Smartphone users are multiplying but that may not improve brands’ chances of engaging with their customers given that apps are being deleted at a dizzying rate. Today, the primary reason people delete apps is that companies send excessive and irrelevant notifications, according to a study from Leanplum.
To win the hearts and wallets of consumers, brands must adopt an omnichannel strategy, one that prioritizes convenient and seamless communication with its customers. Yet brands are struggling to find the balance between keeping their users informed and ensuring they don’t over-communicate. More than 75 percent of millennials and more than half of baby boomers and Gen Z delete apps that annoy them with unnecessary notifications.
To counter this, the research indicates that brands must be mindful of the number of notifications they send while also considering the time at which they communicate with customers. About two-thirds of respondents said they have a preference for when they receive notifications, though the findings are split between the morning, afternoon and evening.
The data also shows that users who consistently disregard notifications find that financial and social media brands send the most useful notifications. Among a list of popular brands, respondents considered Facebook, Wells Fargo and Bank of America the best communicators via apps. Over 30 percent of those surveyed said they like to receive notifications for financial alerts and 87 percent said they don’t mind financial app push notifications.
Still, the survey revealed that email is the most-liked communication from brands across generations. Forty-six percent of people said they prefer notifications in the form of email while only 15 percent prefer push notifications. Moreover, 43 percent of millennials want to receive emails from brands compared to 28 percent of Gen Z. As for the type of companies people most likely open emails from, the majority selected messaging companies (54 percent) and financial emails (41 percent). A separate Survey Money study spoke to email’s good reputation among consumers when it revealed that in the past 12 months, 65 percent of people said they used email to communicate with organizations, compared to 60 percent the year prior.
“At Leanplum, we know that everyone has a personal preference on how they’d like brands to engage with them,” said Athena Koutsonikolas, vice president of marketing, Leanplum. “As evidenced by the survey results, there are even specific differences among demographics, including preferences on timing and frequency for email, in-app and push notifications. Brands that ignore these differences will ultimately not be able to engage with and retain their customers.”