For news outlets, a robust mobile platform is key to maintaining reader loyalty and driving traffic. The resurgence of push alerts has enabled new possibilities, but it also raises a host of challenges.
One of the biggest hurdles is deciding what type of content to deliver via push. As a result, many publications have adopted a narrow definition of what constitutes a worthy alert. Some opt for a headline-style alert that provides the bare facts of a story (e.g., “Travis Kalanick has resigned as Uber CEO” or “Trump says he won’t release tapes of Comey conversations”), while others prefer to add a regional angle to nationally relevant stories (e.g., “Dallas City Council approves $1 million for a homeless center”).
Another major challenge is the lack of clarity around what success looks like. The vast majority of interviewees cited the need to measure engagement as a top priority, but this task is complicated by the fact that push alerts aren’t considered open rates under most metrics (which rely on devices and don’t take into account the number of different device types that might have been used to receive an alert).
A clear understanding of what a news alert is supposed to accomplish is also needed, but a consensus is not yet in place about how to achieve that goal. Some publishers say that a key objective is simply to get people back into the app, while others prioritize building brand awareness or creating specific types of content (e.g., breaking news or feature stories). In some cases, these objectives are mutually exclusive.