Mobile has been the great disrupter creating completely new businesses and challenging the way most businesses offer customer service.

Marketers are experimenting with push notifications in all kinds of ways — to engage customers, to drive sales, to provide meaningful customer experiences, for starters. Strong, effective push strategies are a challenge, though.

Your tiny message must meaningfully drive your customers into action, and even bridge the gap between the online and the offline world.

Few brands do this better than our customer Air New Zealand. What they’ve done is use push notifications not just to inform or to update, but to deliver a magical experience in a stressful situation.

Here’s the step-by-step rundown on how Air New Zealand has combined push notifications, location-based technology, its loyalty program, and caffeine for an awesome customer experience.

Location Targeting to Prompt the Order

Last time I walked into the Air New Zealand lounge, I signed in just like I always do. So the folks at Air New Zealand knew I was there. In another context, the same thing could be accomplished with beacon technology.

Minutes later, I got a mobile message from Air New Zealand: “Order coffee through the app and we’ll send you a notification when it’s ready.”

Do I Stay or Do I Go?

I opened the app, where I was informed that my wait time would be less than five minutes. Great. Did I want my coffee to stay, in a real mug with a saucer, or in a to-go cup?

I’m thinking, to-go cup.