April 15 Google Chrome released a protocol for push notifications from sites - without the need to install additional applications or plugins. The founder of the mobile marketing service Jeapie Alexander Mikhailenko wrote a column for the CPU with a story about new technology, methods of use and benefits for site owners.

On April 15, 2015, Google released the new 42nd Chrome version, adding a number of innovations to the browser, including preset bookmarks on the browser's start screen and support for the Push API.

The release news didn't shine on how it's set up and works. In general, the community reacted without enthusiasm to the next update.

Since we at Jeapie do mailing lists various types push notifications for more than two years, curiosity has taken us far - at the moment, a ready-made service for sending notifications for Chrome has already been launched. Along the way, we hit a bunch of bumps and realized that there is simply no decent documentation or instructions for push notifications specifically for Chrome.

In this column, I decided to paint the anatomy Chrome Alerts and publish infographics that our team has specially prepared. I am sure that this technology will become a trend in the coming years and will significantly push RSS, email newsletters and even subscription to social networks out of the market. These messages combine conciseness, high readability, spam protection and the ability to personalize.

For those who do not like to look at pictures for a long time, you can try how it works “on yourself” in 2 steps (subscribe to push and send yourself a notification).

So, browser push notifications are short messages from a site to users. They come directly to the desktop of a computer (Windows, OS X, Linux) or the lockscreen of an Android device, even if the browser is completely closed. To subscribe and receive newsletters, you do not need to install any additional plug-ins or applications.

I emphasize that this does not work on iOS and most likely will not work in the near future. Apple issued the Browser Push Notification protocol back in 2013 for Safari on OS X, but it didn't extend to iOS.

Subscribing to push messages requires explicit user consent in a Chrome dialog box. It is impossible to customize the window itself, but you can first explain to the user what is happening, what is required of him, and promise that you will not spam.

When a notification is received, a “bell” appears in the tray - this is the notification settings control panel. In it, you can set a "quiet hour", clear the list of notifications, as well as see all your subscriptions and refuse sources that you are no longer interested in. This format is convenient and is the main protection for Chrome users from spam and unwanted ads.

The unique user identifier is the so-called token - an encrypted string. The token will be unique for each device, domain and key. This means that leaking subscriber data is technically impossible, just like trying to take a database from one of your own projects and transfer it to another. The same user from the same device, having logged in and subscribed, for example, to siliconrus.com and tjournal.ru, will receive completely different tokens.

Each push message has a hardwired arbitrary link. Clicking on a message opens Chrome and a tab with the corresponding page. Thus, the user can be directed to individual landing pages or pages with any type of content. In our service, we also add UTM tags to the link so that the users you push back can be tracked.

On the this moment the push channel shows excellent results in terms of subscriptions and the number of opens. However, given the convenience of managing subscriptions and receiving notifications, we believe that this way of communication is the future of the Web.

To install push to the site (in the form of an automatic dialog box), Google requires installing an SSL certificate and switching the domain to HTTPS. Recall that the “corporation of goodness” has been evangelizing SSL for a couple of years and even promised bonuses to the SEO rank for a certificate. Realizing that most small sites will not be able to do this in the short term, we have created a system that allows http sites to connect to push mailing lists. In this case, the subscription window will pop up when you click on a special widget.

In general, the connection process is similar in complexity to installation Google Analytics to the site - you need to insert a couple of lines of code into the site template and upload the push-worker file to the root.

If we talk about specific numbers: the Poster startup became our first user. The guys got a subscription conversion rate of about 15% among new visitors and plan to add API push notifications to their POS system in the next release. Our API allows you to create a complete white-label and include push as part of your product to platforms, CRM and solution providers, and agencies.

As a result, I can say that at the moment you can perfectly complement the functionality of your site or service with this technology, give additional value to users and get ahead of the mass market. The reality of the Chrome Push device is very different in places from the meager documentation that can be found on this topic. We will try to fill these gaps in the global market, as well as write a number of do-it-yourself articles for the Russian Internet.

When visiting new sites, a small window sometimes appears in the upper left corner of the browser, asking for permission to deliver certain notifications to you.

If the user approved receiving such notifications once, later in the task area of ​​the computer or mobile device, he will periodically observe the appearance of small windows with a message that new publications have appeared on these sites.

These are the so-called push notifications, they are also web-push - a modern tool for Internet marketers. And the most convenient means of informing users who want to keep abreast of events of interest to them.

What are push notifications?

Push notifications are short toast notifications that appear on the screen conventional computer or mobile phone and announce important events and updates.

When you click on a push notification that a user has received, site news immediately opens in the window, and users can be among the first to get acquainted with the information that has just been posted to the network. And sometimes it is important to be among the first users who have useful information.

Site push notifications are enabled by site owners, and users can manage push notifications through their browser settings. If the webmaster has not enabled push on the site, then the user does not have the opportunity (or need) to use them, configure them, etc.

What are the advantages of push notifications compared to other methods of delivering fresh information? How to manage such an informer in desktop Google browsers chrome, Mozilla Firefox or similar ones? Let's consider these questions below.

Benefits of push notifications

The benefits of implementing push notifications on sites for their owners, that is, for webmasters, are obvious. The fact is that few means of informing can provide 90% message delivery to the user and almost 50% delivery.

But what benefit does the reader of this or that site get?

Push notifications for some users may be more convenient than subscribing to site updates by E-mail. Messages coming from different sites are not accumulated in mailbox and do not complicate access to personal correspondence.

If at the moment the user does not have time to read the news, then by clicking on the push notification, he can open the page in a browser window and leave it until a convenient moment. Or send it to a lazy reading service like Pocket or Readability.

One of the disadvantages of subscribing to site news by E-mail is the accumulation of letters about new articles in the user's mailbox. With a push notification, there will be no overflow in the mail.

With insufficient protection of the site from hacking, it may happen that the database of site subscribers falls into the hands of scammers who first organize this database (the so-called spam attack). Then every owner Email from this database receives such fraudulent spam emails. It is believed that with push notifications in this regard, users are more securely protected: no one else, except the creators of the sites of interest, will be able to disturb users, no matter who hacks anything on such sites.

Push notifications and RSS feed

In terms of spam protection, web-push is similar to another means of delivering fresh information published on a particular site - an RSS feed. The latter even wins in that it keeps a history of messages about the publications of sites to which an RSS subscription is issued. Whereas pop-up notifications disappear forever after a few seconds.

But the use of RSS feeds for news delivery requires the user to perform independent actions: he needs to find the subscription button on each site himself (and it does not have standard arrangement) and enter the channel address in the RSS reader. If the user does not have such a reader in the browser, it still needs to be organized separately, for example, by installing an extension, selecting a web service, or resorting to using the appropriate program.

Push notifications themselves pop up and offer to subscribe, and their implementation is provided by the regular functionality of almost any modern browser.

Setting up push notifications in Google Chrome

The implementation of pop-up notifications in Google Chrome and browsers built on the basis of the same Blink engine (for example,) offers the user a completely open format subscription that does not require him to make any choice.

A push request in Google Chrome contains two functional buttons:

1. "Allow" to approve message delivery (1 in Figure 2) and
2. "Block" to add the site to the list of blocked ones (2 in Fig. 2).

In the latter case, requests will no longer appear on subsequent visits to such a site.

There is a third option: clicking on the cross in the request window allows you to postpone the decision (3 in Fig. 3). The site will not be blocked, and after a while such a request in the upper left corner chrome windows will appear again.

Setting up push notifications in Mozilla

In Mozilla Firefox (and other browsers based on the same Gecko engine), the web push delivery request form is arranged more cleverly than in Google Chrome, or rather, with the inclination of the user to a specific choice.

1. The “Allow notifications” button (1 in Fig. 3) is accentuated by color indication,
2. and as an alternative, it is opposed to the delayed decision button “Not now” (2 in Fig. 3).

The "Never Allow" notification blocking button (4 in Figure 3) is smaller and hidden inside the "Not Now" button (3 in Figure 3).

Allowed and blocked push notifications are not synchronized with browser profiles. After installing a new operating system, when switching to another computer, and even after reinstalling the browser itself with cleaning up its remnants during uninstallation, you need to start everything over again - respond to site requests again, form a base of permissions and blocking for push notifications from scratch.

Unsubscribing from web-push and blocking them

An excessive amount of pop-up messages can become annoying to the user over time. In addition, our interests may change.

How in such cases to unsubscribe from irrelevant sites or completely disable the delivery of push notifications by the browser? And how, on the contrary, to unblock sites that were mistakenly blocked when prompted?

• Each site requests permissions in the browser, it is difficult to control how many sources can send you notifications now, each has its own background process that wakes up separately, there is no history of received notifications or filtering, there is no synchronization of subscriptions between devices
• Sites need to send notifications directly to devices, monitor the relevance of the device database, monitor each user's device individually
• This feature only works on sites with SSL.

An intermediate service that takes care of all these functions can solve the problems that arise.

A bit of theory

How PushAll solves the problem

Testing

To test notifications via the Push API, you need to go to the PushAll.ru website and log in using your Google account.

Immediately after logging in, you will be taken to the channel directory. There is a toggle on the top right that turns on the new feature.

Once enabled, Chrome will ask you to access notifications. After that, you need to go to the profile section and “ping” the device

Write to me in a personal, or in the comments, how notifications work. Some people had problems with notifications, and I would like to fix the situation. Also check notifications on your Android smartphone. As you test, I think you will find a couple of interesting channels in the catalog.

Immediately, so that there are no questions: it is not necessary to receive all notifications from channels. Subscribed to the channel, opened it again - opened the filter, entered keywords. For those topics that are important to you, first of all, notifications will be sent immediately to devices, and you can read the rest from the sites themselves (this applies, for example, to the SoHabr channel or TV series channels)

prospects

• Register.
• To come in
• Subscribe
• Enable Push API notifications in the browser.

Every owner is familiar with the so-called "guns" modern smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer. For some, they are very necessary for certain activities, they distract and annoy someone, for someone they play an important role in promoting something. One way or another, it is worth understanding their essence, varieties and, of course, methods of getting rid of these annoying pop-up windows.

What are push notifications

The definition of notifications we are interested in can be as follows:

• brief pop-up messages on the gadget screen, reminding the user of an important event, an update in one of the applications installed on the smartphone;
• popular marketing tool- it is the icons that not only do not allow the user to forget about the application downloaded to the device, but also inform the person about any news, promotions, private messages, etc .;
• a kind of technology that distributes information from the server to users;
• specifically for mobile devices- windows with brief information that pop up at the top of the screen when the display is locked;
• for PCs and laptops (web-push is a relatively new phenomenon), browser notifications are pop-up windows on the desktop directed by the site whose "guns" the user has subscribed to.

What are push notifications? This issue became widely interested after the introduction by Apple for iOS 3 of the service for sending quick notifications to the user APNS (Apple Push Notification Service). It is worth noting that before Apple, the technology had already been introduced by Google for Android devices - almost a year earlier.

Mobile push notification

Thus, for smartphones from different corporations, there are specific push notification services. Let's briefly touch on all of them. As already mentioned, Apple's service is called APNS. It also works for the Safari browser and OS X. Push notifications for iPhone and iPad are available in the following variety:

• badges - a circle symbol appears on the application icon in the menu with the number of new notifications or other information;
• banners - a curtain with some information appears at the top of the screen or on a flashing display in sleep mode (regular banners disappear automatically, and certain actions should be taken with warnings);
• audio, audio/banners - a notification sound notifies the user about a new event (you can configure its appearance together with a banner).

The very first (2008) development of such notifications from Google for androids was called C2DM (Cloud to Device Messaging). In 2012, it was replaced by GCM (Google Cloud Messaging). It is she who allows push notifications to appear in applications from Chrome. In the Android OS, known for its openness, there is no standard forms for "guns" - they, with the consent of the user, appear as they were planned by the developers of this or that application - a banner similar to the iPhone one, a line at the top of the screen, a window in the drop-down "curtain", etc.

• toast - clickable 10-second banner at the top of the screen;
• live title - an icon with the number of notifications on the application icon;
• raw - arbitrary information from a specific (most often game) mobile application.

Push notifications in the browser

The difference between such push notifications for stationary PCs and laptops from mobile ones is that messages are sent not from the application, but from the site. The GCM and APNs services (from Google and Apple, respectively) are responsible for sending them.

Here a small window appears on the desktop on top of other windows with some text - when you click on it, the user goes to the site that is the destination of this "gun". A standard computer push notification consists of a title, text, a small picture, and a link. Subscribing to such an alert is simple - when you open a site that offers such notifications in your browser, a pop-up message appears asking for permission to send "guns". You can subscribe in the "Subscribe to news" section of the form.

Disable push banners on iPhone

To get rid of all annoying "guns" at once, you need to activate the "Do Not Disturb" mode in the "Settings" with the slider. However, in this case, you will not hear incoming call, and SMS notification. If you want to disable push notifications from a particular application, then the following scheme will come in handy: "Settings" - "Notifications" - selection desired program. On the "Tolerance of notifications" make the slider inactive.

Disabling push notifications for Android

Disabling "guns" on androids is also not at all difficult: go to "Settings", then to "Application Manager", find the program from which you do not need notifications. Uncheck "Show notifications". Confirm your decision in the pop-up window.

Disabling "guns" in the browser

Now let's touch on how to disable push notifications on desktop PCs. Let's take a look at three popular browsers.

In Google Chrome, this can be done like this:

• Go to "Settings", then "Show advanced".
• Here in the "Personal data" you need to click on "Content settings".
• Scroll down to "Alerts". Here it is necessary to check the box "Do not show alerts on sites", and then click on "Finish". Here you can also set exceptions for "guns" from your favorite sites.

Another option is to click right click click on the notification that came to you and select the item "Turn off notifications from ..."

In "Yandex.Browser" push notifications from "Vkontakte" and "Yandex.Mail" can be removed on home page"Settings" in the section "Notifications" - "Customize". Here you just need to uncheck the "Notifications enabled" box. For other sites in "Settings" you should find " Additional settings", then "Personal data" and "Content settings". In "Notifications" you can either disable all "guns" or make exceptions for some sites. In "Safari" you should go to "Settings" - "Notifications". Then find the site of interest and put a tick on "Refuse".

Push notifications are both a useful mechanism that allows you to always stay up to date with business and news, and a system of annoying annoying reminders of unimportant events. With the help of the simple instructions mentioned in this article, you can get rid of the “guns” on your device once and for all.

Push notifications appear in the browser window even if you were offline at the time they were sent. This is a great marketing tool to promote your business products and services. Despite this, they can annoy users if accompanied by an audible notification. Read on to learn how to turn them off.

How to enable or disable web push notifications in Google Chrome

Go to browser settings

Click on the settings icon on the right side of your browser window and select "Settings".

Choose advanced settings

Scroll down the page and select "Advanced Settings".

Select Content Settings

Click "Content Settings" under the "Privacy and Security" section.

Select Alerts

Click Alerts.

Here you can add sites whose alerts you want to receive or block sites whose alerts you don't care about.

Also, you can make it so that you receive a request for permission to send notifications.

Use push notifications to let your customers know about back-stock items, sales, and the latest posts on your blog.

And in order for your notifications not to be blocked, send them only to those users who have agreed to receive them.

Push notifications in SendPulse

Sending notifications in our service is free - in any quantity and forever! If you are already doing email marketing, use push as an additional message delivery channel. For example, you sent an email with a discount for a special day on the eve of the holiday, but the subscriber did not open it. Send a push notification on X day and you will have a better chance of increasing sales.

Personalize and segment notifications for a personalized experience, test messages, install automatic sending after certain events. Just one line of code per site takes you away from high conversions and upsells.