How do I measure opens and clicks for push notifications?

To measure opens and clicks for push notifications, you usually track a few events around the notification lifecycle and the app/web landing behavior.

1) Define what you mean by “open” and “click”

For push, these are often the same or very close:

• Click: user taps the notification itself.
• Open: the app or website is brought to the foreground as a result of that tap.

Some teams also track:

• Delivery: notification was successfully sent to the device/browser.
• Impression: notification was shown to the user.
• Dismiss: user swiped it away without tapping.

2) Use push provider events if available

Many push platforms provide built-in analytics:

• Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) + Firebase Analytics
• Apple Push Notification service (APNs) usually needs app-side instrumentation
• OneSignal
• Braze
• Airship
• Customer.io
• Web Push providers often expose click/open events

These tools may automatically track:

• delivered
• clicked/opened
• conversion after click

3) Add tracking to the notification payload

Include identifiers in the push payload so you can connect the notification to the event.

Example fields:

• notification_id
• campaign_id
• message_id
• deep_link
• utm_source, utm_campaign, etc.

Then when the user taps the notification, your app can log:

• push_open
• push_click
• associated campaign/message IDs

4) Instrument the app or site to capture the tap

Mobile app

When the app is opened from a notification:

• detect the notification payload in the launch intent / app delegate
• log an event like push_open
• route user to the correct screen via deep link

Web push

When the notification is clicked:

• listen for the notificationclick event in the service worker
• log a push_click
• open/focus the intended URL or app shell

5) Count unique users and total events separately

Useful metrics:

• Open rate = opens / delivered
• Click rate = clicks / delivered
• CTR = clicks / impressions or delivered, depending on your definition

Track both:

• total opens/clicks
• unique opens/clicks
• conversion after open

6) Avoid double counting

Push can be tricky because one tap may trigger multiple app lifecycle events. To prevent this:

• use a unique notification ID
• deduplicate events on the backend
• record one open per notification per user/device unless you want repeat counts

7) Example implementation pattern

A common setup:

1. Send push with notification_id=123
2. User taps notification
3. App/web receives payload
4. Client logs event:
   • push_open
   • { notification_id: 123, user_id: ..., timestamp: ... }
5. Backend stores the event and joins it to the campaign
6. Dashboard calculates open/click rates

8) Important caveats

• On some platforms, especially iOS, “open” is inferred from the app launch caused by the push.
• Web push click tracking is usually more straightforward than mobile open tracking.
• If the notification is displayed silently or via in-app messaging, the measurement approach differs.

If you want, I can give you:

• a Firebase/FCM example
• an iOS/Android implementation
• or a web push service worker example.