Do some of your users use Safari as their web browser? More than likely at least some of them do, as it’s one of the more popular browsers out there today. With that in mind, we wanted to let you all know of a possible change coming to Safari.
A new feature was released as part of Safari Technology Preview 64 that will impact your permission requests. As you already know, before you can send anyone a web push notification, they first have to opt-in. By choosing to opt-in, the user grants you permission to send them web push notifications.
This update would require a user gesture to take place (such as a mouse click) before the request to send push notifications would be displayed. While not a huge change, it is certainly worth mentioning.
Why the change? In an effort to further improve user experience, this update would ensure that opt-in requests aren’t displayed immediately when a user lands at a website. We’ve discussed this idea in the past as well and how it may result in poor UX.
Impact on Opt-In Rates
Does this update mean you will see a sharp decline in opt-ins? We don’t think so. In fact, it may help improve opt-in rates! Alternatively, you might not even notice a difference if you are already employing some of our custom opt-in prompt features.
As an Aimtell user, you have a lot of control over your opt-in prompts, including how they look if you choose a custom prompt type, and when they display by using our prompt management controls. For example, you might already have a prompt condition that has your opt-in prompt display once a user has scrolled down 20% of a page, or once they have been at your site for 30 seconds. In that case, this update likely wouldn’t impact you at all.
If you have the default settings in place, your prompt will display to everyone immediately when they land at your website, and therefore the Safari update would impact your subscribers. The upside to this is that you are showing it to the maximum amount of people, but the risk of course is that your users will deny your request because they haven’t yet learned of the value of your push notifications.
Safari Technology Preview
As a quick note- remember that this update is currently being tested with Safari Technology Preview. This browser allows developers and users to test out new features that may be released to Safari. It isn’t a sure thing that this update will come to Safari, but it is good to keep it in mind should the feature go live in the near future.
Wrapping Up
That’s all we have to report on for now! Should this update come to Safari, you shouldn’t be concerned. As marketers, your ultimate goal should always be to provide your users with the best possible user experience. Implementing the user gesture rule should not result in a loss of new subscribers, and may in fact help you in the long run.
What are your thoughts on this possible change? Is this something you’d like to see on other browsers as well? Let us know by sending us a message!
If you want to get started with Aimtell, go ahead and sign up for our 14-day free trial.
Tags:
product feature, safari, safari technology preview 64 update*, web push notifications.
