IT Glossary
What are push notifications?
Messages sent by applications straight to a phone screen — the most direct channel to a customer, at zero cost per send.
Of all the channels available for reaching a customer, none is more direct than the push notification: the message appears on a locked phone screen, without a per-message charge (unlike SMS), without passing through spam filters (unlike email) and without depending on any platform’s algorithm (unlike social media). It exists in two forms. Mobile app notifications are the number-one business reason companies want an app of their own — an icon on the home screen plus the right to speak. Web push sends notifications from a website through the browser with no installed app and one-click subscription: cheaper to start, but weaker in perception and historically abused by dubious sites, so it deserves double restraint. The power of the channel is also its fragility, because access to somebody’s screen is a privilege revocable with a single tap, and the statistics are merciless about abuse: frequent irrelevant notifications lead to disabled permissions or an outright uninstall. Hence the rules separating a valuable channel from a suicidal one. Transactional messages come first — the order has shipped, the appointment is tomorrow, an agent replied — because those are expected and build the habit. Marketing stays rare, segmented and personally concrete instead of a daily blast to everyone. Frequency is capped, timing is chosen deliberately, and measurement stays honest: open rate by message type, alongside the opt-out rate.
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Why it matters for your business
Your own channel, at zero marginal cost
No per-message fee and no platform algorithm between you and the customer — an audience accumulated in your app is an asset, not a rental.
The right moment, caught live
An order dispatched, an offer about to expire, a forgotten basket — the message lands exactly when relevance peaks, not in tomorrow’s inbox.
Measurable reactivation
A customer who has not opened the app in a month receives a concrete reason to return — and the cheapest customer is the one brought back, not the one bought through advertising.
Frequently asked questions
Push notifications or SMS — which should a company choose?
Push wherever the app is installed: zero cost, rich content, and a tap that lands on exactly the right screen. SMS remains for critical messages to customers without the app, such as appointment confirmations and one-time codes — paid per message, but read almost without exception. In practice the two coexist by role: push for the ongoing relationship, SMS for the universal essentials.
How many notifications per week count as too many?
The honest answer is that no universal number exists, only your numbers: the opt-out and uninstall rates measured after each campaign. Useful reference points are that transactional messages do not count because they are expected, while marketing beyond two or three a week enters the red zone for most audiences. Before sending, the productive question is not what we want to say but why this specific segment would care right now.
Is web push on a website worth it, or does it damage the brand?
Used with restraint it can be genuinely useful for content updates and stock or price alerts, but the subscription pop-up thrown at every visitor in the first second is the anti-pattern that ruined the channel’s reputation. The civilized version asks permission in context, after an action that justifies it, with the value stated explicitly. Without such a context, email or a messaging app is worth more, because those are relationships rather than merely technical permission.
Let’s talk about your project
Message us on WhatsApp or send an email — you talk directly to a developer.
office@northdan.com · +40 752 070 247