Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

eugeneyan.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 159 posts

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#51

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

londons_explore wrote: post #31

I'd much rather the OS have a "report spam" button on notifications, and if more than 5% of app users report spam then the whole app gets all notifications blocked by default. Both Apple and Google have strong controls on the apps identity, so it won't be like email spam where the sender can just send from a new email address to get around the filter.

Both operating systems already require opt in (at the system level) for applications to be able to send notifications. I think Android enforces this even for apps targeting older API levels, except you just get prompted for the permission when you open the app.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#52

Post by Brajeshwar »

Unless an App/Platform/Service is an “if you miss the info, you/someone dies or might die or almost die,” then the notifications should be user-initiated. As a user, I should be the one who opted in to say, “Yes, I like this category of updates, and it is OK to send them to me.” Many an app/company assumes by default when I sign up or even use my email/phone to contact/connect for anything that, “Baaaaam, there you go -- fished another one -- send in the onslaught of our ads, hook, line, and sinker.”

I need to update for the new pattern of notifications, but my article[1] from 2014 remains valid -- stop the notifications -- either as soon as you install an App or as part of your weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly digital cleanup chores. Many friends have thanked me countless times for this small suggestion I wrote down on my blog. These days, forget the idea of productivity; everyday/casual living can really benefit without the need for extra nosy/noisy push notifications.

As an app developer, platform service provider, when you know you can but have a teeny-tiny bit of a doubt, do not push that notification.

1. https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi...

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#53

Post by chris-orgmenta »

This interested me, as it would be a nice concept to build a manual around.

On the face of it, it could have suited me ("What to push: Being helpful and engaging")

But looking into it, I feel the writer has a more cynical worldview than me, and I found this a bit distasteful.

I think that this resource is not useful to me, because it is undermined by greed. The end goal with this article is, IMO, people's pockets - not fulfilling people's needs.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#54

Post by ranting-moth »

I might be in the minority group. But any app that sends me a push notification that I haven't specifically opted in for is going to have all notification privilege removed right away. A lot of the time it's actually a reminder for me to uninstall the app.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#55

Post by dsign »

I'm trying to think of necessary push-notifications, and all I can come up with is "stuff from loved ones, but not spam of whatever mom finds in Facebook." This is an area where a user-focused app would let me use an AI to classify what bubbles up to push notifications. Alas, the incentives are wrong for that. App-makers will use the tiniest, tiniest excuse they can make up to solicit attention from a user.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#56

Post by grotorea »

kkarpkkarp wrote: post #16

Two years ago I learned from some Twitter post a new habit: every time you install an app on your phone, you must do one more step: block its notifications. You don't need any notifications from apps as long as this is not an instant messaging app. (You can make additional exception for your banking app, but that's it for 90% of users) My phone is now so silent.

I've had almost the same apps installed for years now, but is that really necessary? Just disable the notification channel after the app sends the first undesired notification.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#57

Post by cwillu »

cuu508 wrote: post #26
JoshTriplett wrote: post #11

> But with pushes, we have to guess what the customer might be interested in given triggers such as events, promotional offers No, you don't have to guess. You can correctly know that the answer is "no". If you're going to blatantly send unwanted marketing to the user, at least be honest with yourself and your audience about it.

I think what they really meant there was > But with pushes, we have to guess what is the upper limit of unwanted marketing the customer will tolerate

For me, that limit is “none”, I have stopped paying money to several services I used regularly the first time the mobile app gave me an unsolicited notification.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#58

Post by Irishsteve »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #48
Irishsteve wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends. We had a system that someone would favourite a product they are interested in, and when it went on a meaningful discount (20% or more) we would send them a notification letting them know. This had pretty good engagement compared to just shooting notifications out.

If a user specifically uses a feature that asks for notifications about a product, then you're just doing what the user asked you to do. The problem comes in when sending such notifications without them being requested by the user, which includes if the user "favorited" a product but that "favorite" operation had nothing to do with requesting promotions of that product. ("This is a thing I like" is not an invitation…

I'd say its a grey area in our case. The user isn't using a "tell me when discounts happen" feature, but rather a favourites feature where some of our marketing said to favourite things to get a discount.

Another instance but via notification was that someone would lose their product if they didn't complete the transaction (24 hours notice). This wasn't a lie - we reserved inventory for 24 hours for a buyer as it was a unique product. Versus something like booking which is eternally telling me someone else is about to reserve the room I'm considering renting.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#59

Post by mikecoles »

cuu508 wrote: post #26
JoshTriplett wrote: post #11

> But with pushes, we have to guess what the customer might be interested in given triggers such as events, promotional offers No, you don't have to guess. You can correctly know that the answer is "no". If you're going to blatantly send unwanted marketing to the user, at least be honest with yourself and your audience about it.

I think what they really meant there was > But with pushes, we have to guess what is the upper limit of unwanted marketing the customer will tolerate

The upper limit is still zero.

Re: Push notifications – What to push, what not to push, and how often

#60

Post by ProxCoques »

Fascinating the sort of elephant-in-room ignoring bubble that articles like this inhabit. What next? How best to drive cars down residential streets at full speed? How about how to slap people around the head without them doing the same to you?

I agree it's a good intellectual challenge, as far as mental gymnastics go.

Post reply on HN