What if your marketing efforts could be delivered directly to your guests’ back pockets from Movio Cinema? For example, 95% of people in the US own a mobile device, and touch those devices 2,617 times a day - making their phone screens a prime channel for targeting. With an audience actively looking for engagement and information, it makes sense to utilize this space to capture moviegoers attention - which is where push notifications come in.

Push notifications are messages that pop up on a mobile device, delivering important and timely information. A mobile user does not have to be interacting with an app or even actively using their devices to receive them, and you can send them at any time. They tend to look like an SMS message, but will only reach those guests who have installed your app and enabled push notifications. Targeted push notifications can improve response rates by four to seven times, which is great motivation to integrate this channel into your communication strategy.

Sending targeted push notifications through Movio Cinema is now possible with the Mobile Connect extension module, allowing you to segment your audience and send notifications that are relevant. They can also be personalized using moviegoer data, such as including their name and an offer for a recent release at a nearby cinema location, or to inform the user that they have not redeemed a loyalty reward.

1. Sender - the sender and icon are determined by the app and indicate which app has sent the push notification

2. Title - the title of your push notification

3. Text - the message

• iOS banners display between 114-211 characters, depending on the device i.e. iPhone 4 vs iPad mini
• Android banners display only the first 37-46 characters, depending on the device, so ensure the content of your notification is concise and compelling

Benefits of targeted push notifications

The great thing about push notifications in comparison to other forms of communication is that the message is immediate yet unobtrusive. Compared to SMS and email, push notifications provide high cut-through, engagement, and brand recognition.

Due to the highly engaging nature of push notifications, they should be relevant to the behavioral and demographical data you have gathered, reflecting moviegoer interests and providing them with offers and content they’ll actually interact with. This communication channel is useful to keep members engaged and encourage them to respond to certain calls-to-action - providing you both with benefits including:

For exhibitors

• Share targeted deals and promotions instantly, leveraging Movio Cinema’s targeting and segmentation capabilities
• Improve customer communication, without impacting your email schedule
• Measure campaign effectiveness and uptake of push notifications using control groups

For moviegoers

• Receive key information on-the-go
• Receive timely information based on their interests or on events in their region
• Instant access to rewards and offers

You could use them for:

• ‘Last minute’ campaigns - Deliver time-sensitive campaigns to your moviegoers based on events in their area or cinema e.g. preview screening with available seats, snow day with school cancelled, etc.
• Enriched marketing campaigns - Notify moviegoers when tickets for a movie on their watchlist go on sale.
• Abandoned shopping cart - Encourage people who abandoned an online ticket purchase mid-way to complete the purchase.
• Status changes - For programs with tiers, alert members when they progress upward or are at risk of spinning down.
• Renewal reminders - For paid memberships, send renewal reminders in the lead up to expiration and, where required, as part of a win-back effort.

How do push notifications work?

A push notification can be sent to a mobile device at any time through apps and app publishers. These campaigns are created and executed from Movio Cinema through an Operating System Push Notification Service (OSPNS), which handles routing the messages to the device you are targeting. In most situations, these are either:

• Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) for iOS devices
• Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Android devices

Once the push notification campaign has been sent from Movio Cinema, the device will display the notification and alert the moviegoer, provided they have enabled push notifications on their device.

Getting started with push notifications

Getting started with push notifications in Movio Cinema is simple. Your app developers will need to integrate a software development kit (SDK) into your app to communicate with Movio Cinema.

The app will associate the app user with a member in your loyalty program - this is done when your member logs into your app using their member credentials. This allows the device token to be stored against the member ID for future targeting.

In summary

Push notifications keep you front-of-mind with moviegoers, and are an excellent way to share targeted content instantly. Always bear your audience in mind when setting up communications, ensure they include relevant and engaging information, and you’ll remain a firm and trusted fixture in their back pocket.