One-time push

Consejo

Watch this video to learn how to send a one-time push notification in Pushwoosh, or refer to the guide below for more detailed instructions.

Youtube Video: How to send a one-time push notification in Pushwoosh

How to send a push notification using the one-time push form

To send a one-time push notification in Pushwoosh, go to the Campaigns section. Select One-time messaging and click Send message → One-time push.

Select or create push message content

To start, either create new content or select existing content for your push notification. If you’d like to use a pre-built push preset, choose it from the dropdown menu of available options.

To create a new message, click Create new and follow this guide to set up a new push preset.

Nota

The push preset you create here won’t be saved in the Push presets list to keep it organized and uncluttered. If you need to save a preset for future use, go to Push presets, create it in advance, and then select it from the dropdown menu.

If you need to edit an existing preset, click Edit Content to modify the message.

A preview of the notification will be displayed on the right side, showing how it will appear to users.

Select message type

In the Content step, choose Marketing message or Transactional message:

• Marketing message: Respects subscription preferences, opt-outs, frequency capping, and silence period. Not sent to the global control group.
• Transactional message: Sent to all users regardless of subscription status. Delivered to the control group.

Learn how message type affects delivery.

Define what happens when the push is clicked

After selecting or creating the content for your push notification, configure what happens when a user taps the notification using the Show in-app banner when message is clicked toggle.

Nota

The Show in-app banner when message is clicked option is available for mobile platforms only.

By default, the toggle is off, and the action configured in the push preset will be executed when the user taps the push notification. Use this default behavior when your push preset already includes a well-defined click action.

To display an in-app banner instead, enable the Show in-app banner when message is clicked toggle, then select the in-app message to display from the in-app banner dropdown. This is useful for delivering additional information, promotions, or forms directly within the app. A live preview of the selected banner will appear on the right.

Understand language behavior for push and in-app messages

Push notifications and in-app messages can support different sets of languages. The language displayed to the user depends on the availability of that language in each content type and the user’s device language.

Example

You send a push notification using a preset that supports English (default), Spanish, and German.
The linked in-app banner supports only English and French.
The user’s device language is set to German.

• The push notification will be shown in German, since it’s supported on the user’s device.

• The in-app banner will fall back to English, as German is not available in the banner’s language settings.

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To ensure a consistent user experience, make sure to align the supported languages in both your push presets and in-app messages.

Save message to Inbox

You can save push notifications to the app’s inbox, allowing users to access and review important messages at their convenience. Learn more about Message Inbox.

To enable this feature, toggle the Save message to Inbox option. When enabled, the title and message are pulled from the push preset.

Remove from Inbox

Control how long messages stay in the inbox by selecting one of the following options from the Remove from Inbox dropdown:

• After the specified number of days: Set the number of days a message should remain in the inbox before being automatically removed. Use the input field to specify the number of days.

• On a specific date: Select an exact date when the message will be deleted from the inbox.

Nota

The maximum retention period for messages in the inbox is 30 days.

Message icon URL

Customize the appearance of the stored notification by specifying an icon URL in the MESSAGE ICON URL field. This icon will be displayed next to the message in the inbox, serving as a visual identifier for the notification.

If no icon URL is provided, a default icon will be displayed next to the message.

Select audience for push notification

Next, choose the audience for your push notification. You can either send the notification to all users or target a specific segment based on user behavior or demographics.

Send to segment

Select this option to target a specific audience segment. Choose a pre-built segment from the dropdown menu, or create a new segment by clicking Create Segment.

Then select one of the following actions from the dropdown menu:

• Build segment: Create a new segment using the Segment builder. Learn more
• Import segment: Import a segment from a CSV file. Learn more.

Send to all users

Choose this option to send the notification to all your subscribers. This is ideal for general announcements or promotions that apply to your entire user base.

Important

Ensure the message content is relevant to all recipients. Sending irrelevant or uninteresting notifications may result in user frustration or increased opt-outs.

Target platforms

Select the platforms on which you want the notification to be delivered. Available platforms include:

• iOS
• Android
• Safari
• Chrome
• Firefox

Choosing target platforms ensures that your message reaches users on the appropriate devices. Only users on the selected platforms will receive the notification.

Once you’ve configured your audience and selected the target platforms, click Next to proceed with setting up your push notification.

Schedule push notification

Next, choose when to send your push notification. You have the following options:

• send it immediately
• schedule it for a specific time
• let Pushwoosh determine the optimal time for each user based on their behavior.

Send immediately

Select this option if you want to send the push notification immediately after setting up the campaign. This is useful for urgent or time-sensitive messages.

Selected time

Choose this option to schedule your push notification for a specific date and time.

1. Use the calendar to select the exact date for your notification.
2. Set the time in hours and minutes (using the 24-hour format) for when the notification should be sent.
3. Choose the appropriate time zone:

• Subscriber’s device timezone. The notification will be sent based on the recipient’s local time, ensuring delivery at the specified time in their timezone.
• Custom timezone. Select a specific timezone to schedule the notification for all recipients, useful for targeting users in a specific region.

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You can cancel a scheduled message before it is sent. The message status must be WAITING. On the One-time messages list, open the actions menu (⋮) for the message and choose Cancel sending.

Best time (paid subscription required)

This option allows the system to send the notification at each user’s optimal time, determined by their past engagement history. You only need to choose the date to start sending the notification. Pushwoosh will handle the timing, sending the notification at each user’s optimal time on the selected day.

If the system cannot determine the best time for a user (e.g., due to missing timezone data), you can specify a fallback time. Enter the fallback time in hours and minutes, and select the appropriate fallback timezone.

To use the Best time feature, make sure that:

• Default app events are enabled.
• You have previously sent messages at different times to collect enough user data for the system to determine optimal send times.

Configure message delivery settings

Set frequency capping

Use Frequency capping to limit how often users receive push messages, preventing over-messaging and reducing churn. Choose one of the following options:

• Use Global frequency capping settings

  Apply the project-wide limits configured in your Global frequency capping settings.

  For example, if the global limit is set to 3 messages in 9 days, additional messages exceeding this limit will be skipped.

  

• Ignore Global frequency capping

  The user will receive this message even if they’ve exceeded the channel’s message limits. Use this option with caution to avoid over-messaging.

  

• Use custom frequency capping

  Set a custom message limit for this message. If the user exceeds this custom cap, the message will be skipped, and the user will proceed to the next step.

Important

Custom frequency capping does not isolate the message from Global frequency capping. All messages sent on the same channel, including those from other journeys or campaigns, are still counted toward the global cap. If the user has already received 3 push messages this week from other sources, this message may still be blocked, even if the custom capping would allow it. Learn more

Set send rate limits

The Send rate setting controls how quickly messages are delivered to your audience. Adjusting the send rate helps you manage delivery speed, prevent backend overload, and improve overall deliverability.

Choose one of the following options:

• Use global send rate settings
  Applies the send rate limits configured in your project’s message delivery settings. If no limits are set, all messages will be sent immediately. Use this option when you want delivery speed to follow your project’s default rules. Learn more about global send rate limits

• Send messages without send rate
  Sends messages as fast as possible, ignoring any global send rate limits. Use with caution to avoid overloading your backend or creating delivery spikes.

• Use custom send rate
  Overrides the global send rate for this message only. Allows you to specify the number of messages sent per minute, giving you full control over delivery speed. Messages will be sent at the custom rate you define in the message element.

Once you’ve configured the desired options, click Next to proceed to the confirmation step.

Review and edit your content

Before finalizing, review the content, on-click actions, audience, platform, and scheduling options to ensure everything is configured correctly. You’ll also see a preview of your push notification in each selected language. You can adjust any settings as needed.

Optionally, you can choose to link your push notification to an Aggregated Campaign, allowing you to associate this message with a larger, ongoing campaign and track its performance alongside related notifications over time.

Once everything is confirmed, click Schedule push to set it for later delivery or Send now to send it immediately.

Cancel or edit a scheduled message

For messages that are scheduled and not yet sent (status PENDING), you can change or cancel them.

Open the list of messages in one of these places: Campaigns → One-time messaging, or Statistics → Message History. Open the actions menu (⋮) for the message you want to change or cancel:

• Delete message: cancels the scheduled delivery and changes the status to Canceled.

• Edit message: opens the one-time push form with the message data loaded. You can change content or audience.

While editing

• When editing, you can update content and audience only. The scheduled send time is fixed and cannot be changed. To change the send time, cancel the message (Delete message) and create a new one.
• On the Audience step you can change the segment, create a new one, or change the device list. The audience size is recalculated after you make a change.
• If the message enters Waiting (starts sending in some timezones) while you are editing, saving is disabled. Use Go to Message History or Close to leave the form.

Example scenario

Imagine you’re a marketing manager for a fitness app, and you want to send a one-time push notification about a flash sale on premium memberships. Do it as follows:

Create the campaign

Go to Campaigns, select One-time messaging, and click Send message → One-time push to begin setting up your campaign.

Create message content

Since you want to create a new message for this flash sale, click Create new and set up a push preset titled Flash Sale: 50% Off Premium Membership.

Example text for a push message:

“Limited Time Offer! Get 50% off Premium Membership for the next 24 hours. Don’t miss out on exclusive workouts and features!”

In the push preset, add a deep link to direct users to the app’s membership page. Once you’re satisfied with the design and content, click Next to proceed to the audience selection step.

Select the audience

For this flash sale, you want to target users who have shown interest in premium services but haven’t subscribed yet. Select Send to segment, and from the dropdown menu, choose the Interested in Premium segment. This segment includes users who have viewed the premium page but haven’t upgraded.

Set the timing

Since the flash sale is time-sensitive, you want the notification to go out immediately. Select Send immediately to dispatch the notification as soon as the campaign setup is complete.

Review and send

Review all the campaign details to ensure the notification looks correct.

Link to aggregated campaign (optional)

If this notification is part of a long-term marketing campaign with multiple messages (e.g., a seasonal sale or ongoing promotions), you can toggle the Link to Aggregated Campaign option. This will allow you to track this notification’s performance alongside other related messages in the broader campaign.

Once everything is confirmed, click Send message to immediately dispatch the notification.

You can also send a one-time push using Customer Journey Builder. Learn how to send one-time push via Customer Journey.

Platform-specific options

For custom sounds, badges, expiration time, iOS interruption levels, and similar settings, use the legacy push preset form. A full reference of those settings is in the link below.

Push preset (legacy form)