Surfing apparel manufacturer and retailer Rip Curl drove a 23 percent increase in app opens by incorporating rich media push notifications.

The Rip Curl Pro Love Surfing Events app is designed for fans to help them keep up-to-date on surfing event schedules, which can change to adapt to weather and sea conditions. Recognizing that compelling visuals are a big part of the experience for surfing fans, Rip Curl updated its apps for iOS and Android last year with rich media push messaging capabilities provided by Urban Airship. 

?For Rip Curl?s Live Events app, this pairing of mobile messaging options was the ideal solution," said Brent Hieggelke, chief marketing officer of Urban Airship, Portland, OR. "Surfing competitions can?t happen without the right waves, with push providing the ideal way to notify people when the competition was on and when their favorite surfers were about to catch a wave.

?Delivering video and photo highlights from the competition offered fans immersive content increasing their engagement with the app,? he said.

HTML-style notifications
Rip Curl is able to send HTML-style notifications to an email-like inbox within the app, addressing the need to increase customer engagement with its mobile app by delivering compelling visuals of surfing events.

By giving app user control over how they interact with the app, Rip Curl also aimed to increase loyalty and retention. For example, users can select which information they would like to receive, such as updates on specific surfers and upcoming events. Users can also set quiet times when the app cannot contact them.

Rich media push notifications can help marketers address issues such as that the majority of app users stop using an app within 30 days of downloading it.

?Mobile is an inherently personal, utility-driven medium,? Mr. Hieggelke said. ?Users have little patience for irrelevant or company-centric messages, but communications tailored to their needs, interest and context can offer them a valuable service and achieve mobile moments of delight that simply were not possible through any other channel before.

?Brands that understand mobile?s high-bar for utility and relevance and put their customers in control through apps and digital wallets can earn their mobile loyalty and build a directly addressable audience that they know more about than ever before,? he said.

Boosting app retention
Urban Airship recently launched new capabilities enabling companies to create a customizable in-app message center where messages are kept until users are ready to view them, enabling companies to send retail coupon codes and richer, more personalized content.

There are also several responsive design templates enabling marketers to easily create and preview rich app pages across the major mobile platforms.

Companies can also integrate their messaging strategies with third-party tools for lead generation forms, A/B testing and analytics.

?Push notifications deliver a tremendous boost to app engagement and retention and are perfect for delivering quick text-based updates such as breaking news, sports scores, flash sales and many other types of alerts and information,? Mr. Hieggelke said.

?Pairing push notifications with rich in-app content and in-app message centers that can offer in-depth information, multimedia, surveys to solicit feedback, buy now or add-to-wallet buttons and a multitude of other content makes sense for almost any brand as you can communicate with your entire app audience, not just those opted in to push notifications,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York