How Push Notifications Work

How Push Notifications Work

This article will provide background on Push Notifications and direct to several sub-articles on particular subjects regarding the Gallus Admin Dashboard.

Some Background on Push Notifications

Push Notifications appear on a phone's lock screen for users that have downloaded your app and set Push Notifications to Allow. Users are prompted when they first open the app to either Allow or Don't Allow Push Notifications.

Every Push Notification displays in an app's Message Center for 30 days, which ensures users that received them can access them after the fact and those that chose to not allow them will still be able to view them in their app.

For more information on Message Center, please view our How Message Center Works article.

Push Notifications on iOS

For more on Apple's Push Notifications feature, click HERE. 

Push Notifications on Android

For more on Android's Push Notifications feature, click HERE.

What To Use Push Notifications For

Push Notifications are best used to convey a short message of 178 characters or less to your app's users. They are most commonly used for the following:
  1. Course Conditions Updates
  2. Upcoming Events
  3. Tee Time Marketing
  4. New App Features
  5. Promotions

Who Will Receive My App's Push Notifications?

There are three requirements for a user to receive Push Notifications:
  1. User has downloaded your app.
  2. User has set Push Notifications to Allowed for your app.
  3. The Push Notification you send out is set to Broadcast or they are within the Targeted segment. For more information on that, skip to Audience in the next section.

How To Send A Push Notification


To send out a Push Notification, complete the following steps:
  1. Go to the Quick Start Page in the Gallus Admin Dashboard.
  2. Click Push Notifications.
  3. Fill out the following sections:

1) Audience

Who will receive your message. There are three options:
  1. Test: Just one individual, as identified by the email address entered in their user profile.
  2. Targeted: A specific group of individuals chosen by you. There are three ways to target users (click each link for more info):
    1. By Email List (Most specific)
    2. By Interest Group
    3. By Customer ID Field
  3. Broadcast: Sent to everyone that has downloaded the app and allowed Push Notifications.
For more information on Audience Segmentation, please view our video below:

2) Message

Type in what the message will say (limit 178 characters).
Emoji's work in this box! ⛳️ 🎉

3) Action

When the user receives a Push Notification, you can control where it sends them if they tap on it. Choose from the following options:
  1. Open Home Screen: Takes the user to the app's Home Screen.
  2. Open Website: Takes the user to a url of your choosing
  3. Go To App Page: Takes the user to a specific page in the app. Here are the options:
    1. Food & Beverage: Directs to your app's F&B section.
    2. News: Allows you to choose a specific News Item (that you previously created).
    3. Tee Times: Directs to the Tee Times options set up in your app's Booking Options section.
    4. Leaderboard: Directs to either a Custom Leaderboard of your choice.
    5. Custom Button: Directs to a Side Menu button of your choice.
    6. Offer
  4. Share: Directs the user to Facebook to share a link to your app. (You will be prompted to write some text to give the user a starting point.)
    5. Use the Share function to enter users into a contest! Instruct them entries only count when they tap on the message and share it to their network while tagging your course in the post.

4) Devices

Allows you to choose which devices will receive your push notification (iOS, Android, or both)
To reach the widest possible audience, leave this section marked Android and iOS.

5) Scheduling

Allows you to choose when the message will go out to its audience.
  1. Immediate: Sends out immediately.
  2. Scheduled: Select a date/time that the message will automatically send.
To view a list of Scheduled Push Notifications in your app, click HERE.

Push Notification Analytics

How To View Push Notification Analytics

For more information on this, view our Push Notification Analytics knowledge base article.

In the Gallus Dashboard, Navigate to the Push Notifications link in the left-hand menu under Engage Users --> Push Notifications. The ensuing page will display the full history of Push Notifications.

Meaning of Push Notification Analytics Numbers

Sent To

The number of users that received the Push Notification.
This number indicates how many of your users have push notifications enabled and DOES NOT reflect how many downloads your app currently has. That number is likely much larger, as a portion of your downloaders most likely will not have Push Notifications enabled.

Direct Responses

Users that received your Push Notification and immediately clicked on it to view the Action you set.

Indirect Responses

Users that did not immediately tap on the message to initiate the Action, but found their way into your app within the next couple of hours.
For more information on direct and indirect responses, click HERE.
For more information on Push Notification Analytics, please view our tutorial below and our How Push Notification Analytics Work article:


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