Another SaaS Newsletter?Yep. But This One’s Actually Worth Reading. 🕶

We’re excited to share that Liquid Glass is coming to all Reactiv Clips and mobile apps.

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We spent the last two months designing with Apple’s beta, so Reactiv Clips and mobile apps will  support Liquid Glass out of the box. That means your app navigation will now feel like a native part of iOS: glassy, swipeable, clean.

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This new style brings a modern, polished look right into Reactiv Clips, giving shoppers a native app experience that feels effortless and premium, all without requiring a download. Here’s how…

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The average shopper makes a decision about your brand in 50 milliseconds

… And 75% of them will judge your credibility based on design alone.

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Most mobile shopping flows still feel like clunky mobile websites. Buttons in weird spots. Laggy load times. Pages that feel tacked on. That disconnect costs you trust, and it costs you conversions.

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Reactiv is fixing that by aligning your shopping experience with the OS itself:

• Elevated design: With Liquid Glass, your clips adopt a polished, premium aesthetic that feels right at home alongside your other apps.
• Quick updates: You can refresh the content and design of your Reactiv Clips directly from our Drag & Drop Dashboard, embedded right inside your Shopify admin.
• Instant engagement: Shoppers can interact with your brand directly from ads, no barriers, from checkout to app install.
• Push notifications: Re-engage shoppers for up to 8 hours after their first interaction, without needing an opt-in.

What it looks like in action

Cozy Earth is one of our first merchants to go live with this update. We published a quick video on LinkedIn here:

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Beautiful design does impact sales. Reactiv Clips already convert 3x better than mobile web. Now they look 3x better too. 

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When you can access Liquid Glass for Reactiv

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Liquid Glass will be available as an optional feature in the coming weeks across our apps. It’s another step toward helping merchants deliver mobile experiences that connect with shoppers and drive results.

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We can’t wait to see how your brand shines through Liquid Glass. 

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Book a demo with us here if you want to learn more.  We’ll walk you through the design, the editor, and what this could look like for your brand.

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As performance marketers and ecommerce operators stare down the back half of 2025, the question isn’t just “how do we get more traffic?”—it’s “how do we convert better and retain longer?”

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At Reactiv, we’ve been focused on helping brands do exactly that. Since our launch in October 2024, Reactiv has powered mobile shopping experiences for DTC brands through Reactiv Clips—a lightweight version of a mobile app that doesn’t require a full download or opt-in to function. 

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Once a shopper engages with a clip, it enables you to send push notifications for up to 8 hours (without requiring an opt-in). The results we’re seeing across our customer base suggest that push, when done right, is one of the most impactful conversion levers heading into the last part of the year and into 2026.

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What We’ve Seen: The Case for Push-Driven Retention

Here’s what our aggregated data from late 2024 and into H1 2025 shows:

• Customer retention is 3–4x higher on Reactiv-powered mobile apps compared to traditional mobile web.
• Repeat purchases are 3–6x higher, driven largely by remarketing flows like push notifications.
• Push notifications sent through Reactiv Clips see 60% open rates on average, with 5–7% conversion rates.

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Brands are also lowering CAC by 75% and increasing their profit per session by converting up to 3-5x more. 

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This is because, unlike SMS or email, Reactiv Clips lets brands engage with buyers not just once, but twice or three times after they click an ad—lowering friction and giving marketers more control over the moment of conversion.

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Timing Matters: Why Late-Night Pushes Win

When you send a push notification matters just as much as what it says. 

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Based on Reactiv data, the highest conversion window is between 9PM and midnight—when shoppers are relaxed, scrolling, and more receptive to reminders.

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It’s not hard to imagine why: at 9AM, a push about a jacket you were browsing is easy to swipe away while rushing to work. But at 10:30PM, that same message might feel like just the right nudge to complete the purchase. 

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We see conversion rates peak at 6.8% during this window, and recommend brands lean into it as part of their evening remarketing strategy.

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Four Types of Push Notifications That Actually Work

There’s more than one way to use push notifications effectively. Based on top-performing flows from Reactiv merchants, here are four notification types that consistently drive results—and when to use them.

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1. Promotional Pushes That Spark Urgency

These are your classic campaign drivers: product drops, limited-time offers, site-wide sales. According to Airship, 65% of mobile app users open notifications offering a deal. We see similar behavior across Reactiv—especially among repeat customers who are already familiar with the brand. These work best when they create a sense of exclusivity or time sensitivity, like “Early access just for you” or “Ends at midnight.”

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2. Behavioral Nudges That Reclaim Lost Sales

Cart abandonment rates have crept up to over 70% globally, and mobile browsing behavior means many shoppers don’t convert on their first visit. Behavioral pushes—those tied to product views or carts—can bring users back at the right time. On Reactiv, these messages outperform email by 37% in click-through rates. Simple nudges like “Still thinking it over?” or “You left something behind 👀” can make the difference between a bounce and a buy.

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3. Transactional Updates That Build Trust

Post-purchase doesn’t mean post-communication. In fact, 90% of shoppers want to track their packages in real time. Push notifications with order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery ETAs reduce WISMO tickets and increase satisfaction. These messages keep customers in the loop—and more importantly, keep them in your ecosystem.

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4. Lifecycle Messages That Build Community

Push is also a powerful tool for reinforcing brand affinity. Notifications tied to loyalty programs, birthdays, or just regular check-ins can deepen emotional connection. Brands like Top of the Mornin’ Coffee use lighthearted pushes—like “Just stopping by to say you’re awesome”—to stay top of mind and build goodwill between purchases. Think of these as digital touchpoints that build habits and community.

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Unlocking Push Without the Opt-In

Here’s what makes Reactiv’s approach unique: with Reactiv Clips, brands can send push notifications without requiring a download or opt-in.

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A Reactiv Clip is a lightweight mobile experience that can be launched from an ad, email, or link. Once a user opens a Clip, brands have an eight-hour window to send personalized push notifications.

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This turns every ad click into a remarketing opportunity. 

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A Typical Journey Looks Like This:

• A customer clicks on a social ad → a Reactiv Clip opens the product page
• The user browses but doesn’t buy → a behavioral push notification is sent later 
• They click the notification → return to the Clip → complete the purchase
• A post-purchase push confirms their order and keeps them engaged

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All of this happens without the user downloading an app or opting into notifications. 

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What to Prioritize Now and Beyond

Based on everything we’ve seen, here’s what we recommend as brands head into the back half of the year and into 2026:

• Lean into push notification remarketing. Especially behavioral and late-night campaigns.
• Personalize whenever possible. The delta in performance between targeted and untargeted is too large to ignore.
• Rethink app strategy. If you don’t have the install base or opt-ins to use push, consider lightweight options like Reactiv Clips to bridge the gap.
• Think beyond the sale. Push isn’t just for conversion—it’s also for community-building, loyalty, and customer experience.
  
  

Mobile apps and push are no longer a channel reserved for massive brands. They’re an essential part of a modern CRO playbook—and one of the most underutilized tools in ecommerce.

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Here’s the hard truth for ecommerce brands: Mobile now dominates ecommerce traffic but still lags behind desktop in conversions. 

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Specifically, in 2025, ecommerce conversion rate benchmarked 4.8% on desktop vs. 2.9% on mobile. 

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But at the same time, customer acquisition costs are up 40% between 2023 and 2025, and every wasted click hurts more than ever. You can’t keep throwing money at traffic and expect better results. 

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Here is the problem with current mobile app interfaces: it’s not just a design issue—it’s a format issue. Most brands are still trying to force a website experience into a mobile screen, but a shrunken website isn't the answer. Instead, you need to create a mobile app experience built for engagement, return visits, and higher LTV.

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Let’s talk about how to design for the format, not just fitting the format.

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TL;DR: Mobile CRO in 60 Seconds

Here’s the rundown in less than 100 words: 

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Mobile CRO means improving the mobile experience that you offer to turn visitors into customers. Despite driving the majority of ecommerce traffic, the conversion rate of less than 3% doesn’t add up. 

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To do this, brands are shifting toward mobile apps and app-like experiences that engage users long-term and enable push re-engagement—true mobile CRO. 

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CRO for Mobile vs Desktop: What’s Actually Different?

For starters, consumer behaviour in general is different on mobile versus desktop. On mobile, people shop while multitasking; whether they’re distracted, in bed, or on the go. This means your conversion windows are short and timing matters more than ever—typically peaking from 9PM to midnight. 

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This calls for optimizing those shorter conversion windows, placing more focus on timing that makes an impact.

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Additionally, mobile-app experiences are generally more controlled, engaging, and persistent to grasp the attention of the user. With push notifications, mobile gives you the advantage of precise control over re-engagement and personalization, something that desktop doesn’t. 

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Why brands are shifting from mobile web to mobile app strategy

As a brand, you own the experience in your mobile app. You’re not constrained by browser compatibility issues or third-party platform limitations. This means that you have more freedom when it comes to the design, the look, and feel of your app. You can also plan and adapt new paths of engagement and conversion for your users based on performance. 

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Mobile apps also give you more ownership and control over customer data. With customer privacy laws becoming more strict, it’s challenging to capture buyers from a browser. But when a customer downloads a mobile app and creates an account, you have complete customer profiles that you can use to personalize their shopping experience—in the app and externally on other channels.

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Brands are also making the switch to mobile apps because of customer retention. Mobile apps are generally built for stickier engagement because of quicker access via push notifications, badges, and in-app reminders. 

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How to Increase Conversion Rate on Mobile (Without Throwing More Money at Ads)

Conversion rate doesn’t only rise as a result of flooding in ads. There are other, more discrete ways to encourage users to convert.

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Invest in features that bring people back. I.e: invest in customer engagement tools and strategies. Whether it’s adding personalization to your consumer’s journey, or improving the general app onboarding, upping your engagement leads to upping your conversion rates. 

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Here are some tips:

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Optimize Design for How People Actually Browse

Don’t just shrink your website—redesign for mobile behavior.

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Take The Scent Reserve, for example. Rather than implementing their desktop website to fit mobile, the perfume brand strategized to feature its top-converting product bundle right on the homepage hero in their app, sending traffic directly to their highest-performing page.

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Or take Vitae as another example. The activewear brand’s wellness app boasts a fantastic design, complete with custom wishlists, organized product pages, and a wealth of wellness resources, all designed to make the experience delightful for shoppers.

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Use Push to Recover Lost Conversions (and Spark Repeat Purchases)

Retargeting consumers after they’ve shown a loss of interest can feel so daunting. But sometimes they need a simple push to act as a reminder to convert. Brands using Reactiv are seeing open rates of ~60%, with conversion rates between 5–7%. This is because they’re pairing push with our Reactiv Clips feature.

Take the flower, home goods, and gifting brand Venus et Fleur as an example. The brand runs Reactiv Clip campaigns. Here’s how it works: 

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When a shopper taps their ad, it takes them to a Reactiv Clip—a lightweight version of the mobile app, which the shopper doesn’t have to download to explore. 

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Venus Et Fleur then gets a first-party push token that can remind users about their abandoned cart, previous engagement, and more. No IDFA or cross-app tracking required.

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Reactiv Clips allow for unlimited real-time push notification retargeting for up to 8 hours post-click—without the shopper even having to opt in to receive push. 

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Just like that, that single paid click can turn into at least three more conversion chances.

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Here’s another example from the coffee company Top of the Mornin’, which uses push notifications not just for recovery, but for ongoing customer education and retention. 

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One of the top Reactiv features that Top of the Mornin’ leverages is push notifications. But not in the way most brands do. They use push notifications primarily for brand-building rather than direct conversions, like sending uplifting messages like “Have a great day!” to engage their app users.

While they may have launched their mobile app with community-building in mind, it paid off financially too. Each month after launching, the brand saw its AOV climb, and in just three months, AOV increased by more than 17%.

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Read more about it here. 

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Provide Value Beyond the Products

Consumers can spot value beyond your product offering. Think about value-added features and services you can build into mobile that align with your brand identity. 

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Our case study of Missouri Star Quilt Company demonstrates this perfectly. The quilt company implemented a Watch Page that provides value to avid quilters through tutorials, but also is built for conversion by making these tutorials shoppable, highlighting products that were shown in the videos. 

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Another way the brand adds value to the customer experience is their custom in-app feature known as “the Bundle” to encourage regular purchases. This feature allows customers to hold an order for seven days to add more items, aiming to qualify for free shipping and consolidate shipments. 

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Read more about MSQC and Reactiv here. 

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Prioritize Speed and Simplicity

Many factors contribute to a good mobile CRO, and not all of them have to do with putting out ads. 

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Focus on speed, as loading and navigation times are key drivers of user experience and engagement. Faster load times lead to lower abandonment. Especially on mobile, as users are usually on the go, multitasking, or could easily be pulled elsewhere, every second matters.  

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Make sure to keep things simple for the average user. It’s common for users to drop off when navigation becomes difficult or feels overwhelming. This is important for mobile interfaces because screen space is already much more limited, meaning that you have to design with intent.  Keep things easy with clear CTA’s, fewer fields that add friction, fewer barriers to clicking purchase—no need to overcomplicate. 

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Push further with Reactiv Clips

Here’s the thing: people are already tapping your ads — but every click could actually generate three more chances to convert.

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Mobile CRO isn’t just about squeezing more from what you have, it’s about creating a better, more engaging experience that keeps people coming back.

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Start your mobile CRO with Reactiv. Need more convincing? Across the Reactiv network we’ve found:  

• Retention: 3–4× higher than mobile web
• Repeat purchases: up to 6× higher
• Push open rates: ~60%, with 5–7% conversion
• Customer Acquisition Costs: down by as much as 75%

See Reactiv in Action

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FAQ: Mobile Conversion Rate Optimization

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Why is mobile conversion rate lower than desktop?

It boils down to user behaviour on mobile vs desktop. On mobile, users are often distracted or multitasking. User intent on mobile is often casual browsing without an urgency to commit to purchasing. Compared to desktop where users are more in a research or purchase mindset. 

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Functional factors also contribute to a lower conversion rate on mobile. Smaller screens, slower navigation, and lack of re-engagement tools (like push notifications) all contribute to lower conversion rates compared to desktop.

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How can I increase conversion rate on mobile?

• Use mobile app or app-like experience for better customer engagement and retention 4
• Send intentional and timely push notifications after ad clicks/ signs of interest 
• Add personalization to the consumer’s mobile experience 
• Perfect functional areas such as speeding up loading times, clean up UI, and simplify mobile navigation. 
• Spotlight your top-converting products right away so your consumer can’t miss it on mobile. 

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Do I need a mobile app to improve mobile CRO?

At the end of the day, you don’t need a full app.

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But you need an app-like experience. Reactiv Clips, for example, deliver app-like journeys instantly, without a need to download, letting brands send push notifications, drive return visits, and increase conversions—all without the friction of the App Store.

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What’s the difference between CRO for mobile and desktop?

People interact differently with desktop versus mobile, often with different intentions. Therefore, the CRO between the two will be different as well. 

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Desktop CRO prioritizes longer, more focused browsing sessions to get the user invested. While on the other hand, mobile CRO prioritizes speed, simplicity, and re-engagement tools like push notifications to get the user interested. Mobile behavior is different—so optimizing for it requires a different approach.

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How do push notifications improve mobile conversion?

Push notifications are all about retargeting. With push notifications you reconnect with shoppers that have tapped an ad or engaged with your app. Push notifications have ~60% open rates and can convert up to 7% of users, therefore upping your mobile CRO. With Reactiv, you can send these notifications even without opt-in, using Apple-approved first-party engagement.

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