A push campaign is a message your branded app sends to a customer's phone: a new item, a weekday deal, a reminder that their cashback is about to expire. Unlike SMS, a push costs you nothing per message. Unlike ads, it goes only to people who already bought from you and chose to install your app.
Why push is the cheapest repeat order you can buy
Winning a customer back through paid ads costs dollars per click. An SMS costs a few cents and can't show a photo. A push costs $0, carries an image and a deep link, and lands on a device where your app already converts visitors to buyers at up to 35%. That is the whole mechanism: push moves a past customer back into your highest-converting channel for free. On a slow Tuesday, one campaign to 2,000 subscribers with a 3% redemption rate is 60 extra orders — for ten minutes of work in the admin panel.
Marketplaces will never give you this button. They keep the customer's contact and sell their attention back to you as sponsored placement. Your own app makes the audience yours.
How it works in the Dots app
You build campaigns in the admin panel — no developer involved. Write the title and text, attach an image, and pick where a tap should land: a specific dish, a category, or a promotion inside the app. Then choose the audience: everyone, or a segment built on real order history — customers who haven't ordered in 30 days, customers who usually order pizza, customers with an unspent cashback balance. Schedule the send for the hunger window (11:30 or 17:45 beat midnight every time) and track orders generated per campaign in analytics. What to write and when to send it is covered in our guide to push notification examples that actually sell.
Who gets the most out of it
- Pizza and sushi brands with weekly regulars — a Thursday-night push is a standing revenue lever.
- Coffee shops announcing seasonal drinks to people within walking distance of a habit.
- Any restaurant running promotions — a discount nobody hears about moves nothing; push is the free megaphone.
Push campaigns work best paired with a reason to return: combine them with cashback or promo campaigns and the message writes itself.
