Google Chrome Push Permission Changes

It is always our goal here at Aimtell to keep you informed of any important updates that may impact your web push notification experience. This time around, the potential change is coming from Google Chrome and may impact some websites and how their native opt-in prompt displays.

The update was recently announced during the Chrome Dev Summit that took place on November 17th. Google is currently testing various changes for opt-in prompts and how the native permission prompt will display.

Possible Updates to Some Permission Prompts

In particular, Google is testing out a minified permission prompt, or what they are calling a ‘quieter notification permission prompt.’ As a refresher, here is what the native opt-in prompt looks like on Google Chrome currently:

The change will only impact either websites that have a very low acceptance rate, or users who frequently hit ‘deny’ on opt-in prompts. In these cases, the ‘quiet’ permission prompt will display instead of the standard permission prompt. Here’s what that might look like:

It’s important to keep in mind that this feature is not yet live. It may never come to Chrome, or other browsers that are built on Chromium (like Opera and Microsoft Edge). Or, if it does, the final setup may be different. However, it is definitely a good idea to keep this in mind should it come to these browsers in the near future.

What This Means for Chrome Users

This update might have you worried that your opt-ins will decrease for Google Chrome users, but we don’t think this is a major cause for concern. In fact, we look at it as a great way to help get rid of spammy websites that no one likes anyways. Web push is great, but using it in the wrong way in order to spam users is something that we certainly would like to see go away.

For users who frequently hit deny on opt-in prompts, switching them over to a quieter opt in shouldn’t really impact you that much anyways.

What You Can Do

Still feeling concerned? We understand. First of all, if you are already experiencing a solid amount of opt-ins, you shouldn’t have to worry. While there was not a set rule given by Google as to what a low acceptance rate is, if you are getting a lot of opt ins, you should be in the clear.

Additionally, you can always choose to set up a custom opt-in prompt. In this case, your audience will be shown your custom prompt first. If a user hits allow they clearly are interested in your web push notifications, will receive the standard opt-in prompt, and will hit allow. This eliminates showing the native prompt to users who are not interested and who may impact your acceptance rate.

If you want to stick with the native opt-in prompt, you could enable some logic that would delay the prompt from displaying or restrict it to certain pages. For example, you could choose to have the prompt display on a specific page (say an About page) or could have it trigger once a user has scrolled a certain percentage of a page or has stayed on the page for a certain amount of time.

This will help to only display the prompt to users who have more of an interest in your brand and who have learned more about it as a result of staying at your site for longer. This will also help keep your acceptance rate up higher. You can read more about site-wide prompt logic and page-specific prompt logic to get a better idea of all of your options. While you can enable this logic for native prompts, keep in mind it can also be enabled for custom prompts as well.

Wrapping Up

We know that this possible change might sound a little scary, but given the parameters, we don’t think there is cause for concern. This change would only impact very poor sites with low acceptance rates or users who frequently press deny for all opt-in prompts.

If you are concerned, you can always make some changes to your opt-in prompt. Consider creating a custom opt-in prompt, setting up some custom logic, or both!

As we always recommend, take time when developing your web push campaigns and your opt in prompts. As with any marketing initiative, you need to first consider your audience and deliver an experience that they will enjoy.

For some additional reading, consider reading up on our guide to web push best practices, our top tips on the elements all the best web push notifications have, or for a more general overview, check out our Beginner’s Guide.