Notifications Psychology
Ivan Pavlov trained his dogs to associate mealtime with the ring of a bell. Pavlov found he could elicit an involuntary physical response in his dogs with a simple jingle. Every time his bell rang, the dogs began to salivate. Today, the beeps, buzzes, rings, flags, pushes and pings blasting from our phones prompt a similar response. They are the Pavlovian bell of the 21st century, and they get us to check our tech incessantly. However, as powerful as these cues are, people are not drooling dogs. Our product's users can easily uninstall or turn off notifications that annoy them. How can we be sure that the notifications you’re sending are welcome and lead to higher engagement instead of driving users away?
Great apps create an instant bond between an emotional itch and the salve the service provides. To create this mental connection, effective messages are thoughtfully timed. There are two kinds of triggers: external and internal. External triggers are cues in the user's environment that provides information for what to do next. A button telling the user to click here or play now are all examples of external triggers. Internal triggers rely on associations in the user's mind to prompt actions. The most frequent internal triggers are emotions. When we're feeling lonely, we check Facebook. When we're uncertain, we Google.
Habit forming products align the external trigger such as a push notification, with the moment when the internal trigger is felt. The closer the timing of the external trigger is with the internal trigger, the sooner the association is formed. For example, imagine you have a connecting flight and only 40 minutes to spare. As soon as you land, you're worried about which gate to go to next and how long it will take you to get there. You turn your phone off airplane mode and there's a notification from your airline with all the right information. Your boarding time, gate number, and whether your departure is on time are presented at the moment you're most likely to feel anxious. Now you can get to your next connection without having to frantically scan one of the terminal's crowded departure screens. By providing information at the moment the user is likely to need it, the app builds credibility, trust and loyalty.
Good triggers prompt action while vague or irrelevant messages annoy users. It's important that a trigger cue a specific, simple behavior. For example, notifications from WhatsApp make it easy for users to check the latest update on a thread and respond accordingly. Their notifications are simple and focused and instruct the user what to do next. The action prompted by the notification can also occur outside the app. Google Now tells users when to leave for an appointment based on what it knows about their location, traffic conditions and mode of transport.
A little curiosity goes a long way when it comes to prompting specific actions. Triggers entice users to swipe to learn more when there's some mystery regarding what they might find if they do. Timehop sends a notification reading, "No way, was that really you?," and prompts the users to open the app. To see the photo, users need to swipe. It helps that Timehop's messaging is small and funny enough to be out of the ordinary. If Timehop used the same message every day, it would be less compelling over time. Variability stimulates curiosity, and can make a notification worth checking. The element of surprise or a bit of the unexpected can make users more likely to respond to a notification, so don't send the same notification again and again.
All of us experience the aggravation of poorly designed notifications and triggers. Irrelevant, ill-timed, or repetitive triggers grate on us like fingernails on a chalkboard. The worst offenders anger fickle users who uninstall apps that don't respect the rules of building good triggers. By integrating thoughtful, interesting, and actionable triggers that are closely coupled with users' deeper needs, designers can build notifications that people look forward to engaging with.