How to Segment Your Audience for Push Notifications: The Impact of Geography and Language

Push notifications are a powerful tool for user engagement, helping to boost conversion rates and audience retention. However, the effectiveness of push notifications depends on proper audience segmentation.

The same campaign sent to different users can yield completely different results. To maximize push notification efficiency, it’s crucial to consider local specifics and tailor your strategy to each region.

In this article, we will discuss:

• Why do push notifications perform differently in different countries?
• How does the device language affect notification effectiveness?
• What translation tools should you use, and why are native texts better than automated ones?

Why Do Push Notifications Perform Differently in Different Countries?

Research by Push.Express shows that even with identical offers and engagement mechanics, push notification results can vary significantly depending on the user’s country.

For example, looking at conversion rates for first-time deposits (FTD) across different regions, we can observe the following pattern:

👉 Conclusion: The same push notification funnel won’t work equally well in all countries. To achieve the highest conversion rates, push notification sequences should be adapted for each region, considering local user behavior. To avoid losses, it’s essential to conduct A/B tests and analyze results by region.

Why Should You Consider the Device Language?

The language in which a push notification is sent plays a key role in user engagement. Many companies make the mistake of sending push notifications only in the official language of a country, ignoring user language preferences.

How Does This Affect the Audience?

Research by Push.Express shows that in some countries, a portion of users set their device language to the one differing from the country’s main language.

👉 Conclusion: If you send push notifications only in a country’s “official” language, you risk losing up to 30% of your audience.

What Approach Should You Use?

• Segment users by device language.
• Translate push notifications into all languages used in a country if the share of another language exceeds 5%.

ChatGPT, Google Translate, or Native Translations?

Push notification translation is one of the most critical aspects of personalization. However, using machine translation can negatively impact how messages are perceived and reduce campaign effectiveness.

How Does the Translation Method Impact CTR?

Push.Express compared three approaches to translating push notifications: Google Translate, ChatGPT, and native speaker translations.

Which Approach Is Best?

• Google Translate – Suitable for initial testing but may produce inaccurate or awkward phrasing.
• ChatGPT – Better adapts text to context but still falls short of native translations.
• Native translations – Deliver the highest CTR but require more time and resources.

👉 Conclusion: We recommend using AI-based translations for A/B testing but scaling push notifications only with native translations.

Key Takeaways

📌 Geography significantly impacts push notification effectiveness, and there’s no universal strategy for all countries.
📌 Device language is just as important as the user’s country – ignoring this factor could result in losing up to 30% of your audience.
📌 The best translation approach is native translations, but for testing, ChatGPT-based translations can be a viable alternative.

Localizing push notifications can increase CTR by 30-50% and reduce unsubscribe rates.