blind.
The good news is that most app platforms give you plenty of data to work with. Open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates—these numbers tell you exactly how your messaging is performing. But here's what I've learned over the years: don't just look at the numbers in isolation.
What Actually Matters
Open rates are nice, but they don't tell the whole story. Someone might open your notification but then immediately close your app. That's not great user engagement, is it? Instead, focus on what happens after they tap. Do they complete an action? Do they stick around? Do they come back tomorrow?
Set up proper tracking for the actions you want people to take. If you're promoting a sale, measure actual purchases, not just app opens. If you want people to read an article, track how long they spend reading it.
Test one element at a time—change your message copy this week, timing next week. Testing everything at once makes it impossible to know what actually worked.
Making Smart Changes
Once you've got your data, use it to make small improvements. Notice that messages sent at 7pm get better engagement than 6pm ones? Shift your timing slightly. Finding that question-based messages outperform statements? Write more questions.
The key is making gradual changes and giving each test enough time to generate meaningful results. User behaviour patterns take time to emerge, so be patient with the process.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
After years of building mobile apps and watching push notification campaigns succeed and fail, I've spotted the same mistakes being made over and over again. The good news is that most of these errors are completely avoidable once you know what to look out for.
Being Too Generic
The biggest mistake I see is sending the same message to everyone. "Check out our new feature!" might seem like a safe bet, but it's boring and forgettable. Users can smell a mass message from a mile away, and they'll ignore it just as quickly. Even basic personalisation—using someone's name or referencing their past activity—makes a huge difference to engagement rates.
Another classic error is writing messages that are way too long. Push notifications have limited space, and people are usually doing something else when they receive them. If your message needs scrolling or gets cut off with "..." then you've already lost. Keep it short, punchy, and to the point.
Poor Timing Choices
Timing mistakes can kill even the best-written notifications. Sending messages at 3am might work for a global audience, but it'll annoy your local users. And please, don't bombard people with multiple notifications in a single day unless it's genuinely urgent. I've seen apps send five notifications in an hour—that's a sure way to get deleted.
The final mistake that really grinds my gears is using pushy, sales-heavy language. Words like "BUY NOW!" or "LIMITED TIME!" feel desperate and cheap. Your users aren't idiots; they know when you're trying too hard to sell to them. Focus on providing value instead of screaming for attention.
Conclusion
Writing push notifications that people actually read isn't rocket science, but it does require thinking like your users rather than like a marketer. After years of building apps and watching how people interact with them, I can tell you that the difference between notifications that get ignored and those that drive engagement comes down to respect—respect for your user's time, attention, and intelligence.
The fundamentals we've covered in this guide work because they're rooted in understanding human behaviour. People want to know what's in it for them, they want messages that feel relevant to their situation, and they want to feel like you're talking to them as an individual rather than broadcasting to everyone. Getting your timing right matters just as much as getting your words right; sending the perfect message at the wrong moment is like knocking on someone's door when they're already rushing out.
What I find fascinating is how often businesses overcomplicate their messaging strategy. They think they need clever wordplay or complex personalisation algorithms, when really what works is being clear, helpful, and timely. Your users are busy people with full lives—they don't have patience for messages that make them work to understand what you're trying to say.
The testing and measurement part isn't optional either. What works for one app won't necessarily work for another, and what works for your users today might not work next month. Keep experimenting, keep learning from your data, and keep putting your users first. That's how you build messaging that actually engages rather than annoys.
