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Why every developer should be looking to harness the power of push

Push and pull

Why every developer should be looking to harness the power of push

It's common knowledge that mobile gamers aren't enormous fans of push notifications. Largely viewed as intrusive nuisances, it's no surprise that a lot of consumers either disable or ignore them.

Developers, however, should do no such thing, because, contrary to what they might think, push notifications are still having a big impact on user retention.

That's according to a recent study by Localytics, which found that the push notifications are working their magic.

A gentle push

The firm's research shows that apps that prod users with push notifications have a significantly higher retention rate than those that don't.

On average, 62 percent of users will return to an app within a month if they are being prompted by push notifications, whereas only 32 percent will return if they are left to their own devices.

Four months after the first session that gap becomes even bigger, with 36 percent of push-enabled users still engaging compared to a mere 14 percent of non-push users.

Localytics hopes it has proved that personalised, targeted, push messaging shouldn't be ignored, with the outfit encouraging developers to harness the "power of push".

"Push messaging, when leveraged with analytics to make them targeted and personalized, is a powerful tool that drastically increases app engagement and retention," reads a Localytics statement.

"Build a relationship with your users to delight them, and keep them returning to your app using the power of push."

What do you call someone who has an unhealthy obsession with video games and Sean Bean? That'd be a 'Chris Kerr'. Chris is one of those deluded souls who actually believes that one day Sean Bean will survive a movie. Poor guy.