There’s no doubt that push notifications are a great way for publishers to attract readers, re-engage their audience, and improve engagement on their apps. But not every notification gets clicked. As a publisher, how do you measure whether a push notification performed well with your subscribers?
You can easily do this by monitoring the CTR, or Click-Through-Rate, of your push notification.
What is Click Through Rate (CTR)?
Click Through Rate is the number of people who click your notification after receiving it. CTR is calculated as the ratio of clicks to the total number of impressions for a particular notification. A high CTR indicates that the notification was well received by the subscribers, whereas a low CTR could mean that the notification went unnoticed. CTR can fluctuate depending on timing, personalization, and audience preferences.
In the news and media industry the average push notification CTR can range from 1% to 2% and there are multiple factors that influence it. Strategies like segmentation, personalization, and optimizing notification copy can elevate engagement or CTR further. If your CTR numbers are lower than our reported range, here are a few steps you can take to improve push notification CTR.
How to improve CTR for Push Notifications?
Improving push notification CTR will help drive website traffic or drive more clicks to the CTA button. A higher CTR also means that the subscriber has found the push notification useful, and they are less likely to churn.
There are several ways to improve click-through rate for push notifications, especially for news and media publishers. Here are the most effective ones.
1) Segmentation
Not all readers want the same updates. A cricket fan may not care about political news, while a politics enthusiast may not be interested in entertainment stories. Segmenting your audience ensures that your readers only receive relevant updates.
Segmentation can be done on the basis of the following factors-
a) Demographic Segmentation
Segment readers based on basic profile attributes.
- Age → Younger readers may prefer entertainment, sports, trending news.
- Gender → Lifestyle or fashion news may resonate differently with male vs. female audiences.
- Location → Crucial for publishers (city-specific alerts, local elections, weather, traffic)
b) Interest-Based Segmentation
Group readers based on the content they consume.
- Sports lovers → Cricket, football, Olympics.
- Finance readers → Stock market, crypto, business.
- Politics enthusiasts → Elections, governance, policies.
- Entertainment fans → Celebrity gossip, movies, OTT shows.
- With iZooto’s advanced segmentation capabilities, publishers can categorize users based on interests, behavior, geography, and device usage. This allows you to send highly targeted push notifications instead of flooding everyone with the same updates.
c) Behavioral Segmentation
Subscribers are segmented on the basis of how they interact with your website or app.
- Frequency of visits → Daily readers vs. occasional visitors.
- Engagement level → Users who click on notifications vs. those who just receive them.
- Subscription status → Free users vs. premium subscribers.
- Last active → Dormant users (re-engagement campaigns) vs. loyal readers.
Segmentation can help publishers optimize notification formats, delivery times, and even copy length as per the audience the notifications are intended for. It’s like advertising only baby products when kids or new parents come into a store. This highly increases the chance of a conversion by maximizing relevance.
Also Read: How user segmentation can help you personalize better?
2) Send Personalised Push notifications
Once you’ve segmented your audience, the next step is to send them personalized notifications. This can nudge users to click and engage immediately with your content. Instead of generic notifications, you can try sending out notifications that directly address the user’s interests, likes, dislikes, and demographics like age, location, gender, etc. And while many publishers lean on AI to scale this personalization, the key is to refine those outputs to convert robotic text into human-like content, so the notifications still feel personal and engaging rather than automated.
- Personalized notifications can boost CTR over 2% when compared to generic notification copies.
Here are some exclusive tips for news media publishers to personalize app push notifications-
- Consider user interests and behaviour while personalizing notifications. For example- For users who often click on finance news, push headlines like:
“📈 Nifty closes 200 points higher – Here’s what drove the rally.”
With iZooto Push notifications, you can track what categories readers consume and push interest-based personalized notifications.
- Personalize notifications by name if you have user profile data on your app. This works especially well in case of subscription-based apps. Example- “Hey Rohan, here are today’s top headlines for you.”
- Time your notifications when your users are most active. Combining segmentation + time zone targeting ensures your “personalized” push reaches the subscriber when they are receptive.
- Engage readers using their past engagement history. You can use an older article they engaged with to drive clicks from their curiosity. Examples such as “More on how global warming is reshaping the monsoon.”
3) Use Rich Media to Grab Attention
Plain text notifications often get ignored, but rich media (images, icons, videos, and emojis) can improve CTR significantly.
At iZooto, we’ve seen rich media notifications improve open rates by up to 25% compared to text-only notifications. For news publishers, a compelling thumbnail from the latest viral video on the internet or a simple match-winning moment makes the notification more likely to get that click.
With iZooto, adding rich media to push notifications is simple as our tool can fetch the feature image from the article using just the URL. This reduces your time to publish which is crucial for breaking news stories.
4) Perfect the Timing of Push Notifications
Timing push notifications correctly can help gain CTR. News publishers should consider two aspects:
- Speed: When breaking news hits, the faster your notification goes out, the higher the chance of engagement. Users want real-time updates when it comes to news.
- Optimal Time Slots: Beyond breaking news, general notifications should be sent when your readers are most likely to engage. Publishers should be aware of audience engagement patterns across their geographies and industries, making it essential to experiment and adapt. iZooto customers can send push notifications to their subscribers across the globe and expect it the be delivered at the right time with our local timezone delivery feature.
Also Read: Best time for push notifications to increase CTR
5) A/B Test Your Notifications
We’ve all been there. I’m sure you’ve wondered about doing something different in the notification you are just about to push. Remove that doubt by A/B testing push notifications and checking which variation performs better. Most push notification providers will offer you the A/B test feature. iZooto allows publishers to A/B test their push notification and then choose the best performing one to be sent to a larger audience. For example, you might send:
Version A: “Breaking: Markets close higher today 📈”
Version B: “Stock Market Update: Sensex jumps 500 points”
Therefore, A/B testing allows you to experiment with:
- Different headlines
- Rich media vs. text-only
- Emojis in titles
- Sending times
The results reveal what resonates best with your audience, ensuring consistently higher CTRs over time.
6) Follow Push Notification Best Practices
These are some basic push notification best practices for publishers to follow-
- Keep it short & crisp, titles under 40 characters aren’t truncated on the phone screen. So they can inform effectively.
- Use Urgency only when it is truly urgent. Words like “Breaking” or “Live Now” can drive clicks, but abuse leads to fatigue.
- Localize content in regional languages. We’ve seen CTR improvements when publishers pair segmentation and localization especially when serving Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
What are the Common Reasons for Drop in Push Notification CTR
If you are following our best practices and still seeing no improvement in CTR, you might be making one of these common mistakes. These mistakes can cause a dip in push notification CTR and also cause subscriber churn. Here are things that you should avoid.
1. Notification Fatigue
Notification fatigue is a very common reason for a drop in CTR for news publishers. Some publishers tend to send a notification for every story they write. This can feel spammy for subscribers of enterprise publishers (who publish over 50 articles a day on average). Sending too many alerts to everyone leads to users ignoring or muting notifications.
Cap the number of notifications you send daily and segment carefully. Push notification spam can cause readers to ignore your notifications, mute them, or even cause them to unsubscribe. We advise our publisher partners to not send over 10 notifications in a day. Anything higher might cause app uninstalls.
2. Poor Timing
Sending at odd hours (like late night or early morning) reduces engagement. Notifications delivered outside peak hours can disrupt user experience and result in a negative response like app uninstall or notifications opt-out.
3. Sending Generic Content
One-size-fits-all messages don’t get clicks. Personalization is the key to building long-term engagement. Understand who your audience is, segment, and send personalized notifications to drive more clicks.
4. Mobile OS Restrictions
Both Android and iOS now group or silence multiple notifications from the same app. To counter this, ensure each push notification stands out with a strong headline and relevant content. Avoid sending too many notifications which might clutter the notification window.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
- What is a good CTR for push notifications?
A CTR between 1–2% is considered average, but with segmentation and personalization, it can peak at 4% for news publishers.
- Does time zone impact push notification timings?
Yes, publishers should keep in mind to always schedule notifications based on the subscriber’s local time for maximum engagement.
- Are push notification timings different for desktop and mobile users?
Yes, after analysing push notifications sent by multiple publisher partners we’ve observed that desktop users engage more during work hours. In comparison, mobile users engage throughout the day, especially during general commute times in the mornings and evenings.
- Do push notification timings vary by industry?
Yes, push notification timings vary by industry and domain. For news & media, mornings and evenings work best; e-commerce thrives at lunch, evenings, and weekends; finance aligns with market hours; food delivery peaks at meal times; and gaming/entertainment perform best in evenings and weekends.
- Should I send push notifications on weekdays or weekends?
Weekdays are prime time for delivering urgent, time-sensitive information. Publishers should focus on sending breaking news alerts, important updates, and major headlines during peak hours on weekdays. On weekends, publishers can experiment with evergreen, long-form updates and relaxed content. A lower frequency is advised on the weekends, unless it is breaking news.
- Should I A/B test notification timing?
Yes. Different audience types engage at different times. A/B testing notification timing can help you find the sweet spot that works for your audience.
