How to attract the user without annoying him? This question drives innovation in online advertising formats for decades.
Advertisers are constantly looking for new solutions to effectively reach users, bothering them as little as possible because every ad displayed to a banner blind person is a loss to the advertising budget.
The search for a balance between monetization and user-friendliness created the format of web push notifications – pop-up messages that resemble regular smartphone or browser notifications. Not so long ago, In-page push notifications appeared, which claim to solve some of the limitations of the old format.
Let’s find out their differences and what benefits they bring to advertisers.
The main difference between ad formats
Visually web push notifications (classic push) and in-page push notifications (IPP or floating push notifications) look similar: those are the ads that appear in the corner of your browser.
However, the main difference is that while classic push requires an initial subscription from the user to get displayed, in-page is placed directly on the website, and it appears to any user currently on the website, therefore this type of ad does not require a subscription.
With this question answered, we can dive into nuance and the benefits of both ad formats.
What are web push notifications?
Push notification is a technology that allows an app to send notifications to the user. They were first used by Apple in 2009. Soon Android got a similar service.
Web push notifications allow sites to do the same – with the permission of the user, who agrees to receive notifications when visiting the site. After that, the website server can send notifications to the user even when he is not on it.
Benefits of classic web push
The introduction of this format as an advertising tool yielded incredible results for user retention and conversion. It has many undeniable advantages over other advertising formats:
- Visibility
Notifications appear on top of the current window, noticed instantly.
- Engagement
The notification format is familiar to smartphone users, so the first urge is to check it out.
- Retention
Advertising reaches the user even when they are not on the site, bringing them back again and again.
- Transparency
The user gives explicit consent to receive notifications, which means he already has high trust in the website.
Limitations of classic web push notifications
The ability to reach out to the user at any time is so tempting that many advertisers lose their sense of proportion, bombarding users with useless notifications.
After a few such frustrating experiences, the very idea of turning on notifications ceases to be tempting – and the annoyance of each new one accumulates, resulting in banner blindness and a decrease in traffic volumes.
Also, users of Apple and macOS smartphones were the first to have access to this technology, but are now protected from such notifications.
The new Chrome updates are also consistently limiting this kind of traffic.
Even though the classic push still works and brings in billions of impressions, its limitations are also clear to advertisers, and they are looking for new ways to interact with the user.
In-page push notifications
The introduction of In-page push notification ads addressed these issues. They look just like the classic push but pop up within the browser and don’t require a direct subscription.
Technically this is a banner ad that takes full advantage of push mechanics, except for the possibility of a pop-up banner appearing outside of the site, of course.
Also, they can be shown to apple users, reaching out to a whole group of users who are not tired of this advertising format.
Benefits of in-page push
Emerging as a solution to the web push format limitations, it has won the love of advertisers and stands out with a set of advantages:
- Fresh audiences
In addition to Apple users, in-page push also reaches those who avoid classic push.
- No need for a subscription
There is no need to subscribe, no opportunity to unsubscribe. The tradeoff is the inability to reach the user outside the site.
- Simplicity
The user base isn’t needed. The cost of error is much lower if the push is unsuccessful or too intrusive. It is easier to manage campaigns: when it is over, it is over, no clicks from the ones left for later.
- All advantages of web push ads
Looking like a web push, they are still as eye-catching as important notifications.
And the only limitation compared to classic push is that it is tied to the webpage.
So which advertising format to choose?
Despite their visual similarity, these formats solve different tasks. They are not mutually exclusive but can often work well together, giving you all the push traffic you can get.
For example, you can use the same creatives but pursue different goals: an in-page push will gather all those interested in a particular offer, while a web push will create a base of loyal users for mailings and other forms of long-term engagement.
Depending on your campaign and targeting, you can choose which format to focus on, because now you know how they differ.
And on RollerAds platform, both formats are available, so arm yourself with hypotheses and good creatives – with us, the sky’s the limit!
