What Are In-app Notifications?
What Do You Need to Know About Them?

Sending information to the user and keeping them engaged is one of the most important aspects of app design. One of the primary ways you can do that is through notifications. Notifications, their designs, content, and frequency are all important aspects that need careful consideration.

There's one aspect that's not nearly talked about enough, however: There are two types of notifications, and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. In-app notifications are one of them, and it is incredibly versatile and useful. When designing an app, this needs to be a tool in your repertoire.

In this article, we'll go over what exactly is in-app notifications, what are its use cases, and how they compare to push notifications. Read on to find out.

What Are In-app Notifications?

Also referred to as in-app alerts, in-app messages, or in-app messaging, in-app notifications are alerts sent to the user when they're actively using the app. In-app notifications might be simple overlays or full-screen pop-ups that are customized to match the look and feel of your app. These in-app notifications may prompt users to rate the app or consent to get push notifications, among other things.

They are an essential part of a comprehensive mobile consumer interaction strategy that also includes SMS, push notifications, mobile wallet, email, and other message formats.

Benefits of In-app Notifications

In-app notifications offer a range of benefits that app designers simply can't do without. They form an essential part of the user journey and they are an excellent way to bring new users up to speed. Below, we'll go over some of its benefits.

• a feature of the app experience: The finest in-app notifications are those that are incorporated into your app's design and user experience. They are an excellent way to facilitate user interaction and encourage users to check out specific promotions, advertisements, offers, and more.
• reach your app's whole user base: an excellent way to reach the entire active user base of an app is through in-app notifications. Since they don't require active opt-in, and they appear only when your users are actively using your app, it is a great way to reach a specific demographic and make them perform a desired action.
• easy to write: In-app messages are similar to push notifications in that they may be very easily created. They give marketing and content teams a simple method to share important news without making a code change, whether they are plain-text banner messages or powerful HTML5 full-page presentations. If you want an easy way to push messages to your users, in-app messages are an excellent option.
• really individualized: You can target your users in very specific ways, which increases the efficiency of your messages substantially. Do you want an in-app notification to only appear after a user performs a specific action in the app? Do you only want it to appear to a specific sub-segment of your users? Do you want it to appear during a specific time? You have these options and much more. It is an excellent method for mobile app messaging.

In-app Notifications' Best Practices

An inapp notification can be really effective, but you need to follow best practices to fully leverage it. Below, we'll go over some of the ones you can follow.

• Be Specific: In-app messaging, as we've already mentioned, is fundamentally about interrupting a user at a certain stage of their journey. So make sure there is a valid justification. Users may occasionally struggle with the product, therefore your message is more helpful if it is clear (always showcase its purpose). Additionally, too verbose apps have been shown to quickly irritate users; as a result, keep it short and simple. Saying too much might annoy people and work against keeping them interested.
• Valuable notifications: Every time users interact with your app, you want them to have a wonderful experience. Therefore, you need people to respond favourably to your alerts. An in-app notification should seem natural and integrated into your service in order to support, guide, and counsel users. Because of this, every in-app message should be beneficial to the user. Don't mention things that are, for instance, blatantly evident to the user, like in the example below.
• Calls to action: Another obvious practice is actively encouraging users to take action. CTAs direct users toward particular actions, boost clickthrough rates and boost conversion rates. Keep it straightforward so that people can get a sense of your app's capabilities. If users have some prior knowledge of a feature, they are more likely to subsequently re-engage with it to study it more. Additionally, items like permission requests offer a special chance to inform customers about a subject, emphasize its advantages, increase their trust in the product, and encourage them to participate further.

In-app Notifications Versus Push Notifications

The titles of the two types of notifications—push and in-app—point out their primary differences. Only when the user is actively using the app are in-app notifications shown. On the other hand, push notifications do not require the application to be active and the notifications are still displayed on the mobile device's screen even when it is locked.

Users must actively agree to receive push notifications because they may be highly intrusive. Opt-in is not necessary for in-app ones, however. When used appropriately, in-app notifications are an excellent method to reach engaged consumers without incurring the expense of sending SMS or email communications.

In-app Notifications Versus Push Notifications

• Notifications can be suitable and specific to each user and encourage people to test new features or goods and move down the marketing funnel without being too impractical.
• In-app notifications are preferable since you are not interrupting the user needlessly when you want them to perform a certain action.
• An excellent alternative for users that get irritated by too many push messages. Remember, overusing push messages will result in users muting your app or rescinding its ability to send notifications. Mobile push notifications can be really annoying if done incorrectly, and in-app notifications are a great alternative.

Push Notification Uses

• Users would appreciate receiving a push notification to let them know when they have reached a limit, such as an overdraft limit on a banking app or a credit limit on a shopping app.
• Certain applications, such as breaking news, weather, or flood alerts, can be used to send alerts of situations that could perhaps save someone's life.
• The user might be informed via a push notification that they must update to the most recent version of the software if they are discontinuing support for their current version.
• If the user has been inactive for a long period of time, a push notification can remind them your app exists and you can mention the app usage and benefits to get them back into it.

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