July 6, 2014 at 22:495 key elements of friendly notifications
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Have you ever paid attention to the number of notifications received daily from different services and applications? Which of them are really important to you? This issue becomes relevant in connection with the increase in the number of such services.
We receive many messages that we do not pay due attention to. For us now, the usual thing is the removal of "information garbage." Why? Let's get a look. When you start using a service or installing a mobile application, you may wish to receive its notifications only when they are really useful and can carry value. The problem is that only a few follow this rule.
As an ordinary user, I hate them, for the product owner this is not only a communication tool, but also a promising marketing tool that delivers a message to the right user at the right time for advertising purposes. How can you turn a notification into a useful and convenient message for both the owner of the service and the user?
Before you start designing notifications, ask yourself if you really need it. This may sound absurd, but many messages should not appear on user screens. Think about whether the user should really go into some details of the application? If the notification is not very informative, and even does not require any technical action, then it is most likely not important. On the other hand, messages about critical errors that entail a decrease in performance or loss of information should be useful to users of the service. A good example in this case is the page for reporting a broken page in Google Chrome.
The best way to keep notifications up to date is with the good old analysis of user information. Nothing better than statistics will tell you about people. When creating notifications, try to pay attention to information about using the service. This will help increase the impact and relevance of messages. Try to calculate the delivery time of alerts. Night time, of course, is not the best time to communicate with the user. Statistics will help you catch the most appropriate moment based on the time zones of the application’s audience.
It is always good to have notifications with your settings. This does not mean that in each application you need to allow messages to be disabled (although such a function would be needed), but the ability to edit alerts is important. Users would be happy to see only the notifications that they themselves chose to receive. The message settings function would be useful when starting a project when you do not yet have a sufficient user base. After a while, you will see notification topics that are really interesting to users.
Regardless of the content of the message, make sure that it is written in the user's language so that he can read it. Make alerts clear and practical. Try to avoid spammer phrases like “You won!” Or “100% FREE.” Try to create them in the same style and design, as well as appropriate application symbols.
There are many ways to deliver alerts: SMS, Email, Push notifications, Web notifications, Pop-up messages and others. To use them correctly, we will divide the methods into two groups: “From application to person” and “from person to person”. Depending on the type and goals of the project, these groups may have different priorities. For example, Instagram users would rather want to know about new photos of friends, and not about requests to leave feedback about the application.
Knowing the right type and method of delivering notifications is key to the success of any project.
We receive many messages that we do not pay due attention to. For us now, the usual thing is the removal of "information garbage." Why? Let's get a look. When you start using a service or installing a mobile application, you may wish to receive its notifications only when they are really useful and can carry value. The problem is that only a few follow this rule.
As an ordinary user, I hate them, for the product owner this is not only a communication tool, but also a promising marketing tool that delivers a message to the right user at the right time for advertising purposes. How can you turn a notification into a useful and convenient message for both the owner of the service and the user?
1. Importance
Before you start designing notifications, ask yourself if you really need it. This may sound absurd, but many messages should not appear on user screens. Think about whether the user should really go into some details of the application? If the notification is not very informative, and even does not require any technical action, then it is most likely not important. On the other hand, messages about critical errors that entail a decrease in performance or loss of information should be useful to users of the service. A good example in this case is the page for reporting a broken page in Google Chrome.
2. Relevance and timeliness
The best way to keep notifications up to date is with the good old analysis of user information. Nothing better than statistics will tell you about people. When creating notifications, try to pay attention to information about using the service. This will help increase the impact and relevance of messages. Try to calculate the delivery time of alerts. Night time, of course, is not the best time to communicate with the user. Statistics will help you catch the most appropriate moment based on the time zones of the application’s audience.
3. Personalization
It is always good to have notifications with your settings. This does not mean that in each application you need to allow messages to be disabled (although such a function would be needed), but the ability to edit alerts is important. Users would be happy to see only the notifications that they themselves chose to receive. The message settings function would be useful when starting a project when you do not yet have a sufficient user base. After a while, you will see notification topics that are really interesting to users.
4. Clear and understandable text
Regardless of the content of the message, make sure that it is written in the user's language so that he can read it. Make alerts clear and practical. Try to avoid spammer phrases like “You won!” Or “100% FREE.” Try to create them in the same style and design, as well as appropriate application symbols.
5. Efficient delivery
There are many ways to deliver alerts: SMS, Email, Push notifications, Web notifications, Pop-up messages and others. To use them correctly, we will divide the methods into two groups: “From application to person” and “from person to person”. Depending on the type and goals of the project, these groups may have different priorities. For example, Instagram users would rather want to know about new photos of friends, and not about requests to leave feedback about the application.
Knowing the right type and method of delivering notifications is key to the success of any project.