A notification puts a short message on the lock screen of everyone holding a matching pass, and records it on the back of their pass so they can look back at it.
No app, no push permission prompt, no email deliverability. If someone holds your pass, you can reach them.
Sending one
Open Notifications and choose New notification.
- Write a title - up to 60 characters. Leave it blank and your account name is used.
- Write the message - up to 300 characters. This is the part people read.
- Optionally add a link, with your own wording for it.
- Choose the audience. See Choosing an audience.
- Choose Send now or Schedule. See Scheduling notifications.
- Send.
A live preview beside the form shows how the message lands on an iPhone and an Android lock screen. Flip between them - what fits comfortably on one can be clipped on the other.
Writing a message that works
You have roughly one line that people read at a glance, on a locked phone, while doing something else.
Lead with the thing that matters. "Your membership renews on Friday" beats "Hi there! We wanted to let you know that...". The first four words decide whether the rest is read.
Be specific. "20% off this weekend" is a reason to act. "Exciting news!" is not.
Say what to do. If there's an action, name it. If there isn't, that's fine - but then ask whether the message needs sending.
Use the character counter. The limit is 300, but the best messages are well under it. If you're pushing the limit, you're writing an email, not a notification.
Read your message out loud before sending. Anything that sounds odd spoken sounds worse on a lock screen, where there's no context and no subject line to lean on.
Adding a link
You can attach a URL with your own link text. It's folded into the message and appears on the back of the pass, so people can find it again later.
Links must start with http:// or https://.
Use it for the thing the message is about - the offer page, the booking form, the event details. One link, going somewhere directly relevant.
Frequency
The reason wallet notifications work is that they're rare. People tolerate them because they're not constant, and the moment they become constant they get switched off - or the pass gets deleted, which you'll see in your removal numbers.
A reasonable instinct: send when you have something the holder would be annoyed to have missed. If you're sending because it's been a while, don't.
Testing before you broadcast
Two options, and it's worth using one:
Send to yourself. Open one of your own passes in Passes and use the message panel on its detail page. That sends to that single pass only - it's the test send.
Narrow the audience. Use a tag that only your own test passes carry, send to that, then send properly.
There's no unsend. Once a notification goes out it's on people's lock screens and on the back of their passes. Check the audience count on the compose screen before you send - it tells you exactly how many people are about to receive it.
After sending
You land on the campaign's report, showing delivery as it happens. See Delivery reports.
Large audiences are delivered in the background, so the report fills in over a short period rather than all at once. You can leave the page and come back.