Firebase: How to Create Custom Audiences for Push Notifications

In the realm of mobile app marketing, push notifications are a powerful means of directly engaging with users. Within this article, we will delve into the process of creating custom audiences for push notifications in Firebase, enabling you to craft personalized and relevant messages for your users.

The Pursuit of Personalization

Effective marketing always strives for personalization. The more precise your targeting is, the better you understand your customers, resulting in more effective marketing efforts. Push notifications, as a rather aggressive form of marketing, require special attention to ensure relevance. Users get frustrated with push notifications that are not tailored to their interests. If you're familiar with mobile marketing, consider leveraging Firebase to create targeted audiences. This article will walk you through the process.

Creating Firebase Audiences for Push Notifications

Fortunately, creating custom audiences in Firebase is a relatively straightforward process, even for those without extensive marketing experience. Firebase integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, providing valuable statistical data to inform your push notification strategy.

Step 1: Access Firebase Analytics Section

Navigate to the Firebase Analytics section, where you'll discover in-depth data on your app activity, including new users, retention rates, and more. For a deeper understanding of available data, check our article on Google Analytics.

Step 2: Explore Audiences

Access the Audience tab in the left-hand menu. Your primary objective is to create unique audiences of your app users, which will later be utilized for push notifications.

All app projects have two predefined audiences: "All users" and "Purchasers." However, the latter is currently not tracked accurately by Firebase, so we recommend avoiding it.

Step 3: Create a New Audience

Click the "New audience" button to begin creating a custom audience.

You'll have two options:

• Create a custom audience from scratch
• Use one of the suggested options

Within the suggested audiences, explore various subsections such as Travel, General, Templates, and Predictive. These sections offer pre-built audiences that might suit your needs.

For example, let's create an audience based on demographic information.

Step 4: Choose Suggested Audience and Add Filters

Select "Demographics" from the "Templates" section and add filters to specify your target audience's criteria. You can include or exclude specific user groups based on age or other demographics.

Step 5: Specify Audience Duration and Trigger Event

Next, choose the duration for which users will remain part of the audience. You can also set up trigger events that will mark users as members of the group when specific conditions are met. For instance, you can use the "Booking_confirmed" event.

Step 6: Name Your Audience

Give your new audience a memorable name and save it.

Congratulations! You've successfully created a custom audience for push notifications.

Let's revisit the process and create audiences using Predictive templates and from scratch.

Using Predictive Templates

Firebase analyzes user behavior and predicts which users will perform specific actions, such as making a purchase. You can select these predicted audiences for push notifications. For example, if you want to encourage users who are unlikely to use your app, you can send them a push notification with a promo code.

Creating an Audience from Scratch

Taxi and ride-hailing companies often operate in multiple cities, with distinct options depending on the city. Let's create an audience for a specific city so you can tailor push notifications accordingly.

By following these steps and experimenting with different audience options, you can create personalized push notifications that engage your users and drive meaningful results for your ride hailing API, mobility intelligence, or taxi software.