Vividness of news push notifications and users’ response

Abstract

With the media environment becoming increasingly digital, the shift to online news has weakened the direct relationship between publishers and readers (Newman et al., 2019). The current challenge for news media, therefore, is to build traffic towards both their apps and web sites. The most popular means in meeting such a challenge is through the effective use of “push notifications.” This paper analyzes how vivid push notifications can influence the click-through rate. It proposes that vivid (as opposed to “not vivid”) wording of headlines will have a positive influence on click-through rates. The use of vivid images will also have a positive influence on click-through rates. Additionally, this paper proposes that vivid images will moderate the relationship between vivid headline text and click-through rate only when they are congruent with the central theme of the news item. In order to test this moderation model, we conducted quasi-experimental field research, using a random sample of 770 news push notifications from mainstream media, on the subject of general affairs. Data were analyzed using model 3 of the PROCESS macro. The results support the hypothesis and contribute to the scant literature on push notifications in various areas (notably in news media), by providing a better understanding of the underlying mechanism explaining user response: the vividness evoked by these messages contributes to users willing to deepen the content of the news. It also discusses practical implications, adding to the growing literature on mobile news effects.