Measuring push notification re-engagement campaigns

Introduction

Push-notification campaigns are great for creating fast re-engagements with your existing users.

AppsFlyer supplies an open-for-all solution, that enables measuring the success of push-notification campaigns, for both iOS and Android platforms. The conversions, defined as app opens originating from push notification messages, are displayed in AppsFlyer's Retargeting dashboard.

AppsFlyer SDK requirements

Measurement of push notifications requires an SDK API call within the app's code.

The minimum SDK versions that support push notifications measuring are:

• iOS – version 4.3.5 and above
• Android - version 4.6.0 and above

For implementation details, refer to the Push Notification Measurements section of the iOS SDK Integration Guide and on the Android SDK guide.

Setting up a push notification campaign

AppsFlyer supports the measurement of push notification campaigns from all vendors and can also support developers who use Google Cloud Messaging or Apple push notification services directly.

The following parameters are inserted into the Push notification payload. These parameters must appear in an "af" object, as shown in the examples below:

C

The name of the campaign.

is_retargeting=true

This parameter enables AppsFlyer to recognize a retargeting campaign.

pid

the media source which in this case is the push notification provider (e.g mixpanel_int, urbanairship_int, swrve_int)

A list of available parameters can be found here.

Payload examples

The APNS payload appears as follows:

Payload example:

{ 
  "af":{ 
   "c":"test_campaign",
   "is_retargeting":"true",
   "pid":"push_provider_int"
  },
  "aps":{ 
   "alert":"Get 5000 Coins",
   "badge":"37",
   "sound":"default"
  }
}

Payload examples for different vendors

Firebase Cloud Messaging

Firebase Cloud Messaging has two API endpoints through which you can send push notifications:

1. Legacy HTTP Server Protocol - this API receives the default payload structure as appears above.
2. HTTP V1 API - this API doesn't accept payloads with nested objects. For example:
   
   

   "data":{  
      "af":{  
         "pid":"braze_int",
         "is_retargeting":"true",
         "c":"test_campaign"
      }
   }

   is not a valid payload because the af field is an object nested within the data object. The correct payload format should stringify the af object. For example:
   
   

   "data": {
       "af": "{\"pid\":\"media_int\",\"is_retargeting\":\"true\", \"c\":\"test_campaign\"}"
   }

3. Firebase console UI - you can send push notifications using Firebase console UI. The payload is added at the last stage (Additional options). Under custom data, add af as Key and the payload as Value. See the following screenshots:
   
   

Urban Airship API:

{ 
  "audience":"all",
  "notification":{ 
   "alert":"A broadcast message",
   "extra":{ 
     "af":{ 
      "pid":"urbanairship_int",
      "is_retargeting":"true",
      "c":"test_campaign"
     }
   }
  },
  "device_types":"ios"
}

For more information, refer to: http://docs.urbanairship.com/api/ua.html

Swrve API:

{
  "af":{
   "pid":"swrve_int",
   "is_retargeting":"true",
   "c":"test_campaign"
  }
}

For more information, refer to: http://docs.swrve.com/user-documentation/push-notifications/creating-push-notifications/

Braze API:

{
  "app_group_id":"getFromBrazeDashboard",
  "segment_id":"getFromBrazeDashboard",
  "broadcast":true,
  "messages":{
   "apple_push":{
     "alert":"Alert A Message",
     "title":"Not Visible, Yet Required",
     "body":"Message Body",
     "extra":{
      "af":{
        "pid":"braze_int",
        "is_retargeting":"true",
        "c":"test_campaign"
      }
     }
   }
  }
}

For more information, see Braze push notifications API.

Mixpanel API:

For iOS refer to: https://mixpanel.com/help/reference/ios-push-notifications

For Android refer to: https://mixpanel.com/help/reference/android-push-notifications

Localytics API:

For iOS refer to: http://docs.localytics.com/dev/ios.html#push-messaging-ios

For Android refer to: http://docs.localytics.com/dev/android.html#push-messaging-android

Leanplum API:

Refer to: https://www.leanplum.com/docs#/docs

Adobe Analytics (Omniture) API:

Refer to: https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/mobile/t_create_push_message.html

Appoxee (Teradata) API:

Refer to: https://appoxee-wiki.atlassian.net/wiki/display/MIC/Push+Message+API

Upsight API:

Refer to: http://help.upsight.com/push/

Omniata API:

Refer to: https://www.omniata.com/guide/push-notifications-email

eMMa API:

Refer to: http://support.emma.io/hc/en-us/sections/201069911-Push-Notifications

Kahuna API:

Refer to: https://app.usekahuna.com/tap/public_docs/Content/APIs/Push.htm

Accengage API:

For iOS refer to: http://docs.accengage.com/display/IOS/iOS#iOS-Notificationscustomparameters

For Android refer to: http://docs.accengage.com/display/AND/Android#Android-RetrievingIn-App/Push/InboxandotherCustomParameterswithaBroadcastReceiver