Written by RingingSay

The pressure on App developers in today's mobile internet industry to seek user growth is increasing due to fierce market competition, rapidly changing user needs, and the emergence of new tracks and playstyles.

Meanwhile, Push, as one of the key means to promote user growth, faces numerous issues that need to be addressed in its implementation, such as the complexity of channel management, low click-through rates, high rates of unintended engagement, and poor retention effects.

To better achieve user growth, developers must take further action with Push notifications.

How can this dilemma be broken? Some moves by ecosystem vendors are providing valuable references.

On August 28, Huawei AppGallery, Push User Growth Service, and Jinghong Dongneng jointly hosted a user growth salon in Hulunbeier, Inner Mongolia, targeting internet application developers. The event systematically introduced how the HarmonyOS ecosystem can help developers achieve user growth, with a focus on pan-entertainment apps such as audio-visual entertainment and news information. Participants engaged in detailed discussions on the value and functions of Huawei Push User Growth Service.

From Huawei's actions, it is evident that there are now clear paths for Apps to effectively leverage Push notifications.

The era of "win-win" is coming to an end, and the value of Push in the "zero-sum" era is prominent

In 2014, during the rapid development of the mobile internet, substantial incremental users were waiting for developers. Growth was achievable as long as developers dared to act. Under these circumstances, the market dividend for user growth was more significant, while the value of Push in retaining users was relatively smaller.

However, the number of users has now peaked. According to QuestMobile data, as of June 2024, the monthly active user base of the mobile internet reached 1.235 billion, approaching the total population, with a year-on-year growth rate of just 1.8%. Correspondingly, the total user time spent on the internet has exceeded 20 million hours, with a growth rate falling below 5%.

With a relatively fixed user base, if an App wants to grow, it must find ways to compete for user time from the overall pool. Since the total user time remains constant and is merely redistributed among Apps, any increase in one App's user time necessarily leads to a decrease in another's (or, to gain more attention from users, an App must take it away from other apps rather than relying on overall growth). This forms a typical "zero-sum game" mentioned in fields such as economics.

Obviously, in the "zero-sum" era, developers must focus more on competing for the attention of existing users (as there are few incremental "new" users or "new" user time), which is precisely the responsibility and value of Push notifications.

From the user's perspective, there are only 24 hours in a day, and their total attention (time) is limited. If they engage with Product A, they are unlikely to use Product B. For Product B to grow, it must attract users' attention away from other products.

In this context, the value of Push differs significantly from that during the rapid development of the mobile internet – it has become one of the primary drivers of user growth, and its success or failure directly determines an App's ability to "capture user time." For pan-entertainment Apps, particularly those involving audio-visual entertainment and news information that inherently require "substantial consumption of user time," the value of high-quality Push notifications in user growth is even more evident in the "zero-sum" competition. When an App captures users' attention, it simultaneously captures a significant amount of their time.

Under the "Barrel Effect," Push Notifications Must Address the "Soulful Three Questions"

Logically, Push notifications are not complicated. They involve pushing appropriate content to the right audience at the right time and in the right way.

This can be broken down into three questions that Push must address: Who are your users (attributes)? Where do user needs come from (time periods, scenarios, etc.)? And where do you want the user experience to go (content)? These are the "soulful three questions" that Push must solve.

Conversely, the reason why many Push notifications are ineffective or even evoke user resentment lies in the failure to adequately address one or more of these questions.

Your content may be pushed to the wrong audience, who find it uninteresting and disruptive.

You may fail to identify the right time and manner to push content to users in specific scenarios, leading to diminished effectiveness or even user resentment and uninstallations.

Or, you may target the right audience and time but fail to create compelling content that draws users to the desired destination...

All aspects must be well-executed for a successful Push campaign, exemplifying the "Barrel Effect" – the outcome is determined by the weakest link, despite the strengths of other links.

Of course, many App developers are aware of these requirements but struggle to implement them or lack a suitable platform to help them formulate and execute appropriate strategies. This is essentially a matter of fine-grained operation and resource coordination.

Huawei Push User Growth Service addresses each question, strengthening and lengthening every plank of the "barrel."

1. "Who are you (the user)?"

Accurate user targeting is a prerequisite for effective Push notifications, but it is also a well-worn topic.

Ultimately, achieving this requires technical capability, which Huawei Push User Growth Service strives to provide.

Leveraging Huawei's powerful profiling platform, it offers dozens of labels, including basic attributes, user behavior tags, and interest tags, for targeting purposes. Additionally, partners can integrate via API or RTA to select their own audiences or match audiences with Huawei's to achieve more precise targeting.

For example, using the API interface, developers can accurately match interest-based content based on user location information, browsing or bookmarking history, etc., enabling "precise identification" before delivery.

Under typical profiling granularity, a user might be identified as a "star chaser," but with Huawei Push User Growth Service, you can even pinpoint specific stars for more targeted delivery. Furthermore, this precision is refined through analyzing user actions (clicks, non-clicks) on messages.

Undoubtedly, for pan-entertainment Apps, user differences are particularly pronounced, spanning nearly all age groups and industries, with vastly different content preferences. In such cases, fine-grained Push notifications are crucial.

2. "Where do your user needs come from?"

Why a user needs a Push notification is determined by multiple factors based on their attributes. Understanding these needs is essential to preparing appropriate Push content.

For pan-entertainment Apps, users have diverse preferences that vary based on time periods and their moods. These factors significantly influence whether a Push notification is accepted.

Huawei Push User Growth Service assists developers in formulating strategies from the user's perspective. It can broadly push content based on time and user interests or more delicately design strategies using multi-dimensional data to recommend suitable content, thereby enhancing click-through rates, playback durations, and payment conversion rates.

For instance, in a news App Push case, if the user is a middle-aged male between 7:00 and 9:00 AM, pushing political news and case-related content between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM would be effective. For females, pushing education and health-related content during these respective time periods would also yield good results.

These strategies, formulated in collaboration with developers based on long-term user insights, leverage Huawei Push User Growth Service's rich data accumulation and operational experience – what benefits are most effective, which copywriting leads to higher click-through and conversion rates, and lower notification dismissal rates, among others.

The sharing of such "intangible assets" constitutes a significant value proposition of Huawei Push User Growth Service.

3. "Where do you want the user experience to go?"

After identifying who your users are and where their needs come from, providing high-quality and appropriate user experiences through Push notifications is the ultimate key. In the "zero-sum" era, where various Apps compete for user time, who captures it often depends on the first impression made on users, particularly for pan-entertainment Apps where Push design directly impacts the presentation of quality content.

This is why Huawei Push User Growth Service offers rich Push content display details.

In terms of "appearance," it differs from text-heavy displays by providing IP background images/icon customization services, enriching Push presentations. For pan-entertainment Apps, designs can incorporate popular TV dramas, variety shows, short video bloggers, and more, creating personalized displays that enhance exposure.

In terms of display methods, Huawei Push User Growth Service supports advanced styles such as pinning, expanding in the notification shade, and unfoldable notifications to improve message reach and exposure.

In terms of interactivity, it supports ringtones/vibrations, lock screen displays, and AOD (Always On Display) notifications to alert users of new messages, only displaying them when the user's attention is on their phone, fostering user engagement and triggering displays.

From the user's perspective, they devote their time, emotions, and experiences to Apps like audio-visual entertainment and news information. Huawei Push User Growth Service's precise targeting of audiences and attention to detail in user experiences make users feel respected as individuals rather than mere KPI numbers. Gradually, users develop positive interaction habits with Apps, transforming low-frequency users into high-frequency ones and high-frequency users into paying customers...

By respecting users, growth becomes effortless. Even in today's context where commonly used Apps are fixed, and many are installed but rarely used, Huawei Push User Growth Service also has the value of acquiring new users by reaching out to those who have installed but not activated Apps.

From specific practice outcomes, a short video App has made Huawei Push User Growth Service an indispensable channel for user reactivation, with year by year increasing reactivation volume and efficiency. Daily DAU increments reach millions, and click-through rates are 3-10 times higher than those of free messages, significantly enhancing operational efficiency.

In another case from the news industry, Huawei Push User Growth Service integrated AB testing functionality (designing different copywriting and delivery time slots for different trending news items to identify the combination with the highest click-through rate), ultimately helping the App achieve daily DAU growth in the millions.

Conclusion

Returning to the context of mobile internet development, the transition from an incremental to a stock era has further highlighted the value of Push in the "zero-sum" scenario. Huawei Push User Growth Service has established a systematic support system to help developers succeed in this unique phase.

Looking ahead, the "zero-sum" era may not be permanent. With the advent of new digital industries like AIGC, the mobile internet is undergoing many unprecedented changes, with new increments gradually emerging. User time may experience new growth amidst disruptive innovations driven by large models.

In such scenarios, Huawei Push User Growth Service's advantages based on HarmonyOS will come into play. Currently, it supports system-level messaging, ensuring timely message delivery to users even when Apps are not in the foreground, thereby enhancing user experiences. Additionally, it supports pushing HarmonyOS cards to the homescreen with one click, increasing card usage and user stickiness, and helping Apps gain long-term exposure.

Such system-level service support is more likely to adapt and integrate with developers' future innovations, meeting the needs of new technologies, products, and services.

As a new wave of "incremental" user time approaches, Push notifications with system-level support will have a broader stage.

*All images in this article are sourced from the internet.