First, OneSignal's new report indicates push notifications may be a bigger incentive for brands than many thought. According to their research brands using push notifications have increased their daily users by nearly 10% (web) and 35% (mobile), and in one case a merchant increased revenue by 10% simply by pushing notifications about abandoned shopping carts to their shoppers.

"Companies are missing out on a crucial customer retention & engagement strategy if not leveraging Push Notifications," said Josh Wetzel, Chief Revenue Officer, OneSignal. "Users state overwhelmingly that Push Notifications not only meet their business needs, but ROI is better than or equal to other channels - as good or better than Email & Ads, and the qualitative look at more than 30k mobile apps & websites show they are essential to driving daily active usage."

Despite this, though, many businesses and marketers still aren't using push notifications. According to their data only about 5% of the top 100,000 global websites are using push notifications and only about half of mobile apps are utilizing this option.

Meanwhile, Airship's State of Global Mobile Engagement report finds more consumers opting-in to sharing their location via mobile devices. Before the pandemic hit, the global opt-in rate for location sharing had dropped to 7.7%, however between March and June there was a 30% increase in those sharing their locations. The global average is now just over 10%. Other ways mobile consumers have changed how they're interacting with brands, publishers and mobile merchants include:

• March to June app opens grew to 22.6 opens per user
• March to June direct opens increased to 8.2% (globally)
• Retail has the highest location opt-in (23%)
• Opt-Ins for Medical, Health/Fitness and Finance/Insurance all doubled March - June

"The pandemic has brought unparalleled change to everyone and further cemented mobile as the center of our lives for in-the-moment information and streamlined conveniences to manage through this extraordinary time," said Brett Caine, CEO and president, Airship. "With location opt-in growing to its highest rate in years, and both Apple and Google carefully reviewing apps and providing consumers less specific and more temporary ways to share it, it's clear that more people are experiencing the value of sharing this information with apps and brands they trust."

Studies ID how mobile use has changed since pandemic

It is no secret that more consumers have 'gone mobile' since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic or that more time is being spent with mobile devices. Two new reports shed light on how consumers are interacting with marketers and content since lockdowns began.