How push notifications can save your app from getting dumped

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)

Generally, I'm not a fan of apps shooting push notifications out to my phone.

No, "Words with Friends," I don't care that I'm about to forfeit my game. There's a reason I stopped playing it. I don't need an alert any time I get a new friend on Facebook.

But apparently, notifications do make a difference when it comes to engagement, and sometimes they're what keeps an app from getting deleted off the phone or being one of the myriad of unused "zombie" apps left ignored on a smartphone. With many of these apps now relying on the "freemium" model of charging for premium content, constant use is vital. Sure, you spend a lot of money getting someone to download your app, but how do you keep them using it?

"You're going to see this battle for engagement instead of just a battle for downloads," said Josh Martin, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics.

Urban Airship, which provides the notification platform for many apps, including CNET's own app, provided me with some data on how notifications actually boost engagement. The company looked at the percentage of people who continued to open an app after a period of time between one and six months.

Predictably, the percentage dropped over time, but those with push notifications performed significantly better than those that opted to not have notifications. By the sixth month, 31 percent of peo... [Read more]