What's the Optimal Sending Frequency for Ecommerce Push Notifications?

Push notifications can be a game-changer for ecommerce brands. But there’s also a risk involved with sending too many push notifications.

Get it right, and you have a direct line to your customers, driving engagement, conversions, and repeat purchases. Get it wrong, and you risk annoying users, leading to opt-outs, uninstalls, and lost revenue.

So, how often should you send push notifications?

The key is balance; a frequency that keeps your brand top-of-mind without overwhelming users. 

In this guide, we’ll break down industry benchmarks, best practices, and real-world case studies to help you fine-tune your push notification strategy for maximum engagement and retention.

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Why Sending the Right Amount of Push Notifications is Crucial

The optimal push notification frequency is about finding the point where you maximize engagement, without going too far and causing a negative response.

Send too few notifications, and you're leaving money on the table:

• Missed opportunities to re-engage users who might be ready to purchase
• Reduced conversion potential from abandoned carts or wishlist items
• Lower customer lifetime value as shoppers forget about your brand between purchases

It’s worse than just missed opportunities to engage users, though.

If you rarely send notifications, many of the people who download your app will forget about you.

The average person has 35 apps installed on their phone. The average millennial has 50+. It’s easy for one, silent app to be forgotten. When you finally do send a notification, you’ll be met with just strange looks, and likely a few uninstalls.

The retention impact of push notifications: Well-timed push notifications can improve 90-day retention by up to 3-10% according to industry studies.

But if you send too many push notifications, you're in danger of triggering what experts call "notification fatigue":

• Increasing opt-out rates as users become overwhelmed
• Higher app uninstall rates when notifications become perceived as spam
• Damaged brand perception that can be difficult to repair

The stakes are high: research shows that 71% of app users uninstall apps because of excessive notifications, while well-timed push notifications can increase app engagement by up to 88%.

Learn more: The Economics of Push Notifications for DTC Brands

Industry Benchmarks & Data on Push Notification Frequency

Let’s get into how often you should be sending push notifications.

The optimal push frequency depends on a few different factors. One factor is the industry your brand is in. Some industries tolerate/expect more frequency push notifications.

Here are some general benchmarks:

Fashion & Apparel

• Suggested frequency: 2-5 per week
• Common use cases: New arrivals, flash sales, trending items

Electronics & Gadgets

• Suggested frequency: 1-2 per week
• Common use cases: Major product launches, price drops

Groceries & Essentials

• Suggested frequency: 2-4 per week
• Common use cases: Fresh stock alerts, weekly deals

Health & Beauty

• Suggested frequency: 2-3 per week
• Common use cases: Replenishment reminders, seasonal promotions

The Golden Rule: Context Determines Frequency

Some brands can get away with a wildly different push frequency compared to other brands in the same industry, sending to the same customers.

The real key to understanding how many push notifications to send, and how often, is the context.

Not all push notifications are created equal, and their appropriate frequency varies based on the type of message you're sending:

Transactional Notifications (High urgency, low annoyance)

Transactional push notifications are the least likely to be annoying, as they serve a real purpose for the user – such as updating them about their order.

These notifications have real utility, thus you don’t need to be concerned with sending too many (within reason – don’t send 15 notifications just to let someone know their order has been received).

• Context: These notifications provide immediate value and expected information. They have high engagement rates and minimal opt-out risk.
• Examples: Order confirmations, shipping updates, delivery notifications
• Recommended frequency: Send as needed

Behavioral Notifications (Personalized, medium frequency)

Personalized notifications have more leeway than generic promotional notifications.

These are typically relevant and timely; they might be in relation to an action the customer took (such as cart abandonment or browse abandonment), or notifications with personalized recommendations.

• Context: These notifications are relevant to specific user actions, making them feel personalized rather than promotional.
• Examples: Abandoned cart reminders, price drop alerts for wishlisted items, back-in-stock notifications
• Recommended frequency: 1–2 times per week per trigger

Promotional Notifications (High risk, lower tolerance)

The most common issue with brands sending too many push notifications is actually that they send too many promotional push notifications.

If a brand sends a notification begging for a sale every day, you’re going to get sick of it quick. If the brand is lucky, the user just disables notifications. If not, they delete the app, and the negative sentiment lives on whenever they see that brand again.

• Context: These have the highest opt-out risk if overused, as they're perceived as marketing rather than service.
• Examples: Sales announcements, new product launches, general promotions
• Recommended frequency: No more than 2–3 times per week

The key?

The less annoying or salesy your push notifications are, the more often you can send them.

If your customers actually enjoy receiving your notifications, you can message them everyday. But if you’re butting in and trying to sell something on every notification, you want to limit it to 2-3 per week max (though transactional notifications can be sent as needed).

Real-World Case Studies: Lessons from Top Brands

Amazon: Personalized Product Recommendations

Amazon has mastered behavioral notifications by leveraging browsing history, purchase patterns, and wishlists to suggest highly relevant products. By focusing on personalization over frequency, Amazon maintains high engagement despite sending multiple weekly notifications.

Key insight: Relevance can compensate for higher frequency. Amazon's data shows that personalized recommendations have 3-5x higher engagement rates than generic promotional pushes.

Nike: Product Launch Hype and Exclusivity

Nike's SNKRS app uses push notifications strategically to build anticipation for limited-edition sneaker drops. The exclusivity and urgency of these notifications make them highly anticipated rather than annoying.

Notifications for high-demand, limited-quantity items are welcomed by users when they provide genuine value (access to products that might sell out).

Domino's: Effective Use of Time-Sensitive Offers

Contextual timing dramatically improves effectiveness.

Domino's has perfected the time-sensitive push notification, sending discount codes during peak meal-ordering hours. These notifications have clear context (hunger) and immediate value (savings).

Shein & Temu: High-Frequency Push Strategy

Fast-fashion retailers like Shein and Temu push notifications multiple times daily, reinforcing flash sales, limited-time deals, and personalized recommendations. This high-volume approach works for their business model but comes with higher opt-out rates.

An aggressive frequency strategy can work for rapid customer acquisition and high-turnover inventory, but it requires accepting higher user churn. These brands compensate by constantly acquiring new users.

Learn more: 10 Push Notification Best Practices for Ecommerce Brands

Conclusion: The Right Balance is Brand-Specific

Your optimal push notification frequency isn't something you can copy from a competitor or benchmark report. It depends on:

• Your specific audience demographics and engagement patterns
• Your industry category and customer purchase frequency
• The value proposition of your notifications
• Your overall marketing mix across channels

Data is your friend. Track key metrics related to push to get an idea of how your push notifications are affecting engagement and retention.

These metrics include:

• Open rates
• Revenue attribution
• Cart recovery rates
• App engagement metrics
• Opt-outs
• Uninstalls

The mistake a lot of brands make is looking at CTR or conversion rate on a message-by-message basis to understand the impact of their push notifications.

Your goal should be overall app engagement. Since there’s no cost per send, it doesn’t matter whether you send 3 push notifications or 1 to get an app open.

The real goal is to build a shopping habit, for which push notifications (when used strategically) are the best tool for the job.

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If you’re not sure where to start with push, or you just want to have your push notifications handled for you, we can help.

MobiLoud plans come with an optional done-for-you push notification service, in which we handle the strategy & planning, campaign management, analytics & reporting, and implementation of key automated flows like welcome messages and abandoned cart notifications.

We’ll take care of strategy, creation, scheduling, and optimization, so you don’t have to.

Our team of experts use the same playbook that numerous brands have followed to drive $10k+ in additional monthly revenue from push.

Get a free consultation to discuss how MobiLoud can help you manage your mobile app and push notifications for the highest return on your investment.

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Final Thoughts

The most successful push notification strategies share these characteristics:

1. They're continuously tested and refined based on data, not assumptions
2. They respect user preferences, often allowing customers to set their own notification frequency
3. They prioritize relevance over volume, understanding that personalization allows for higher frequency without fatigue
4. They vary frequency by notification type, sending transactional updates as needed while being more conservative with promotional messages

When you find the right balance, push notifications become a powerful tool for increasing customer lifetime value, improving retention, and creating a more profitable app experience.