Messages

Here is where all your direct messages will be sent. These could also include group messages.

Requests

Depending on your platform, you many have 1-to-1 relationships between users (e.g. Facebook). If this is the case, you may want to separate out these types of requests from the notification center. Alternatively, if you have a 1-to-infinite model (e.g. Twitter) then the user should just be notified in the notification center and not as a request.

These little guys mimic push notifications and let the user know, in real-time, when they get a notification. What distinguishes them from a push notification is that you can only receive them while you are in the app itself, usually, they will fly in from the right of the screen and if you click the body of it, it will let you explore the notification.

Usually, a notification will have the following elements:

• Text (usually containing an ‘object’, such as a photo, post or and a ‘subject’, such as another user or business)
• The subject’s profile picture (optional)
• An indication if it has been read or not
• The time it was sent
• An icon indicating notification type (optional)
• An action button (optional)
• An options menu (optional)

An alternative to using a colored background is to use a symbol to indicate if a notification has been read or not. The bonuses of this is that unlike the colored background, it shouldn’t hamper users with vision issues. However, (and there is always a however) they may not be as obvious as different a colored background. Although, with Facebook adopting this method, I don’t think that this is actually true anymore. Usually, this symbol appears in the form of a small dot, but having an accent color on the left side is also understood.

We receive so many emails. So many. Most of which are just marketing or are just as uninteresting. So, how do you make your emails more useful?

• Allow users to set which type of email notifications they get.
• Group notifications. If 50 people like your photo, you don’t want to receive 50 emails — I can promise you that. So, you can send an email an hour later that groups all notifications which are the same, e.g. Alex Brown and 49 others liked your photo.
• As a default, turn some of the notification settings off. An example would be keeping ‘recommendations’ off but ‘user interactions’ on.

The only people I receive SMS from are my bank, AirBnb, and my Dad. You can, however, set up your notifications to send you an SMS, although sometimes it is at a financial cost to the user. You should only consider this channel if it makes sense for your product, depending on the situation that the user will be in when receiving it. For example, if you have just landed in another country and you don’t have the right SIM card yet and your soon-to-be Airbnb landlord sends you a message — you would never know about it if it weren’t for the SMS that gets sent to your phone

Push notifications are a great way of letting users know that they have an update. This little notification will prompt the user back to the app if it is interesting enough. 

• The first way is that you agree to get notifications sent to you by a website you were visiting. You can get rid of these by going to your browser settings.
• The second way is enabling push notifications on a desktop app. I have seen these used for direct messaging apps, music streaming, and calendars. These can be removed in the app or program settings.

There are a few things to consider if you are planning on writing notifications:

• Have a subject and an object.
• Keep it short and specific.
• Stay relevant.

I read this book a while back so am a bit hazy on the details, but I was really impressed by the simple approach it took. This little diagram is insanely powerful and can be used in so many different products. It works in social media, games, even wellness apps.