LIVE FROM APPS WORLD, LONDON: Push notifications are becoming an increasingly powerful way to ensure consumers remain engaged with apps, according to Christopher Dean, chief revenue officer of mobile messaging company Urban Airship (pictured).

“Once users have your app, unless you have an app engagement strategy, they’re going to stop using it in a month,” Dean said.

Push notifications can be used to inform users of app updates, special offers and related apps or services. “[Push notifications] give the mobile developer a way of reaching their users and bringing them back into the app. It is the difference between an app that is effective and one that isn’t,” Dean said.

Urban Airship has found the use of push notifications increases daily usage of apps by up to 540 percent, while their effectiveness in bringing people back to apps increasing as time passes. During the first month an app is on a device push notifications drive 67 percent of interactions, rising to 81 percent after three months.

As the push notifications are only activated with the permission of app users, Dean said developers should make sure the messages they send via apps are both flexible and meaningful.

For example, geofencing a push notification related to a particular event at a sports stadium will encourage people who are there to respond to the call to action – for example voting for the best athlete – and engage with the relevant app.