— JOHANNA BüLLING

June 13, 2015 / Johanna Bülling

How might we help users with push notifications?

Don’t ask a user for access until really needing it, and make sure it’s crystal clear what they will get in return.

To keep in mind: It is a special relationship we are building, and a communication that has to be on equal terms.

Step 1#Figure out which approach to take on notifications. Step 2#Looking at how many percentage of the users that will tap “Allow” when asking promotion to send notifications. If the approach isn't working, there will be knowledge to improve.

What can be put in an activity feed and what needs to be pushed?

Ask for permission to help out:

When the users find their way to the activity list - there is a good reason to ask for permission to use notifications. “The 7 days rule: There is a lot to keep track on, let us help you remember to log your drives in the end of the week. (?)”

The question mark icon is for the users to know more about the 7 day rule - what it is and why it is important to keep track of the drives.

Context is critical.

Look at: https://medium.com/launch-kit/the-right-way-to-ask-users-for-ios-permissions-96fa4eb54f2c

Guidelines
When are they used//When does the user want notifications//general rules

Ask for permission. Be consistent. Be in time.

iOS Apple

Apple Store Review Guidelines:

5. Push Notifications

5.1

Apps that provide Push Notifications without using the Apple Push Notification (APN) API will be rejected

5.2

Apps that use the APN service without obtaining a Push Application ID from Apple will be rejected

5.3

Apps that send Push Notifications without first obtaining user consent, as well as apps that require Push Notifications to function, will be rejected

Source: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#push-notifications

Android

Layout and guidelines

Source: https://developer.android.com/design/patterns/notifications.html

How does other applications do it?

How does push notifications behave?

OK:

Got a message

Calendar event

Manually added action (someone left the house)

Activity (social networks..)

Not OK:

Unexpected messages

Un-relevant content

Third party information (your friend added another friend)

Content and context is key.