Ran a small informal test recently: sent the exact same push notification wording (“Your favorite is back in stock”) across 5 different stores I work with, all similar in size, just to see if wording alone made a difference when everything else - timing, audience, product type - was roughly comparable.
The open rates weren’t close.
What varied the most:
- Stores that had a habit of sending relevant, non-spammy notifications before this test saw the highest open rates - customers had already learned to pay attention
- Stores that had been sending frequent generic promos beforehand saw noticeably lower open rates on the exact same message, even though the wording itself was identical
- Timing mattered less than I expected. What mattered more was whether customers had already tuned the app out from prior notification habits
The real takeaway: the wording of a single notification matters far less than the pattern of notifications before it. A well-written message sent to an audience that’s already been trained to ignore notifications performs worse than a plain, simple message sent to an audience that trusts what they’re being sent.
This lined up with something I already suspected working with merchants on Apploy - the merchants who are careful and consistent with what they send early on end up with much stronger open rates later, even on ordinary, unremarkable notifications. It’s less about clever copy and more about not burning trust early.
If your open rates feel low no matter what you send, it might not be a wording problem - it’s worth looking back at your notification history and whether customers have quietly learned to tune you out.