What is the best time to send push notifications?

The key to communicating effectively with your users is to deliver the right content to the right audience at the right time.

When is the right time? Here are some hints:

1. Send your notifications before/after other apps/websites

Our clients have been sending push thanks to Batch for years now. We analyzed their habits and discovered that they mainly send push notifications at three specific moments of the day:

• Early morning, from 7 AM to 9 AM

• Mid-day, during the lunch break from 12 PM to 2 PM

• Early evening, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Knowing that, do not hesitate to send your push notifications a little earlier than most other apps. For instance, you can schedule your push notification at 11:55 AM to make sure your users receive it before they receive alerts from other apps at noon sharp.

2. Make sure you pick the right scheduling mode

You can pick between two options when scheduling a simple or recurring push campaign:

• Local time: This option lets you send a push notification that will be received based on the user's timezone so at the same hour in every country. This ensures that marketing efforts target your users at a uniform time.

• Global time: This option allows you to send a push notification to your users at a specific UTC regardless of their location. Every user will receive the message at the same time.

3. Send your notifications when users are most likely to engage with your app/website

Go to Analytics > Push > More > iOS / Android / Web and set the dates for 3 days maximum. This way, you will be able to see the analytics, hour by hour. The "Starts" chart (blue) shows when your app is most opened by your users (in UTC):

Check your app's peak hours—these are the times when users naturally engage the most. This indicates they are available and more likely to open your notifications during that period.

4. Check the influenced opens

If you notice more influenced opens than direct opens, it may indicate that your push campaign was sent too early. Instead of opening the notification immediately, users opened your app within three hours after receiving it.

To check the ratio of direct to influenced opens, visit the campaign's analytics section:

5. Match the send time with the audience and the content

Keep in mind that the advice above is general and should be tailored to your audience and the message you’re sending. Always consider the specifics of your market, your app, and your users' habits.

For example, media apps often see better engagement when sending push notifications early on weekday mornings, while fashion, lifestyle e-commerce, and entertainment apps tend to perform better in the late afternoon or on weekends.