# Send a push notification campaign

## How to create and send a push notification campaign

In this guide, we'll show you how to set up and send your first push notifications marketing campaign.

### What you'll need

* [Install](https://app.gitbook.com/s/dnJZeZvhOMhDQA8SpjQM/client-sdks/applications) a push notifications channel within an application configuration.
* Push Notifications message template.
* [list](https://docs.bird.com/applications/audience/lists-and-segments/concepts/lists) or [segment](https://docs.bird.com/applications/audience/lists-and-segments/concepts/segments) of contacts that have valid device tokens registered for Push Notifications.&#x20;

### Create your Push Notifications campaign

* From the main side menu, click **Campaigns**.
* Click **Create campaign**. If no push notification channel is installed yet, click **Install** - it redirects you to the [Application settings](https://app.gitbook.com/s/dnJZeZvhOMhDQA8SpjQM/client-sdks/applications) to create a new application connected with Push Notifications.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FJGQu1ocsASvEVyuTKTcJ%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%205.17.48%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=cf4d226a-5827-4101-9091-10896ddc9384" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

* Once Push Notification channel is installed select **Push notification.** You can start by giving your campaign a name.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2F3Le8yxKZ5zLHsOJAkKDj%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%205.19.27%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=1cde9a6b-19fe-41c8-9d10-da7a76333a5b" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Step 1: Recipients <a href="#step-1-recipients" id="step-1-recipients"></a>

* Select the lists or segments in the **Send to** dropdown to target your campaign. You can create a segment directly from here as well.
* Select the lists or segments you want to exclude in the **Don't Send to** dropdown

**Note: You can only select up to 5 lists or segments here**

**Advanced Options**

You can expand to define any advanced options such as:

* **Skip recently messaged contacts:** Turn this ON if you want the frequency cap settings defined in your workspace to be applied. By default, this is turned ON and the frequency cap settings are 1 message in 1 day.
* **Limit maximum number of recipients:** Turn this ON and define if you want to limit recipients to be targeted to a specific number. This will randomly select recipients to be limited out of your defined lists/segments
* **Global Holdout:** This will skip any recipients of they match the global holdout criteria defined in your workspace. If no criteria is defined, no one will be skipped. This is turned ON by default but no global holdout is defined by default on the workspace hence it will not impact your sending
* **Campaign Holdout:** This will skip recipients based on a defined percentage randomly as a control group out of your campaign recipients. This is OFF by default.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FqEXie7MYTQghRqQYoAvq%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%205.21.32%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=5f49bcbb-56f8-4fc4-a936-5f07ec1b73da" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Step 2: Sender <a href="#step-2-sender" id="step-2-sender"></a>

Select the specific app to which you want to send this push notification to. This is the app that you installed for Push Notifications under **Developer > Applications**.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FRpaCAWcJqPYjbKTbilga%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%205.23.45%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=773e0238-c834-4ae7-9651-40c381dabdb1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Step 3: Push Template <a href="#step-3-whatsapp-template" id="step-3-whatsapp-template"></a>

Use the **Select a template** dropdown to choose the [Push Notifications message template](https://docs.bird.com/applications/content/message-templates/how-to/create-push-notifications-message-templates) that you want to send as your campaign. You'll be able to see a preview of your message.<br>

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FQgrttzONmAUFlXUDB6RL%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.44.28%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=d3e4a893-1499-4556-a582-36028ead3ea1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

* If there are variables in your template message, map them in the **Variable Matching** section after adding the template under the template preview

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FhpFTO7TS8mqfxcEqqIvL%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.46.11%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=74814785-0860-4e27-9ee6-3948bfe368ce" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Step 4: Schedule <a href="#step-4-schedule" id="step-4-schedule"></a>

* Under Schedule section, you can select if you want to send the campaign on a fixed time, gradually or immediately
* For a fixed time scheduling, you can select a date, time and timezone for sending
* By default, we have selected local recipient timezone for scheduling but you can select a specific timezone

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FmC6Sv2N28QOTshyoGJeZ%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.47.36%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=a370d3ed-7c67-4876-9c0c-310ddcfb1ed6" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**More Settings**

**Tags**

You can optionally apply one or more tags to your campaign before sending

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2F1WgDghSjOnIMICvmQD68%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.49.24%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=d9e2fd50-1fae-4277-ac86-86125d6a88e1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Additional data**

This section allows you to upload a csv file of additional data for personalization such as personalized links which are specific to the campaign. You can map this to the unique identifier of the targeted contacts when uploading as a column and then define which column contains the unique identifier for matching

Once done, you can map any predefined custom variables in the SMS content to any columns of the uploaded csv file

**Tracking**

By default we have UTM parameters automatically appended to all the links in the message so that you can track clicks on your web analytics solution.

You can edit the UTM parameters under settings and also customize if needed for this campaign

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FZLKcehkZJ3TVyO2cDNQb%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.50.10%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=24a41eba-9a3d-4846-a4f1-78cfc74f1ea9" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Locale Matching**

Locale matching is set to Automatic by default which matches the template locale with the contact locale. You can have 3 options here:

* **Automatic Matching:** This will automatically send the template locale which matches the contact locale attribute. If contact Locale attribute is not set, it will send the default locale version.
* **Strict Language:** This will automatically send the template locale which matches the contact locale attribute. If contact Locale attribute is not set, it will NOT send the message.
* **Single Language:** This will only send the selected locale version of the template to all recipients.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FFbNpNptmogUGowhn7l8f%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.59.33%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=dff1f9d4-dfba-4f0d-a35c-75591be67e83" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Campaign A/B Test**

You can turn ON A/B test for a campaign here. Note that if you have selected maximum recipient limit or recipient local timezone, you will need to change them before enabling A/B tests.

Once enabled, you will have 2 variations added for your message automatically by cloning. You can edit content for each of these variations

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FG8t7iXFPtIh1AFCkN4Zl%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.59.40%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=1e8666c4-3387-4e53-add6-df68acea1af7" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

You can define A/B test settings as follows:

* Winning metric: Select click rate or open rate based on what you want to optimize on
* Test size: Select the test audience pool size for each variation. Rest of the audience will be sent the winning variation
* Test duration: Select how long the campaign will be waiting to collect winning metric data for the test result after sending to the A and B test pools before determining the winner
* Winner fallback: Select your strategy in case there is not sufficient data to make a test winner decision.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FWi1zJAIfQWaPyrhUDye8%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%207.00.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=4bf654a8-c7b8-4de4-bd4e-60be22438109" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Estimated Recipients**

At the bottom of the page on the left side, you will see number of estimated recipients based on your subscription, targeting criteria, contact attributes and campaign settings.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FK7Y2K1hFL5XpHKbWgSqv%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%207.00.44%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=d18cbad6-4532-47eb-8824-9ed1cc4e58b6" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Send a test message**

Click on **Send test** option on the top right to test your message before sending.

You can send your test to a contact and their selected contact or a proof list. Note that the contact must have a push token to receive the push notification.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2Fslfg6jkqcYBFrctdLN9W%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.52.36%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=0f2339dd-6d8d-41d3-9375-e7e550c6a180" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Send your campaign <a href="#send-your-campaign" id="send-your-campaign"></a>

Click **Schedule campaign or Send campaign** button on the top right to finally confirm to schedule or send.

<figure><img src="https://3861485111-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FU9kiDiTGVD8kkbnKKyEn%2Fuploads%2FyfFciHU7Heqp39AKdF1g%2FScreenshot%202025-11-28%20at%206.52.56%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=d34cb6c5-d4f7-4169-8757-a62adab157d3" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
