Unified Distribution Across App, LINE, and Email
ReceiptRoller's push notification distribution stack lets you manage app notifications (iOS / Android), LINE notifications, and email notifications from a single management screen. Since the optimal channel for each customer is automatically selected, store staff don't need to manually decide "customer A gets the app, customer B gets LINE, customer C gets email."
This article covers the characteristics of each channel, how the recipient channel is determined per customer, how to send, distribution reports, and guidelines for effective use.
The three channels
App notifications (push notifications)
Displays a notification directly on the lock screen for customers who have the native iOS / Android app installed.
- Delivery speed: instant (typically within seconds)
- Delivery rate: high (delivered via the OS's standard mechanism)
- Restrictions: requires the native app to be installed and notifications to be permitted
- Underlying technology: iOS uses APNs (Apple Push Notification service), Android uses FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging)
LINE notifications
Sends notifications via LINE chat to customers who are friends with your store's LINE official account.
- Delivery speed: instant
- Delivery rate: very high (LINE has high active usage in Japan, and tends to be opened more than email)
- Restrictions: requires the customer to be friends with your store's LINE official account. Also subject to the LINE-side monthly message delivery limit (depends on your plan)
Email notifications
Sends a notification to the email address registered at the time of member registration.
- Delivery speed: seconds to minutes
- Delivery rate: moderate (may be routed to a spam folder)
- Restrictions: requires an email address to be registered and receiving to be permitted. Supports long-form content and attached images
How the recipient channel is determined per customer
When store staff create a single notification, ReceiptRoller automatically selects and sends via the highest-priority channel available for each customer. The priority order is as follows (checked from the top down, and the first usable channel is selected).
- App notifications — highest priority for customers who have the native app installed and have granted notification permission
- LINE notifications — for customers without the app installed who are friends with the LINE official account
- Email notifications — for customers who don't fall into either category above but have a registered email address
The same customer will never receive a duplicate notification from multiple channels (except when the store explicitly chooses a "send to all channels" setting).
The priority order can be changed from "Notification Settings" in the store management screen. Customizations like "prioritize LINE over the app" or "app → email only (skip LINE)" are also possible.
Types of notifications
- Broadcast distribution: store staff create a message and send it in bulk to a target segment. Campaign announcements, new menu introductions, temporary closure notices, etc.
- Triggered distribution: automatically sent based on a specific event. For example, "welcome message upon completing member registration," "follow-up 30 days after a visit," "reminder the day before a reservation," etc.
- Location notifications: displayed when the customer nears a location set on their Wallet membership verification (see the separate article "Location Notification Settings")
Specifying the distribution segment
Notification recipients are narrowed down using CRM customer segments. Commonly used filters include:
- By membership rank: announcing early access to Gold members only
- By visit history: reaching out to customers with no visits in the last 30 days
- By birth month: birthday coupons for customers with a birthday that month
- By store: for multi-store operations, notify only customers of a specific store
- By registration channel: differentiate between customers who registered via QR versus those who registered via LINE
For how to create segments, see the separate article "Customer Segments."
Steps to create a distribution
- Go to the store management screen → "Notifications" → "New Distribution"
- Choose the notification type (broadcast / triggered)
- Enter the title and body. This is automatically optimized per channel (app notifications should be short; email can be long)
- Add a link URL or image as needed
- Select the distribution segment (choose an existing segment, or create a new one)
- Specify the distribution date/time (send immediately or schedule for later)
- Preview how it will look on each channel (app / LINE / email)
- Click "Start Distribution" to automatically send via the optimal channel for each customer
Distribution reports
After distribution, you can check the results from "Notifications" → "Distribution History" in the store management screen. Each distribution records the following.
- Number sent: number of messages sent per channel (app / LINE / email)
- Delivery rate: percentage of messages that reached the recipient
- Open rate: percentage of messages that were tapped and opened
- Click rate: percentage of links within the notification that were clicked
- Failure count: number of failed deliveries and the reason (invalid token, unfriended, email rejection, etc.)
Distribution guidelines
- Watch your frequency: sending notifications multiple times a day can cause customers to revoke notification permission (mute or unfriend). Aim for roughly 1-2 times per week
- Convey a specific benefit: generic messages like "Announcement" or "Ongoing Campaign" alone result in a lower open rate. Include specifics like "20% off until 6 PM today" or "limited quantity new arrival"
- Choose the right time window: for restaurants, sending before lunch (around 11:30) or before dinner (around 17:30); for retail, weekend mornings — sending at times when customers are likely to act is effective
- Narrow your segment: sending to a segment of likely-interested customers, rather than everyone, results in higher open rates and conversion rates
- A/B testing: even for the same campaign, we recommend varying the title or time window to find the best-performing pattern
Customer-side notification permissions
For a customer to receive notifications on each channel, the following permissions are required:
- App notifications: selecting "Allow" on the "Allow notifications?" prompt shown when the native app first launches. Changeable later in settings
- LINE notifications: adding the store's LINE official account as a friend. Not being blocked
- Email notifications: registering a valid email address at member registration. Won't be sent if unsubscribed via an opt-out link
Notes
- LINE's monthly delivery count has an upper limit based on your LINE-side plan. Please check your store's LINE official account plan
- Email delivery rates fluctuate based on the mail server's status. If bounce rates rise, ReceiptRoller may automatically suppress distribution
- If the notification body is too long, it's truncated in app notifications and split across multiple messages in LINE. Please check how it will look on each channel in the preview