▪️Push notifications

Push notifications are one of the very few offline but successful communication channels that could bring you very good conversion rates in no time. As a great channel, it is also a special one, since it is requiring special permission prior to being able to use it within campaigns.

Prerequisites & Technical Setup

Before sending push notifications, you must complete the required technical setup. Refer to the following guides for detailed instructions:

• Push Configurations – Configure Firebase credentials and service worker deployment

• Preparation for Web Push Notifications – Set up your website for push notifications

• Registering Tokens for Push Notifications over API – Register device tokens for native iOS and Android apps

How do push notifications work?

In order to be able to send push notifications to the end user, we first need to get permission to do so. The permissions are requested in the web browser and as soon as the user gave them, Smartico will mark the user as reachable for the push notifications.

Every user can control push permission in their browser. The push status has 5 possible options:

• Ask - the user wasn’t asked yet to give permissions (default status)

• Allowed - in this case, the push message could be sent, the user gave permissions

• Blocked - in this case, the push messages are not allowed, the user blocked permissions

• Browser Not Supported – The user's browser does not support push notifications, or they are blocked at the system level.

• Suspended – The user initially granted push notification permissions but later logged in with a different account. In this case, the push permissions and token are reassigned to the newly logged-in user, and the previous user’s status is set to "Suspended."

Gamification: Enabling push with pop-up trigger

Request permissions to send pushes

To start using our push services, you will need to build a Journey campaign that prompts the user to grant push permissions.

This campaign should address only users who have “Push status of the last session” set to “Ask”, this means that the browser is supporting push permissions and we didn’t ask this user yet. This way, we exclude those who have already granted permissions and those who have blocked them.

BO: Setting campaign to request push permissions

In the campaign, you need to show a pop-up to the end user, giving the proposition to subscribe to push notifications. This is usually referred to as “soft onboarding".

Soft onboarding popups

We have two pop-up templates dedicated to push permission soft onboarding.

Simple pop-up for soft onboarding

The template for this pop-up is called "Push permissions request (simple)".

This pop-up is not modal; it appears from the top of the screen and does not block the user from interacting with your site. You can customize the image, text, and titles of the buttons.

Popup with categories

The template for this pop-up is called "Push permissions request (with categories)".

This template has the same customization options as the simple one, and you can also customize the categories users can subscribe to.

Each user's choice will be preserved in the JS Markers, which are available for segmentation.

Later, you can build a campaign targeting users who have been granted permissions and subscribed to the specific category.

Flow after the soft onboarding.

If the user clicks “Maybe later” at this point, you can ask him again later.

As soon as the user clicks “Subscribe” in the pop-up, we will trigger the browser's permission request. From this point, most of the users will make a choice that will lead either to “Allowed” or “Blocked”

BO: Full flow of the campaign, sending 1st push message as soon as user gives permission

Once push permission is granted, you can attempt to execute a push as part of the flow.

How to segment users that can be addressed with Push notifications

To send push notifications to users, you will need to first identify users who have granted permissions. Create a segment with "Core: push enabled, user has at least one device" = true.

BO: Condition setup for enabled push

Push Delivery & Engagement Analytics

Smartico tracks push interactions throughout the notification lifecycle:

• Sent: Dispatched to the push gateway for all active player devices.

• Delivered: Confirmed received by the device (when supported by the push gateway).

• Impression (Open): Recorded when the player opens or taps the push notification banner. This automatically updates the player's Push Last Open Date property.

• Click: Recorded when the player taps an action button or redirect link within the push notification. This updates the player's Core: Push Last Click Date property, which can be used in campaign conversion rules and journey decision branches.

• Failed: Recorded if dispatch fails, along with the specific failure reason (e.g., no active tokens, invalid provider credentials).

Following that, the creation of a flow should be handled regularly. In case you have any further questions regarding this topic, please don`t hesitate to contact your Customer Success Manager.

Managing push notification resources

1. Navigate to the Marketing tab -> Assets -> Push

2. Click on the Create button

BO: List of created Push messages

1. Firstly, choose the Resource name (recommended to reflect the most possible usage).

2. Add Title, Message, optionally icon, attached image, or even buttons

IMPORTANT: Not all browsers support all fields. For further information, please check the internet resources for the specific browser capabilities.

BO: Push General setup

Use push notifications for communication of:

1. Promotions

2. Invitations

3. Announcements

4. Alerts

and many more!

Push Resource Elements & Customization

When designing a push notification resource in Back-Office, you can configure the following elements:

• Title & Body: The main headline and message text, supporting dynamic personalization tags and multi-language translations.

• Icon & Banner Images: Upload a small notification icon (recommended size 128x128 px) and an expanded rich push banner image (recommended size 1024x512 px for supported mobile and desktop browsers).

• Action URL / Deep Link: Specify the destination URL or deep link to open when the user taps the push notification.

• Interactive Action Buttons: Add up to 3 action buttons (e.g., "Claim Bonus", "Play Now") with custom button labels and individual deep link destinations.

• Test Send / Preview: Send a test push notification to a specific test player directly from the Back-Office before activating your campaign.

Dynamic content: Push notifications support content variations (multi-language and A/B variants), tags, and labels. For more information, check out our article Content Variations.

Target Devices

The 'Target devices' setting allows you to choose the type of app to receive the notifications:

• Native apps

• Web

• All

You can configure this setting in the Campaigns Flow Builder on the Push activity node. In a player's User Profile page, you can view the player's active push tokens and registered device platforms.

To ensure web Push notifications are received on iOS 16.4 and later:

• Users should install the Web App to Home Screen (mandatory for full push support):

  • Web Push notifications work only if the user installs your website as a PWA (via "Add to Home Screen" in Safari).

  • The Web Push API does not work directly in Safari browser tabs; it requires installation on the Home Screen.

To receive push notifications on macOS Ventura 13.0 and later (Safari 16+):

• The website does not need to be installed as a PWA. Users can request permission directly inside Safari.

BO: Profile page - Target devices

BO: Campaign - Target devices

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my push campaign fail because no active tokens were found for the player?

This error occurs when a campaign attempts to send a push notification to a player who does not have an active, valid push token. This happens if the player never granted browser push permissions, if permissions were revoked in the browser/device settings, if the token was invalidated, or if the player's active devices do not match the campaign's Target Devices filter. To avoid this, ensure your campaign audience or journey entry condition filters for players with Core: push enabled, user has at least one device = true (or push status Allowed).

How do I track conversions resulting from a push notification?

When a player clicks a push notification or one of its action buttons, Smartico updates the player's Core: Push Last Click Date property and records a Click engagement. In your campaign settings, you can define a conversion rule such as: Convert campaign when event (e.g. Deposit / Bet) occurs for users where Core: Push Last Click Date is within 1 day. You can also use Core: Push Last Click Date or Push Last Open Date in Journey condition branches to trigger follow-up communications.

How do push notifications work on Apple iOS devices?

On iOS 16.4 and later, web push notifications are supported only if the user adds your website to their iPhone or iPad Home Screen as a Progressive Web App (PWA) and launches it from the Home Screen icon. Standard Safari browser tabs on iOS do not support web push. If you have a native iOS mobile app, push notifications work directly through Apple Push Notification service (APNs) and Firebase without requiring PWA installation.