How to Use Push Notifications to Increase Student Engagement

Do you want your students to keep their streak and cross the finish line of your course? With push notifications, you can make that happen. They work more effectively than any email campaign. And if you are not using them, you are missing out on a powerful tool to keep students engaged.

In this article, you will learn how to use push notifications to bring students back, keep them engaged, and ultimately drive course completion. We will cover everything from the best times to send notifications, how to personalize them, and even share some fun examples to get you inspired. 

Why do push notifications matter? 

Did you know that push notifications achieve much higher open rates compared to email, with opening rates increasing by 50% and click rates being seven times higher than email? 

That means, if you can use personalized push notifications, you can drive more engagement to your courses than with email campaigns. And there are reasons behind that. 

But first, what are push notifications? Push notifications are short, direct messages that appear on your students' phones, tablets, or desktops. They show up inside and outside of your course platform. Which means students see them even if they are scrolling social media. 

You can use push notifications whenever you need students to do something specific. For example, when a new module drops, you send a notification that announces it. If a student has not opened the platform for three days, you can send a notification as a reminder. Or, if you have a special offer you need your students to learn about, you can send promotional push notifications. 

When Netflix gets in the way and you start experiencing higher dropout rates,  you want your students back to learning. That is how push notifications help you to

• Get students back into your course when they fall off
• Increase lesson and module completion rates
• Boost attendance at live events and coaching calls
• Remind students about quizzes, assignments, and deadlines
• Keep your course active without spending more hours on reminders 

A study published on Frontiers is a perfect example of how push notifications successfully increase student engagement when you run your courses online. This system used push notifications to enhance online teaching during the pandemic. 

During the experiment, they used push notifications for various purposes, including random roll calls, sending questions to students, and collecting feedback. These notifications helped ensure that students remained engaged during online classes instead of just logging in. 

The question is, how can you use push notifications to activate your students?

How do you make push notifications work effectively? 

To answer your question, there are a few factors that contribute to higher clicks on some push notifications over others. The formula of effective push notifications is personalization, the right timing, frequency, and, of course, your copy. 

• Personalization 

Statistically, personalized push notifications lead to a 27% higher CTR compared to generic notifications. By personalization, I do not mean just using the student’s name in the copy. 

Just as you use audience segmentation in your email marketing and other marketing channels, with push notifications, we need to do the same. You can segment your students based on

• Students’ activity level
• Their learning goals and the topics on which you created the courses
• Quiz and assignment feedback results
• Time since they enrolled
• Behavior triggers that are based on the content they interact with in your online school, etc. 

For example, here is an example notification I received in my student portal from a marketing school․ 

• Right timing 

Just like with emails, you want to send push notifications for the hour when your students are the most active. So, if you ask any marketer what the best time to send push notifications is, the answer will be - it depends. 

According to Pushengage, the most effective time to send push notifications in the education industry is between 11 am and 1 pm, and after 8 pm. 

But it is always better to consider the segments of your audience. For example, if your students are entrepreneurs and the topic of your course is not directly related to their domain of work, they would hardly click on the notification at 12 pm. Plus, it also depends on whether you send it on the weekend or during the weekdays. 

Surely, the engagement time varies on different days, too. 

So, you should consider their learning time and when it would be most optimal to notify them in your case.  

• Right frequency 

The next piece of the puzzle, when it comes to making your push notifications effective, is how often you should remind your students about your school. 

Keep in mind that we, as users, can always disable and enable the notifications. Add if you send them via your school mobile app as well, even one notification daily can make the students delete your app. So you can experiment with the following:

• Do not send more than 5 in one week
• Do not send 2-3 notifications a day 

My recommendation when it comes to the educational industry is keeping it 2-3 times a week, but also including something that is relevant to the student at that specific time. There is a high chance your students will disable your notifications if you make all three promotional. 

• Copy 

The most important piece is, of course, your content in the notification, which shall be relevant and personalized for the student. We will cover the writing tips further in this article. But before that, make sure your notifications are true to your school brand. 

Because sending push notifications effectively also means creating an experience for your students. An experience where they feel noticed, valued, inspired, energized, or whatever your goal is. Only in that case are you guaranteed to activate your students and get them back to learning. 

And the funny thing is, if the experience and relevant copy are there, your students will not even pay attention to the frequency and will not get annoyed. A perfect example of this is Duolingo notifications. 

Why does it work no matter how many times a day they notify me?

Because of the personality of their mascot. We laugh at the jokes and feel like a part of the cultural moment that Duolingo has built around its quirky Duo. 

Steps to set up push notifications to reengage your students

To start writing your push notifications and making them effective, think about what your copy should convey and the messaging all your notifications revolve around. Do not forget to add a CTA and track key metrics to see how they performed. 

A case study on VWO shows how an online school that teaches English increased its CTR with push notifications by 18.76%. 

Let’s see how you can achieve results, too, with the right content. 

Make people ask a question with your content 

Think about what makes you stop scrolling and really read something. This usually happens when the first line catches your attention and makes you ask the question “how”. 

So, if you want your small content work

• Summarize the whole value in the headline. For example, if you are offering a discount or there is a new update, you want to make sure the most important information is in your headline. 
• Keep your copy up to 15 words. Of course, it also depends on the type of notification you send. For example, web, mobile, inside the platform, etc. 
• Match the writing language with the one you usually communicate with your students. As we have discussed in the examples above, you should be intentional about the language and tone you are using.
• Use symbols and emojis, but do not overdo it. One emoji per message is more than enough to convey the right emotions. 

For example, if you have a fitness course, the tips in action can look like this: Stretch those legs 🏅Your next fitness badge is one workout away. Complete your training. 

The formula for your notification content can look like this: [Personalization if possible] + [Urgent or Reward Hook] + [Clear Action]

Add urgency with CTA 

For your students to click, first of all, they need a solid reason. Mostly, it is your call to action that creates the urgency and invites them back. Your CTA can be the image you attach or the last line of your copy. 

• Make your CTA clear. The more specific you can be, the better. For example, you do not want to include things like click here, learn more, etc. Tell your students exactly what to do, like Start the next module. 
• Use action verbs, but also do not make it sound like a sales copy. You can include verbs such as download, start, join, and complete. 
• You can even start with a CTA in your headline if you want to introduce urgency. For example, only 2 hours left to claim 15% off. 

Also include the benefit they get in your CTA. That becomes another reason for your students to click. Here is an example by Babbel, which is one of the most popular language learning apps. 

Most brands use the formula [Action verb] + [Benefit or Result] + [Urgency (optional)]. 

Track key metrics 

The funniest thing about setting up push notifications for your online course business? You never know what can actually work better until you test several options. There are a few key metrics you should pay attention to, especially opt-in rates, open rates, and conversion rates. 

• Opt-in rate 

When you set up push notifications for your course, you cannot just send them to everyone. Your students need to say yes first. That is called an opt-in.

The opt-in rate shows you how many people agreed to receive your notifications compared to how many were asked. For the education industry, the benchmark for opt-in rate is 

• 39.7% for Android users
• 37.1% for iOS users 

• Direct open rate 

Direct Open Rate measures how many people open your course app or website directly after tapping your push notification. It tells you how many students your notification actually motivated into action right away.

If you have low opt-ins and low direct opens, you want to send notifications less frequently. 

•  Conversion rate 

When you use a push notification automation system, you can set campaign goals. For example, if your offer was 15% off the course price for early birds, you can track how many people who clicked the notification actually enrolled. 

Increase course engagement with Uteach’s notification system 

The next question is how you can actually set up your push notifications. You can use specialized systems like Brevo, PooshWoosh, and WonderPush. Or simply use the one built-in for your online course platform. 

For example, if you are using Uteach, you can send automated and custom notifications. 

Sending automated notifications on Uteach

On your Uteach dashboard, you can see ready-made templates for sending emails and notifications. You can simply activate the one that suits your case and send a personalized message.

To do so, navigate to the Settings section and select Email settings. 

For example, let’s say I want to let students know I added new episodes and lessons to their course. 

I can activate the corresponding email and customize it.

Besides receiving a notification, the student will also get an email. 

You can customize the text for those messages your students receive. 

Sending custom notifications on Uteach 

As for custom notifications, you can send them to individual students and specific student groups. 

They can receive the notification

• On their dashboards
• Through your mobile app
• Via email

To send a notification to a particular student, you need to access your student list

• Tick the box near the student’s name. You can select several students at once. 
• Access the Send a notification button. 

A small window will pop up where you can insert the notification text based on the best practices we covered above, format it, and send it through the way you prefer. 

The best part about Uteach is that you can notify segmented student groups at once. The platform allows you to filter students based on different criteria. So everyone in the same group can receive your message at once. 

Conclusion 

Push notifications are powerful tools to boost engagement because they reach students directly on their devices, whether or not they are inside your course platform. 

They help you bring students back after inactivity, remind them about new content or deadlines, and keep your course lively without adding extra work. Compared to email, they achieve much higher open and click rates, making them one of the most effective ways to stay connected with your audience.

To get the best results, it is important to personalize your notifications, send them at the right time, control the frequency, and write clear and engaging copy. By segmenting your students based on their behavior, progress, and interests, you can deliver messages that feel relevant and timely.

Ready to keep your students learning and loving your course? Start on Uteach, an all-in-one course platform to help you monetize your courses, digital products, coaching, live courses, webinars, and so much more. 

Start your free trial today and let our expert walk you through all the steps you can optimize to bring your students back on track.