The role of push notifications

Resumen

Smartphones have enabled consumers’ ubiquitous access to digital information at any time and place, which means that mobile devices allow marketers to directly and constantly reach consumers. Smartphones are important personal communication tools (Bacile, Ye & Swilley, 2014) that most users keep within arm’s reach throughout the day to conduct a host of activities beyond just talking or texting. Smartphones also provide advertisers with new opportunities for targeting potential customers. An important feature, unique to mobile devices, is their ability to support locationbased applications. Customers often use apps for quick access to location-based information, such as the nearest highly rated restaurant (Grewal, Bart, Spann & Zubcsek, 2016). Concurrently, an indoor positioning system based on simple transmitters (eg, iBeacon) alert firms when a person is within the range of a pre-determined set of locations of interest, such as when a consumer is in close proximity to a display of detergent in a grocery store. At that moment, the grocery retailer or detergent manufacturer would likely provide alerts, advertisements, or coupons to grab this particular consumer’s attention and move him/her closer to a purchase (or increase his/her loyalty or advocacy). All these are examples of mobile push notifications. These alerts combine the power of short messages and the imagery of visual ads to target specific users based on their interests, past behaviours, the place they are at and the moment in time. The constantly rising number of applications available in mobile application stores entails the challenge of bringing them to life and achieving customer …