If you’re sending push notifications but not sure what’s working—or if anything’s working at all—this guide’s for you. We’ll walk through how to actually use OneSignal’s analytics features to cut through the noise, spot what’s moving the needle, and stop wasting your audience’s patience on notifications that flop.
This isn’t about vanity metrics or dashboard screenshots. It’s about making your pushes less annoying, more effective, and, ideally, helping you avoid being the app everyone mutes.
1. Get Your Baseline: What Does “Good” Look Like?
Before you drown in charts, get clear on what you want. Are you trying to boost open rates? Drive traffic? Reduce uninstalls? The answer changes how you measure success.
A few benchmarks to keep in mind: - Opt-in rate: How many users even allow pushes? If it’s below 40% on iOS, you’ve got work to do. - Open rate (CTR): Average is around 2–6%, but it can swing wildly by industry. - Delivery rate: Should be 95%+, unless you’re running into technical issues. - Unsubscribe or opt-out rate: If this is climbing, your notifications are probably annoying people.
Pro tip: Don’t obsess over industry averages. Focus on improving your own numbers over time.
2. Find the Right Reports in OneSignal
If you haven’t already, get set up with OneSignal. Once your app or site is connected, you’ll have access to a bunch of reporting features. But not all of them are equally useful.
Here’s what’s worth your time:
- Message Reports: For every push you send, there’s a dedicated report tracking sends, deliveries, opens, and conversions.
- Audience Insights: Who’s actually receiving your messages? Useful for spotting if you’re missing big chunks of your user base.
- Engagement Trends: High-level stats by day, week, or month. Good for spotting if you’re improving—or just annoying people less.
What to ignore: “Impressions” or “views” often just mean a notification appeared, not that anyone cared. Focus on actual opens and actions.
3. Analyze a Single Push (and Learn From It)
Start small. Pick one notification you sent recently—maybe a promo, a new feature, or a re-engagement nudge.
In the Message Report, look for: - Sent vs. Delivered: If there’s a big gap, you might have technical problems, or your audience is uninstalling. - Open Rate (Click-Through Rate): The main number to watch. Anything below 2% for a campaign means it’s probably being ignored. - Time to Open: Are people opening fast, or hours later? Fast opens usually mean your timing is good. - Conversion Events: If you set up conversion tracking (like purchases or sign-ups), check if this push moved the needle.
What’s Actually Useful
- Compare to past pushes: Did this message perform better or worse than your average?
- Look for patterns: Did a certain time of day or wording spike opens?
- Check segments: Are certain groups responding more than others? Maybe your “power users” love these, but new users ignore them.
What’s Not
- Obsession with “delivered” numbers: If delivery is consistently high, stop worrying about it.
- Minor spikes: One-off flukes happen. Don’t panic or celebrate until you see a trend.
4. Segment, Segment, Segment
OneSignal lets you break down performance by segments—like user location, activity level, device, or custom tags. This is where the real insights happen.
How to Use Segments: - Compare open rates by segment: You might find Android users open twice as often as iOS users. Or that lapsed users never open anything. - Test messages for different groups: Try sending “We miss you!” to churned users versus “Here’s what’s new” to actives. - Monitor opt-out rates by segment: If one group is unsubscribing more, dial back the frequency or change your approach.
Pro tip: Don’t go overboard with micro-targeting at first. Start broad, then get more specific as you see what works.
5. Test, Rinse, Repeat (A/B Testing)
If you’re not A/B testing, you’re basically guessing. OneSignal has built-in A/B tools, but you’ll need a paid plan for full functionality.
How to run a basic test: - Write two versions of your notification (different copy, timing, or call-to-action). - Split your audience—50/50 is fine at the start. - Send both versions and let OneSignal do the math.
What to look for: - Did one message get a noticeably higher open rate (at least 10–20% better)? - Did anyone actually convert or just open? - Were there unexpected results (like a “boring” message winning)?
What to avoid: - Testing too many variables at once. Keep it simple: one change per test. - Declaring a winner after a handful of opens. You need a decent sample size—at least a few hundred users per variant.
6. Dig Into Long-Term Trends
Looking at one notification is useful, but patterns over time matter more. In OneSignal’s dashboard, use the Engagement Trends and Delivery Trends views.
Watch for: - Open rates over weeks/months: Are they going up, flat, or down? - Uninstall/opt-out spikes: Did a certain campaign backfire? - Best times/days: Do mornings crush afternoons? Is Sunday a dead zone?
If things are flat or dropping: - Try reducing frequency. Too many pushes will kill engagement. - Change up your messaging style. Maybe you’re too salesy or too generic. - Revisit your segmentation—maybe your audience is just tired of hearing from you.
7. Skip the Vanity Metrics
There’s a lot of data to look at, but not all of it matters. Stick to what you can act on:
- Open (Click-Through) Rates: The gold standard.
- Conversion Events: Are pushes driving the action you want?
- Opt-out/Uninstall Rates: Are you annoying people?
Don’t chase: - “Impressions.” They’re mostly meaningless. - “Top devices” or “Top locations” unless you’re planning to act on that info. - “Time spent in app” unless you can tie it to your notification.
8. Take Action: Adjust, Don’t Just Admire the Charts
Analytics are only worth something if you use them. Here’s how to actually get better:
- Kill underperformers: If a notification type never works, stop sending it.
- Double down on winners: If a certain message style or timing works, do more.
- Ask for feedback: Occasionally, ask users if they like your notifications. You’ll get brutal honesty.
- Automate what you can: Use OneSignal’s automated messages for recurring events (like abandoned cart), but don’t “set and forget.” Review performance regularly.
9. What Doesn’t Work (and What to Ignore)
- Sending more = better: Nope. More notifications usually means more opt-outs.
- Blindly copying “best practices”: Your audience isn’t everyone else’s audience.
- Assuming notifications are “free”: Every push costs attention. Don’t waste it.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
You don’t need a PhD in analytics or a dashboard full of charts. Start with the basics: send a notification, see what happens, and make small improvements. Most apps make their push strategy way more complicated than it needs to be. If you keep it simple, measure honestly, and tweak as you go, you’ll stand out—and your users might actually look forward to hearing from you.