Web push notifications

Web push notifications allow you to maintain communication with customers through a web browser. The unobtrusive character of web push notifications will keep your message away from spam folders or ad blocking software. The notifications will always be displayed to users who have agreed to receive them.

The following combinations of operating systems and browsers are supported for web push notifications:

  • Windows: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera
  • macOS: Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera
  • Android: Chrome, Samsung Internet, Firefox, Brave
Important: Incognito Mode, Private Browsing Mode, and Guest Browser Mode do not support Web Push.

Benefits

  • Good way of increasing the number of your subscribers - users more eagerly agree to receive web push notifications rather than share their email address.
  • Great deliverability in real time
  • Good engaging results as directing traffic to a particular URL is only one click away
  • Good way to increase the traffic (for example, with a catchy notification title)
  • Good way to increase conversion as users can subscribe to web push notification to be informed about the product availability or discounts
  • The possibility of personalizing content of notifications by using Jinjava variables (such as the first name of the user, the number of collected loyalty points, and so on).

Examples of use

See examples in web push notification use cases

Anatomy of web pushes

A web push notification consists of the following elements:

An example of a simple web push notification
An example of a simple web push notification
No. Web push element Function Recommendations & possibilities
1. Title This is the top text of your notification - We suggest a 50-character limit to avoid being cut off, but the length depends on the browser
- You can personalize the title using inserts and emojis
2. Message This is the main content of your notification - We suggest a 100-character limit to avoid being cut off, but the length of the text vary across different browsers
- You can personalize the message using inserts and emojis
3. Icon An icon helps in brand recognition - We recommended using a size of 192x192
- To use an icon in the notification, upload the icon first in Synerise > Data Management > File.
4. Large image On macOS, it serves as an expanded icon, while on Windows and Android, it acts as a custom image - Make sure to follow the image requirements for optimal display
- To use a large image in the notification, upload the image first in Synerise > Data Management > File
5. Action buttons They redirect users to a URL you indicate - You can add up to 2 action buttons
- You can personalize the text on the button by using inserts and emojis
-You can add inserts to the URL
6. Close button This button closes notification. The browser adds a close button to the notification. n/a
7. Domain The domain is automatically included in the notification. n/a
8. Browser badge The browser defines the browser badge. n/a

Requirements

How it works

Synerise uses Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) as a platform for real-time messaging and data exchange between servers and client applications. The process starts when Synerise sends messages to FCM, which manages the delivery of notifications to customers’ browsers. To facilitate this process, the Firebase SDK is integrated through the JS SDK to generate a unique customer token. This token is then shared between Synerise and FCM.

FCM dispatches messages to customers with assigned FCM tokens. To display these messages in a browser, a service worker acts as a kind of proxy between the browser and the network, allowing for the interception and management of network requests, caching of files for offline use, and receiving web push messages from a server. Then, if a customer has provided consent for receiving web push notifications through a browser pop-up, the notification will be presented to the customer.

Overview of the process of sending a web push
Overview of the process of sending a web push

FCM token

An FCM token is a unique identifier which lets mobile and web applications receive messages from Firebase Cloud Messaging. It is generated by Firebase SDK and saved in the browser’s storage. The token is also sent to FCM and to Synerise together with UUID of a customer who agreed to receive web push notifications through a browser’s agreement form.

Tokens can be generated only when all the following conditions are met:

  • Synerise and Firebase are integrated
  • Web push notifications are enabled in the Synerise platform
  • The service worker has been implemented into a website
  • A customer agreed to receive web push notifications

FCM token as attribute in Synerise

The status of a profile’s FCM token is stored in the snrs_has_web_push_devices attribute. When the token is assigned, the value is true. This attribute is available:

  • on the customer’s card in Synerise > Profiles, this way you can see the status of this attribute for each customer
  • for use in Analytics

Token TTL

Tokens generated by FCM for web push notifications remain valid until the customer revokes notification permissions or clears the browser/application data. In case when the token is inactive for 270 days, it is expired (change introduced by Google Firebase since May 15, 2024). Every time a new token is generated for a customer, the webpush.tokenUpdate event is generated and added to the activity list on their card in Profiles.

Discrepancies between the number of customers with FCM token and the actual number of recipients of the notification

Differences may occur between the number of customers who have an FCM token in Synerise and the actual number of recipients who receive notifications. This is because Synerise isn’t notified immediately when a customer withdraws an agreement in the browser settings or clears browser data and at the moment of sending, all the conditions in Synerise are still met. After a failed delivery, webpush.notRegistered and webpush.tokenDelete events are generated. As a result, the snrs_has_web_push_devices attribute is set to false, but the marketing agreement status remains unchanged. The table below provides information what happens while customer profiles are merged. The table contains only allowed merging combinations and each mention of agreement refers to the web push marketing agreement.

FCM token migration

Token migration is a process in which the assignment of a FCM token is transferred from one user to another, along with associated changes in web push marketing consent. This migration occurs when a customer context changes in the browser, such as when a user logs out and a new user logs in, causing the FCM token to be reassigned to the new user or when customer profiles are merged.

  1. An anonymous customer is recognized
    Token and marketing agreement will not change because the UUID of the customer is still the same. This customer can receive web push notifications.

  2. A customer context changes in the browser - In the following scenario, both customers will not receive web push notification:

    1. A customer is logged in as john.doe@example.com (further referred to as John Doe) in the browser. This customer has been assigned a Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) token and his marketing consent is enabled.
    2. John Doe logs out.
    3. anna.smith@example.com (further referred to as Anna Smith) logs in (the customer context in the browser changes). A new user, Anna Smith, has been added, and the FCM token that was previously assigned to John Doe is now passed to Anna Smith.
    4. Anna Smith now has the FCM token, but her web push marketing consent is disabled. To receive web push notification, Anna must enable her agreement through an agreement form.
    5. When attempting to send a web push notification to John Doe, the value of the snrs_has_web_push_devices attribute is changed from true to false, the marketing consent remains unchanged.

  3. Customers are merged
    The table below provides information what happens while customer profiles are merged. The table contains only allowed merging combinations and each mention of agreement refers to the web push marketing agreement.

    Column: Source profile Row: Target profile From: Anonymous, agreement disabled From: Anonymous, agreement enabled
    To: Recognized, agreement enabled Result: After merging the profiles, agreement is enabled. The token remains the same. Result: After merging the profiles, agreement is enabled. The token from the recognized profile is kept.
    To: Recognized, agreement disabled Result: After merging the profiles, agreement is disabled. There is no token. Result: After merging the profiles, agreement is disabled. The token from the anonymous customer is rejected.

Marketing agreement

Marketing consent is the permission in the browser to receive notifications. The customer can provide such consent through the native window displayed at the top of the page. The agreement is stored in the receive_webpush_messages attribute (this is the backend name of the attribute) which can be found in the profile card, in the Subscription section:

The Subscriptions section on a profile card
The Subscriptions section on a profile card

You can prepare such an agreement in Synerise, more information about that is in Prepare an agreement form article.

Marketing agreement across multiple browsers

Customers will receive web push notifications on any browser where they have consented to receiving them. If customers have provided consent on multiple browsers, they may receive the same web push notification on each of those browsers.

Sending web push notifications to customers generates various types of events. These events can be triggered by both the customer’s actions (such as clicking on the notification or dismissing the web push consent) and by the infrastructure (such as failed notification delivery due to invalid Firebase tokens or exceeding message limits). By analyzing these events, you can measure the effectiveness of your messages and their deliverability. See default events associated with web push notifications.

Creating web push

  1. Define the recipients of the web push notification.
  2. Prepare the content of the web push notification (web push templates).
  3. Schedule the web push notification.
  4. Define the UTM parameters.

Sending methods

Web push notifications are sent in two ways:

  1. Automatically by using the Automation module. In response to customer activity, update of profile data, or other events (check the list of triggers that start a workflow), a web push notification can be sent to customers.
  2. Manually by clicking the Send button while creating web push notification.

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