Design Smart Push Notifications

Every single app these days is pushing a bunch of notifications every single day. 90% of them are either irrelevant or uninteresting or annoying to me. As a result, I dismiss all of them including the 10% that might be actually useful.

There have been numerous studies on how push notifications are irritating and even leading to app uninstalls in some cases. You can go through this post for some more insights on this research.

No Youtube, I never watch videos on mobile. Snapchat — ok, so what? Lemon Tree 13th Anniversary discount? Seriously? Do you think I will book a Lemon Tree hotel because there is 13% off ? Have I ever booked a 3+ star hotel? How can Amazon recommend a Harry Potter book to me? I hate Harry Potter. Flipkart, why will I suddenly buy laptop even if there is 20% off on them? Forget that. Why will I buy a mousepad? I don’t even use a mouse. Deal expires in 2 days? what deal? which app? WTF?

These kind of notifications that are sent in bulk to all users sort of pollute my notification panel. Phone is a smartphone but if apps aren’t smart, then we are back to square one. Some random examples of how notifications can be customized are given below.

Make push notifications personal, context-aware and smart.

BookmyShow:

My previous history tells you that I watch a lot of telugu movies. If you now know my location to be in Delhi, notify me whenever a telugu movie is released here, I would definitely book a ticket however stupid the movie is. You like your regional language more if you live away from your state.

Freecharge:

I almost always use freecharge for recharging my phone balance and 3G. Freecharge can learn and form patterns from my recharge history and alert me at the right time to do a recharge. It can even parse SMS (yeah, I don’t read SMSes) from Vodafone, (which tells me that my package will expire in 3 days) and alert me after 3 days.

Uber / Ola etc.:

Uber has already become a habit for me. One smart notification I can think of Uber doing is as shown in the above screenshot. Actually, it needn’t. I am using it daily anyway. :)

Flipkart / Amazon etc.:

An year back, I bought Moto G 1st generation phone and a screen guard and flip cover for the same. Now, I bought Moto G 3rd generation phone. Flipkart could have sent me a push notification a couple of days after delivery asking me if I would like to protect my newly purchased phone. I might have purchased screen guard again. But after using for a week or 10 days, you get used to it in whatever condition it is in and don’t bother about buying a screen guard.

In February, I purchased a bunch of random things from Amazon; things like Doormats, bed sheets, pillow covers, Odonil etc. Going by my orders that month, Amazon could have easily guessed that I shifted to a new home. It could have sent me a push asking “Looks like you have shifted to a new home. Here are things you may need.” and give me a list. I would have not only opened the list but would have surely bought items that I have missed. May be a room freshner? or dustbin covers?

Ecommerce companies also know my exact address including my door / floor no., from my previous orders. Based on the local news in that area, or climate, they can pitch me right things at the right moment when I am more likely to buy. For instance, umbrellas / rain coats if there is rain forecast in monsoon. or lets say if metro construction started in my area, there would be more pollution on the road. They can pitch me to buy a pollution mask. (I bought a helmet lock online — so they do know I ride a bike.) If there is a buzz about spread of contagious diseases in my area, pitch me water purifiers and I will buy one.

Good practices all apps need to follow:

1. Personalize: Why send the same notification to everyone when you know a lot of data about your users?
2. SMS / Email / Push: Decide well between these three channels. Don’t send on all three channels for Gods sake! If I recharge my mobile for Rs.50 on Freecharge, I get a bunch of SMSes and Emails from Freecharge, Vodafone and my Bank. I also get push notifications for these SMSes and Emails. And I would not open any of these in my life time. All this for a stupid 50 recharge? Why? Another example is Ola/Meru cabs which send a bunch of notifications, SMSes and Emails. Don’t. I like what Uber does. No SMS at all. Not needed too. Send me a mail of the receipt after the trip. And since the receipt goes to “updated” category in my email and not “primary”, I don’t get another annoying push notification from Gmail. If I ever need it, I will go and search for it.
3. Timing & Location: Push at the right timing and your users are more likely to click. A coupon startup? Send me an alert when I am in a Pizza hut or Dominoes.
4. Mute: If I am dismissing candy crush notifications 10 out of 10 times, why not mute it for me automatically?
5. Customize: Android allows you to customize push notification design. Do a better job. I like what Uber and Newsinshorts do.
6. A-B Test: Always test the hypothesis and do what’s giving best results.

Stop dull, bulk notifications that may even backfire on your business. Send personalized, context-aware, smart notifications and build better user engagement.

Make Technology disappear, not intrusive.