Killing Notifications Softly

I had the privilege of using a mobile phone when an incoming call would cost you Rs.15 ($0.4 at that time), I don’t even remember how much an SMS would cost you then. There were no apps then. It was a simple, big, heavy phone with a small display. We used it wisely, never even thought of exploiting it.

Thankfully people started adopting mobile phones and the operating prices went down. Mobiles brought along a whole new revolution and smartphones took it further to change how we lead our lives today.

If we look back at our mobile journey, we would clearly see how SMSes have kind of disappeared from our lives. We only use them for booking confirmations, transaction alerts and a secondary communication channel. Go have a look at your SMS inbox, I bet it would look something like this if you have not turned on DND.

For all those unwanted SMSes we started blocking them; we have an app for that as well. We also have apps which would aggregate information and automatically block these unwanted SMSes. So you would agree SMS is kind of dead now. Well, who would use SMS to communicate when you have WhatsApp?

Today notifications are being exploited the same way SMS was few years back. Unlike, iOS and Windows OS, Android allows the apps to customize the notifications posted. Well, that sounds good doesn’t it. But, humans have a tendency to overdo everything and they did the same with android notifications.

Sending Too Many Notifications

A lot of apps don’t realise it is better to not send a notification than sending too many.

Incorrect Targeting

Again there are some you don’t bother as to what the user does in your app and send an irrelevant push anyways. Like, I bought a TV from Flipkart and 2 days later I get a notification saying “TV recommendations” while I was watching a match on the television which I bought from Flipkart.

Not focusing on the core product

App engagements are important but it is not more important than your app. The app quality/experience, your core business features need more focus than your engagement. What will you engage your users with if your product is not useful and intuitive?

Incorrect frequency

If you are a daily use product like a news aggregate, sending regular updates do make sense whereas if you are a flight booking company, it is kind of obvious a user will not always be interested in your offers. It is better to track usage pattern and inform the user accordingly rather than a general announcement.

Misusing the background data privileges

Android allows you to run services in the background and also connect to the network(provided user did not switch off the background data). Some apps download images of 2–3MB for every notification; while that makes the notification look good it eats up the user data. What if that was all that is left and the notification simply killed it. Now the user needs to pay extra to connect to find directions on google maps or order food online, etc.

Irritating Sounds

Every company maintains their branding guidelines and would like to differentiate themselves from others. Some think setting an irritating tone to their notification makes them stand apart from others.

Last month when I was visiting Paris, I turned on my phone to search a fact inside Louvre. As soon as the phone turned ON, Wynk Music & Goibibo’s notifications did make me stand apart in the crowd. I immediately did one thing and that is UNINSTALL.

Last year, I had written a post regarding what should be considered when sending notifications to your users.

Some companies like Intercom are looking in the direction where they consider users at the center of their system when dealing with notifications.

Others, like QGraph, think they are disrupting the notification space by adding more irritating features, like carousel notifications to the existing notification customization. So instead of one image, you get 3 images. Their belief is a user takes time out to look and scroll to admire notifications rather than using the app.

From a technology standpoint, QGraph did bring in a change with notifications but I doubt if the entire trouble is worth the effort.

Notifications Redesigned in Android N

Android police on 29th Feb published a post regarding notifications in the upcoming Android N. I really hope they remove images or any additional customization for notifications.