UX Review: 2.22 Provide useful notifications

[ehorrell]

NOT A PROPOSAL

Discussion to continue here on Github in comments with a due date of November 1, 2025.

Revised Guideline (Current)

2.22 Provide useful notifications
Ensure any required notifications or alerts are clearly explained before activation, and that the user can both control and change them.

Success Criterion: Need for notification
Remove non-essential notifications. Justify and reduce email, text message (SMS), and other invasive or energy-intense notifications to what is strictly necessary. Useful notifications, such as alerts for new content should be used with care and restraint, having both the users understanding and informed consent.

Success Criterion: Notification settings
Let the user adjust their own notification and messaging settings. Ensure the options to unsubscribe, log out, and close an account should be available and visible. Ensure it is possible for the user to change their contact details.

Success Criterion: Prompts and responses
Clearly explain the result of a potential input through helpful prompts and messages that explain errors, next steps, and other relevant information. This will help to manage user's expectations.

Previous Guideline

2.22 Provide useful notifications to improve the visitor's journey

Success Criterion: Notification justification
Remove non-essential notifications while justifying and reducing the practice of e-mailing or text messaging to what is strictly necessary. Useful notifications (such as alerts for new content) should be used with care and restraint.

Success Criterion: Notification control
Let the visitor control notifications (for example through the browser, SMS, or by email) and adjust messaging preferences, and the option to unsubscribe, logout, and close an account should be available and visible.

Success Criterion: Prompts and responses
Clearly explain the result of a potential input through helpful prompts and messages that explain errors, next steps, and so on. This will help manage their expectations.

Discussion points

Suggestion to make this guideline part of 2.9 (Attentive design)
Idea to make notifications off by default.

[mgifford]

What I liked about the previous guideline was "reducing the practice". this is so much of what we need to be doing. Ensuring that the practices are kept in control and we don't overwhelm people (or the planet) with patterns that don't need to be repeated.

[codewordcreative]

I think that was cut for simplicity and readability - not even sure I was the one who cut it, but I would have signed off on it, like everyone else. I'm okay with adding it back if we feel it adds something. I fear it may be another thing that sounds a bit too vague and fixed to a time period, though - it may no longer be common practice when this is read in a few years.

There's also a small linguistic correction here - not sure where it comes from, either way, needs fixing. Also edited the last sentence to avoid repetitive ensure everything and add the point of "ease" (some require it is done via snail mail).

A proposal to incorporate the suggestion of "off by default":

Success Criterion: Notification settings
Let the user adjust their own notification and messaging settings. Ensure the options to unsubscribe, log out, and close an account are always available and visible. Optional notifications must be off by default and only activated upon user opt in. Allow the user to easily change their contact details.

[TzviyaSiegman]

No need to go back. I would edit some of the wordiness out as follows :
2.22 Provide useful notifications
Ensure any required notifications or alerts are clearly explained before activation, and that the user can both control and change them.

Success Criterion: Need for notification
Remove non-essential notifications. Justify and reduce email, text message (SMS), and other invasive or energy-intense notifications to what is necessary. Use notifications, such as alerts for new content, with care and restraint. Make sure the users understand and give informed consent.

Success Criterion: Notification settings
Allow users to adjust their own notification and messaging settings. Ensure the options to unsubscribe, log out, and close an account are available and visible. The user should be able to change their contact details.

Success Criterion: Prompts and responses
Clearly explain the result of a potential input through prompts and messages that explain errors, next steps, and other relevant information. This will help to manage users' expectations.

[codewordcreative]

RE: Notification settings, that one was deliberately edited to include the idea of off by default. That seems a good idea. I would rather add that in per the group member's suggestion.

[TzviyaSiegman]

@codewordcreative I didn't change the text of notification settings. Would you like me to propose wording about off by default?

[codewordcreative]

@TzviyaSiegman Sure. My suggestion was:

Success Criterion: Notification settings
Let the user adjust their own notification and messaging settings. Ensure the options to unsubscribe, log out, and close an account are always available and visible. Optional notifications must be off by default and only activated upon user opt in. Allow the user to easily change their contact details.

You said that was wordy, but you edited out the point that someone in the UX TF wanted to address - which I also thought was a good idea. You have the final say of course.

[AnneFaubry]

We could add a nuance between immediation push notifications and delayed notifications (like the ones you have when you open the service or weekly summaries). Maybe encourage professionals to add notifications only if useful to the user, and then make them immediate only if they are urgent.
My source is only in French sadly for now (my colleague is doing a PhD on this topic): https://designersethiques.org/fr/thematiques/design-persuasif/alternative-patterns/la-notification/concevoir-des-notifications-respectueuses/arbre-de-decision

[codewordcreative]

@AnneFaubry I think that idea is implicit here, but you're welcome to edit so it better fits what you are getting at...

Success Criterion: Need for notification
Remove non-essential notifications. Justify and reduce email, text message (SMS), and other invasive or energy-intense notifications to what is necessary. Use notifications, such as alerts for new content, with care and restraint. Make sure the users understand and give informed consent.

[TzviyaSiegman]

TODO @AlexDawsonUK tweak SC for need for notification to include @AnneFaubry's nuance between push and delayed. Tweak SC for notification settings as @codewordcreative indicated.

[jenstrickland]

@TzviyaSiegman This item hasn't been reviewed yet.