Web Push Notifications

Why web push matters

Email open rates hover at 20-25%. Web push notification open rates are 40-60%. Delivery is instant, attention is immediate, no inbox to sort through.

The catch: web push requires opt-in. Once opted in, the user has committed to receiving notifications — they're a higher-intent audience than email subscribers.

Browser support

Web push works on:

• Chrome (desktop + Android)
• Firefox (desktop + Android)
• Edge (desktop)
• Safari 16+ (desktop macOS 13+ and iOS 16.4+ — requires user to add site to home screen on iOS)
• Opera, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers

Coverage: approximately 85-90% of desktop users, 70-80% of mobile users worldwide.

The VAPID protocol

VAPID (Voluntary Application Server Identification) is the W3C standard for web push. It uses elliptic curve cryptography — you have a public/private key pair. Browsers verify your identity via the public key; you sign notifications with the private key.

Monfri generates VAPID keys per app automatically. You can rotate them at any time if needed.

Getting opt-ins

Good practices

• Context matters. Don't prompt on page load. Wait for user engagement (scrolled 50%, visited 3 pages, signed up).
• Pre-prompt first. Use a custom "Would you like notifications?" UI before triggering the native permission prompt. Your custom prompt converts 3-5× better than native.
• Value exchange. Tell the user what they get ("order updates," "breaking news," "flash sale alerts") — not "subscribe to our notifications."

What kills opt-in rates

• Prompting on first visit (user hasn't decided to care about you yet)
• Vague value proposition
• No recovery flow if they decline (most browsers block re-prompt for months)

Campaigns and triggers

Send push notifications via:

• Campaigns: one-time or scheduled sends to segments
• Automations: triggered by CDP events, CRM field changes, or webhooks
• Transactional API: send to a specific subscriber from your backend

A/B testing

Test subject line, body, CTA, scheduled time. Split your audience automatically. Monfri tracks open + click + conversion (via CDP events) and declares a winner after your configured sample size.

Mobile push (FCM + APNS)

For native mobile apps, Monfri integrates with Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM, Android) and Apple Push Notification Service (APNS, iOS). Same campaign UI, different underlying transport.

Our Go-based delivery workers handle FCM + APNS + Web Push independently for isolation — delivery failures in one channel don't affect others.

Topic-based preference center

Let users subscribe to specific topics (Product Updates, Flash Sales, Order Status) instead of "all notifications." Higher opt-in rates, lower unsubscribe rates, better compliance.

Limits by plan

• Starter: 10K push notifications/mo, 1 push app, 1 sending domain
• Growth: 100K push notifications/mo, 5 apps, A/B testing
• Scale: Unlimited push, unlimited apps, topic preference center, dedicated resources