As ecommerce brands prepare their marketing promotions for the 2021 holiday season, a new report suggests they should use web push messages as part of their mix to drive greater sales.
Omnisend’s research discloses that the average conversion rate for web push messages—which appear when a browser is open on any type of device—is 35.7%. In other words, one in three people who click on these opt-in notifications makes a purchase.
The findings are part of Omnisend’s Ecommerce Statistics Report: Email, SMS, and Push Message Marketing (H1, 2021). Research reveals how consumers engaged with direct communication channels during the first six months of 2021.
In addition to analyzing 20 million web push messages, Omnisend examined the performance of 10 billion emails and nearly 25 million SMS. All messages were sent by customers from the Omnisend marketing platform.
The conversion rates of automated email messages are nearly equal to that of web push messages. Automations—email workflows triggered by a user behavior, such as abandoning a shopping cart—convert at 33.19%, an increase from 29.75% in 2020.
They generated 32% of all email marketing orders while accounting for only 2.4% of email sends. The remaining emails were manually scheduled campaign promotions.
Other email marketing highlights of the report include:
- The conversion rate for manually scheduled campaign promotions is 6.82%, a rise from 6.49%
- Welcome messages continue to have the highest conversion rates among automations, triggering 53% of recipients to buy
- Transaction-based automated messages are opportunities for brands to increase their email marketing sales; e.g., one in every four who clicks on an order confirmation email makes another purchase
The report also indicates that the use of SMS continues to grow after a breakout year in 2020. Ecommerce brands are on pace to send more than three times the number than they did last year. The conversion rate, thus far for 2021, averages 2.4%.
CEO and Co-Founder Rytis Lauris said that Omnisend’s regular reporting on the performance of email marketing, SMS and web push notifications aligns with the company’s belief in educating ecommerce brands.
“It’s critical for small- to mid-sized ecommerce brands to understand the potential of direct-to-consumer communication and ways they can use them,” Lauris said. “These opt-in channels are the most effective way for them to increase their sales.”
Pointing to the rise of web push notifications in particular, Greg Zakowicz, Ecommerce Marketing Expert at Omnisend, said brands should take notice of the alternative channel.
“It is perhaps most surprising that ecommerce brands already sent nearly double the number of web push messages to consumers than they did in 2020,” Zakowicz said. “Our research indicates that marketers will embrace web push messages as a go-to, real-time marketing tool this holiday season.”
