The Smart Phone Lock Screen is the most valuable real estate in the world. It is personal. It is intimate. It is where you see texts from your Mom, photos of your newborn niece, and crucial Slack messages from your boss. If a Brand inserts itself into this space, it must do so with extreme respect. A Push Notification is a privilege, not a right. Marketing teams often treat Push like Email 2.0. “Let’s blast everyone that the sale started!” This is suicide.

Email Unsubscribe: User stops seeing you. Bad.
Push Disable: User silences you forever. You lose the channel. Catastrophic. You have one chance to be relevant. If you annoy the user once, they will revoke your license to speak.

Why Maison Code Discusses This

We build mobile apps for brands. We see the backend data. We see brands send a “Generic Push” to 100,000 users. We watch the “App Delete” rate spike by 300% in the next hour. We discuss ethics not because we are philosophers, but because Annoying Users is Expensive. It costs $50 to acquire a user. It costs $0 to lose them with a bad notification. We teach brands to treat the Push Channel as a “White Glove Service”, not a megaphone.

1. The “Boy Who Cried Wolf” Algorithm (OS Penalties)

Apple and Google are watching. They want to protect their users from spam. If you send a Push and the user swipes it away (Dismiss) without opening it… The OS records a “Negative Signal”. If this happens 5 times in a row, the OS (especially Android) will quietly suppress your future notifications. You are sending them. The API says “Success”. But the user never sees them. You are “Shadow Banned” on their device because you were boring. The Metric: Every notification must have a Target Click-Through Rate (CTR) of > 5%. If you are getting 1%, stop immediately. You are burning the channel.

2. The TRP Framework (Timely, Relevant, Personal)

Before hitting “Send”, ask 3 questions. If you can’t answer “Yes” to at least 2, do not send.

Timely: Does this need to be known right now?
- Good: “Your driver is here.” “Flash Sale ends in 1 hour.”
- Bad: “Check out our new blog post.” (Send that via Email. It can wait).
Relevant: Is this specific to my interests?
- Good: “The item in your cart is low stock.”
- Bad: “Sale on Men’s Shoes!” (I am a woman who only buys lipstick).
Personal: Does it use my context?
- Good: “Happy Birthday Chloé! Here is a gift.”
- Bad: “Dear Valued Customer.”

3. Transactional vs Marketing: The Safe Harbor

Transactional notifications are safe. Users want them.

“Order Confirmed.”
“Shipped.”
“Out for Delivery.”
“Refund Processed.” These trigger dopamine. “My package is coming!” Strategy: Piggyback Brand Value. Use the Transactional notification to deliver joy. “Your order is out for delivery! 🚚 While you wait, listen to this playlist we curated for the weekend.” This is low risk. The user is happy to see the notification, so they are open to the brand message attached to it.

4. SMS: The Nuclear Option

SMS is even more intimate than Push. It vibrates in your pocket. It interrupts dinner. The Rule: SMS is for VIPs Only (Top 10% of customers). Or for highly urgent info (“Your delivery is 5 minutes away”). Do not use SMS for a “Weekly Newsletter”. If you text me at 3 AM with a generic discount code because you forgot to set the timezone, I will hate your brand forever. Quiet Hours: Hard code your system to NEVER send between 9 PM and 9 AM local time. Respect the sleep.

5. The “Pre-Permission” Prompt (Soft Ask)

When a user installs the app, don’t just blast the standard iOS prompt: "Maison Code wants to send you Notifications. [Allow] [Don't Allow]" 50% of users click “Don’t Allow”. Strategy: The Soft Ask. Show a designed screen first. “We would like to notify you when your order ships and when exclusive drops go live. We promise no spam.” [Yes, Notify Me] [Maybe Later] If they click “Yes”, then show the system prompt. If they click “Maybe Later”, don’t show the system prompt. Wait 7 days and ask again. Once they click “Don’t Allow” on the system prompt, you can never ask again. Don’t waste the bullet.

6. Rich Notifications (Images and Actions)

Text is boring. Use Rich Media.

Show a photo of the product in the notification.
Show a video of the runway show. Use Action Buttons.
[View Order]
[Track Package]
[Remind Me Later] This makes the notification a “Mini App”. The user gets value without even opening the app. This is respectful of their time.

7. Deep Linking (The Golden Path)

If I click a notification about “Red Shoes”, take me to the “Red Shoes”. Do not take me to the Homepage. Do not take me to the App Store. Take me to the exact PDP (Product Detail Page). Broken Deep Links are the #1 cause of frustration. “I saw the shoe, I clicked, now I’m lost in the app.” Strategy: Use Branch.io or Firebase Dynamic Links. Guarantee the path.

8. Frequency Capping (The Limit)

How many pushes is too many?

News App: 5 per day is okay.
Social App: 10 per day is okay.
E-commerce App: 1 per week is the safe limit. 3 per week during Black Friday. Implement Global Frequency Capping in your CRM (Braze/Klaviyo). “Max 1 Push per user per 3 days.” This protects the user from your enthusiastic marketing team.

9. The Psychology of “Fear Of Missing Out” (FOMO)

FOMO is powerful, but use it sparingly. “Only 2 items left!” If you send this every day, it becomes noise. If you send it once a month, it triggers panic buying. Scarcity only works if it is real. If I see “Only 2 left” and I come back next week and it’s still there… I lose trust. (See Scarcity Strategy).

10. The Unsubscribe Flow (Exit Gracefully)

Make it easy to leave. Inside the App Settings, have a granular notifications menu.

Order Updates (Keep ON)
New Arrivals (Turn OFF)
Marketing (Turn OFF) If you force them to turn off everything in the OS Settings, you lose the transactional pushes too. Give them a Volume Dial, not just a Mute Button. This retains the critical channel even if they prefer less noise.

12. The Re-permission Campaign (Second Chance)

Users who said “No” 2 years ago might say “Yes” today. But you can’t ask them with the system prompt. Strategy: Use an In-App Message. “We noticed you have notifications off. You missed the Black Friday announcement. Want to turn them on for the holidays?” [Go to Settings] This is respectful. It explains the value they missed. If they say no, respect it for another 6 months.

13. Conclusion

Silence is better than noise. If you have nothing important to say, say nothing. Preserve the sanctity of the Lock Screen. Treat it like inviting yourself into someone’s living room. You wouldn’t barge in shouting “BUY THIS!” You would knock, offer a gift, and speak politely. Do the same with your Push. When you finally do buzz their phone, make sure it feels like a gift, not an interruption.

Want to master Mobile?

We audit Retention Strategies, Push Notification flows, and Mobile App UX.

Hire our Architects.