Conversion Tactic #6: Web and Portal Notifications

Welcome to the sixth installment of the conversion series. Earlier this week, we explored order confirmations and e-receipts. Now, let’s dive into another digital strategy to convert audiences: web and portal notifications. Read on to learn how they work and why they are important to your audience…

What Are Web Notifications?

Web and portal notifications are one of the newest tools in a digital communicator’s toolbox. They alert your customers or stakeholders about system upgrades, product or service enhancements, password resets, account creation, public safety alerts, and allow you to systemize sending thank you messages.

Types of Notifications

Notifications are used to engage your customer through strategic, automated messaging. There are a few key types of notifications that work specifically well in the pubic sector. They are:

Account creation alerts: When an audience member creates an account within your website you can send automated messages with their sign in details.

General alerts: As a public sector organization, your role is to promote the general welfare of the community, and one tactic to do this is to inform through alerts. For example, the city of Minneapolis offers snow emergency email and text messages to alert residents of a declared snow emergency to make sure they move their cars so snow plows can get through the streets.

Thank you messages: After a customer performs a desired action on your website like becoming a blog subscriber, filling out a website form, or chatting with a representative on click-to-chat, you can thank them by automating a thank you message.

Password resets: A 2013 study by the Ponemon Institute revealed nearly half of the study’s respondents were unable to execute an online transaction due to some form of password authentication failure. Most of the failures were a result of users forgetting their passwords. Password reset emails are a key way to share basic login information, plus communicate additional value to your audience.

Portal notifications: Have you ever signed onto your Gmail account and a light-box notification popped up detailing a new feature? That is a portal notification. Portal notifications are notifications that appear within your organization’s website or web portal, used to draw your website visitors’ attention to new information.

How Do Notifications Work?

Notifications are delivered to your customer’s inbox through marketing automation. Marketing automation is powered by software platforms designed to automate repetitive communications on digital channels like email, social media, and websites.

The key to automating notifications is to nurture prospects with highly personalized, useful content. This process helps convert the general public into readers, readers into customers, and customers into loyal advocates.

Do You Need Web Notifications?

There are many digital tactics used to reach your audience, so how do you know if your organization needs to communicate through web and portal notifications? Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you struggling to balance your communication efforts, and need a way to streamline ad-hoc communications?
• Do you have a vetted process for sending alerts?
• Do you have a password-protected system?
• Are you tracking your customer’s online actions?
• Do you have a proven strategy for customer lifecycle management?

As you answer these questions, you might come to a conclusion that it is time to explore notifications as a communications tactic.

While there are many marketing platforms out there, few specialize in public sector communications. GovDelivery partners with hundreds of local, state, and federal government entities to support its digital communications efforts, including notifications, so organizations can deploy personalized, informative, and life-changing information to improve your organization’s impact.

Connect with us today to learn more, and stay tuned for the seventh method of conversion “tax and grant notifications”!