Mobile & Web Push Notifications

Help the user with push notification strategy — from opt-in optimization and message design through segmentation, timing, frequency capping, and analytics. This skill is tool-agnostic but includes platform-specific guidance for Braze, OneSignal, Airship, Firebase/FCM, Customer.io, Klaviyo, Iterable, and MoEngage.

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.

Ask the user:

1. What do you need help with?

   • A) Strategy — planning a push notification program from scratch
   • B) Opt-in optimization — increasing push permission acceptance rates
   • C) Message design — content, rich push, action buttons, deep links
   • D) Segmentation — targeting the right users for push
   • E) Timing & frequency — when and how often to send
   • F) A/B testing — testing push variants
   • G) Analytics — measuring push effectiveness
   • H) Tool selection — choosing a push notification platform
   • I) Technical setup — SDK integration, certificates, FCM keys
   • J) Something else — describe it

2. What platforms do you target?

   • A) iOS (iPhone/iPad)
   • B) Android
   • C) Web (browser push)
   • D) iOS + Android
   • E) All (iOS + Android + Web)

3. What tool are you using (or considering)?

   • A) Braze
   • B) OneSignal
   • C) Airship (Urban Airship)
   • D) Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) directly
   • E) Customer.io
   • F) Klaviyo
   • G) Iterable
   • H) MoEngage
   • I) Not decided yet
   • J) Other

If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step. Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end.

Step 2 — Strategy and approach

When push notifications work best

Push is highest-value for:

• Time-sensitive actions — flash sales, expiring offers, appointment reminders
• Transactional updates — order shipped, delivery arriving, payment received
• Re-engagement — dormant users, abandoned cart, feature they haven't tried
• Social triggers — someone liked/commented/messaged them
• Personalized content — recommendations, score updates, content they follow

Push is lowest-value (and most likely to cause unsubscribes) for:

• Generic promotional blasts with no personalization
• Sending too frequently (more than 1-2 per day for most apps)
• Content that could wait for email or in-app

Push opt-in strategy

iOS requires explicit user permission for push. Android auto-enables but users can disable. Web requires permission prompt.

The push primer pattern (critical for iOS):

1. Don't show the OS permission prompt immediately on first launch
2. First, show a custom in-app message explaining the value ("Get notified when your order ships")
3. If user taps "Enable" on your custom prompt → show the OS prompt
4. If user taps "Not now" → don't show OS prompt, try again later
5. This avoids permanent "denied" status from premature OS prompts

Opt-in rate benchmarks:

• With push primer: 50-70% opt-in
• Without primer (OS prompt on first launch): 30-40% opt-in
• Web push: 5-15% opt-in (browser prompts are lower than native)

Message design principles

1. Keep it short — 40-50 characters for the title, 100-120 for the body (iOS truncates beyond this)
2. Lead with value — what does the user get? Not what you want them to do.
3. Personalize — use name, last action, product interest. Generic = ignored.
4. Create urgency (sparingly) — "Ends in 2 hours" works, but don't manufacture false urgency
5. Rich push — images, GIFs, and action buttons increase engagement 20-40%
6. Deep link — always deep link to the relevant screen, never just open the app home

Frequency and timing

Frequency guidelines:

• Transactional: No limit — users expect these (order updates, etc.)
• Promotional: 2-5 per week for engaged users, 1-2 per week for casual users
• Maximum: More than 1-2 per day drives unsubscribes for most app categories
• Use frequency capping: Most tools let you cap per user per day/week

Timing optimization:

• Intelligent timing (Braze, Iterable, OneSignal): ML-based per-user optimal send time
• Manual defaults: 10am-1pm and 6-9pm local time for most consumer apps. Avoid late night (10pm-7am).
• Quiet hours: Always respect quiet hours — never wake users up

Step 3 — Platform-specific guidance

Read references/platform-guide.md for detailed platform comparisons, implementation checklist, and key metrics.

You no longer need the platform guide details — focus on the user's specific situation.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Based on the user's specific question, provide targeted recommendations drawing on the strategy framework in Step 2 and platform details in the reference guide.

Gotchas

1. iOS push permission is permanent — if a user denies the OS prompt, you can never ask again (they must go to Settings to re-enable). This is why push primers are critical. Never show the OS prompt without a primer first.
2. Android 13+ requires opt-in — Android 13 (API 33) introduced runtime push permission, similar to iOS. Don't assume all Android users have push enabled by default.
3. Push tokens expire — if a user doesn't open your app for months, their push token may become invalid. Monitor delivery rates and clean stale tokens. Don't count push-enabled users who haven't opened the app in 90+ days.
4. Web push has low opt-in — browser push permission prompts are aggressively blocked by users (5-15% opt-in). Don't rely on web push as a primary channel. Use it as a supplement to email.
5. Rich push requires separate assets — iOS and Android handle rich push differently (different image sizes, aspect ratios, and action button limits). Test rich push on both platforms before launching.

• Self-improving: If you discover something not covered here, append it to references/learnings.md with today's date.

Before recommending a specific platform skill

This skill covers a strategy domain across many platforms. Before pointing the user to any specific platform skill (any /sales-{platform} listed in ## Related skills, e.g., /sales-mailshake, /sales-klaviyo, /sales-apollo), read that platform skill's actual SKILL.md first. The 1-line description in ## Related skills is enough to identify a candidate — it's not enough to commit to it or to write a prompt that invokes it well.

How to read it:

• If ~/.claude/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md exists locally, Read it.
• For sales-* skills, WebFetch directly from this repo: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md — e.g., for sales-mailshake: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/sales-mailshake/SKILL.md.
• For non-sales-* skills (third-party), look up {org}/{repo} in ~/.claude/skills/sales-do/references/skill-sources.md if installed and fetch the same skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md path under that repo.

After reading, ground your recommendation in something concrete from the SKILL.md (its scope, a sub-flow, its argument-hint shape, or a "Do NOT use for..." negative trigger). Align any generated invocation with the platform skill's argument-hint. If the platform skill turns out not to fit the user's situation, swap to another or handle the question here directly rather than recommending a poor fit.

Related skills

• /sales-iterable — Iterable platform help (push setup, Studio journeys, Brand Affinity, STO)
• /sales-braze — Braze platform help (push setup, Canvas integration, BrazeAI timing)
• /sales-customerio — Customer.io platform help (push in Journeys)
• /sales-klaviyo — Klaviyo platform help (push for Shopify e-commerce)
• /sales-omnisend — Omnisend platform help (web push + email + SMS for ecommerce)
• /sales-sendpulse — SendPulse platform help (web push + email + chatbots + Automation 360)
• /sales-in-app-messaging — In-app messages and content cards (companion to push)
• /sales-email-marketing — Email marketing strategy (coordinate push + email cadence)
• /sales-sms-marketing — SMS marketing strategy (coordinate push + SMS cadence)
• /sales-live-chat — Live chat and chatbot (another engagement channel)
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do

Examples

Example 1: Designing a push opt-in strategy

User says: "Our iOS push opt-in rate is only 25%. How do we improve it?" Skill does: Diagnoses likely cause (showing OS prompt too early without primer). Designs a push primer flow: trigger in-app message after user completes first key action (e.g., first purchase, first save), explain value proposition specific to their behavior, show OS prompt only on "Enable" tap. Provides benchmark (50-70% with primer). Result: Push primer implementation plan with expected 2x improvement in opt-in rate

Example 2: Building a cart abandonment push campaign

User says: "I want to send push notifications to users who abandon their cart in our e-commerce app" Skill does: Designs a 3-step push sequence: Push 1 at 1 hour ("You left something behind" + product image), Push 2 at 24 hours ("Still interested? Items selling fast"), Push 3 at 48 hours with incentive ("10% off if you complete today"). Includes deep linking to cart, frequency capping, and exit conditions (remove on purchase). Result: Automated cart abandonment push campaign with timing, content, and deep links

Example 3: Choosing a push notification platform

User says: "We're a Series A startup with 50K MAUs. Should we use OneSignal or Braze for push?" Skill does: Compares OneSignal (free tier, simpler, good for push-primary) vs Braze (enterprise, expensive but powerful cross-channel). At 50K MAUs, recommends OneSignal to start — free, fast setup, covers push + basic email. Suggests re-evaluating Braze when they hit 500K+ MAUs or need sophisticated cross-channel journeys. Result: Clear recommendation with migration path as they scale

Troubleshooting

Low push open rates

Symptom: Push notifications sent but open rate below 3% Cause: Messages not personalized, bad timing, or sending to disengaged users Solution: 1) Segment by recent activity — only send to users active in last 30 days. 2) Enable intelligent timing / send time optimization. 3) Personalize with user name and relevant content. 4) Use rich push (images, action buttons). 5) A/B test titles and body copy. 6) Review frequency — reduce if sending more than 1/day.

High opt-out / disable rate

Symptom: Users disabling push notifications at > 2% per month Cause: Sending too frequently, irrelevant content, or no frequency capping Solution: 1) Implement frequency capping (max 1-2 promotional push per day). 2) Segment by interest — don't blast everyone. 3) Add preference center so users can choose notification types. 4) Review content relevance — are you sending value or just noise? 5) Reduce promotional push frequency for users who haven't engaged in 14+ days.

Push not arriving on iOS

Symptom: Push campaigns show sends but no deliveries on iOS Cause: APNs certificate expired, invalid tokens, or sandbox/production mismatch Solution: 1) Check APNs certificate expiry in your push platform settings. 2) Verify you're using the correct environment (sandbox for dev, production for App Store). 3) Check that push entitlement is enabled in your Xcode project. 4) Test with a fresh install to generate a new token. 5) Check Apple's APNs status page for outages.