Research pick: Push the button - "Enabling smartphone push notifications: the effect of a framed opt-in request"

Push notifications from the applications on one’s smart device can be very useful. They can also be rather intrusive in some instances. As such, within the European Union, there is a requirement for applications, apps, to request permissions from users as to whether they opt-in to such notifications. Research in the International Journal of Mobile Communications looks at how app providers might frame this opt-in request to better serve their own needs, provide a useful service for their users, but also keep within the legal requirements for such apps.

Diana Gavilan of the Research Unit – ESIC University in the Facultad de Ciencias de la Información and Maria Avello of the Department of Marketing in the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales both at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, have looked at the two ways in which such opt-in requests might be framed. The researchers analyse those requests from a personal and a social perspective.

Fundamentally, their work reveals that developers and providers hoping to achieve greater opt-in rates for push notifications from their apps need to improve the quality of information that they provide in those requests. This ultimately will lead to a greater number of people choosing to opt-in. The team suggests that their work improves our understanding of the consumer decision-making process on such matters. The team suggests that opt-in requests must inform users of the value added by opting-in in terms of their experience of using the app as well as demonstrating a so-called social proof.

Given that push notifications are often about marketing, the work also offers new insight on how the consumer decision-making process affects response to mobile advertising. The way in which users respond to particular types of opt-in requests also suggests how the wording of a marketing campaign might also be optimised to encourage an improved response. The team also offers a warning to those companies and providers that might follow their advice in terms of opt-in requests. If the request is couched in such a way that it makes promises, such as offering a better experience than a rival app, then the company must be able to live up to those promises or else risk losing consumer trust altogether.

Gavilan, D. and Avello, M. (2023) ‘Enabling smartphone push notifications: the effect of a framed opt-in request’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp.1–18.