
Are My Push Notifications Driving Users Away? - luu
http://mcfunley.com/are-my-push-notifications-driving-users-away
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mikeash
While I appreciate the experimental and data-driven approach, is it really
necessary? Just don't spam your users. There, done. If there's even the
slightest hint of doubt that they might not want the notification, don't send
it. If you only send notifications that users actually ask for you won't have
this problem in the first place.

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FooBarWidget
We technies like to think that any and every notification/email/etc is
annoying and is like spam. But non-technical users really don't work that way
and may even WANT notifications.

Examples:

\- My girlfriend keeps asking me to sign up for snail mail advertisements
(e.g. discounts at local stores).

\- When I was performing maintenance on my mother's laptop, I saw an annoying
"daily offers" ad popup from her virus scanner. I immediately went for the
"Don't show this again" checkbox, but my mother stopped me in my tracks.
"Don't do that! Those daily offers are useful!"

It blew my mind.

~~~
mikeash
If they want it then they'll say "yes" when you ask them if they want it. Much
simpler than trying to determine the consequences of unsolicited messages.

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MistahKoala
Lay user here. I feel a rare sense of violation whenever I find an unexpected
push notification on my Android device. Perhaps it's because most of my
experience is as a Windows user; if I see something 'spammy' popping up
unexpectedly somewhere I might expect to see system-related or user-defined
stuff, my instinctive reaction is one of suspicion than an app has wrapped
itself around the OS/my device and over-stepped its invitation to be installed
and used. It reminds me of malware that would pop up in the icontray of some
people's Windows systems, or the 'helpful' driver control centres.

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csydas
I don't think you give yourself enough credit as a user - I would suggest a
more typical "lay-user" is not going to even slightly comprehend the design of
the system that runs on their phone, that is, they can't much figure out what
happens during installs much less envision what it means for software to
"wrap" around the OS/device.

The truth is, I don't think a lot of people find notifications all that
frustrating, at least not privately. Regardless of the content or how annoying
it is, whenever someone's phone alerts/buzzes with new content, they tend to
look. Though this is anecdotal, I can recall friends even in the tech field
who would pull out the phone mid conversation to get a notification from
Facebook or from a shopping app offering a 10% discount; they'd look, complain
about the annoyance, put it away, and then repeat as soon as the next
notification popped up.

This is a bit of a tinfoil hat theory, but I suspect that the entire structure
of notifications is just designed to feel good on a certain level - even
though you don't want the content, you're important because you're receiving
so many notifications. No one else can see what it is you're getting, no one
else knows that it's just some offer from a company, they just know that you
get a lot of notifications on your phone. (Or, conversely, maybe they do know,
but at the end of the day, you're the one who is so busy that you need to keep
checking your phone while theirs sits idly by)

~~~
MistahKoala
Perhaps; what we might think of as 'lay users' might have more dimensions to
their experiences of responses, though. A lot of novice users certainly don't
have much idea of what happens in an install or on the OS (at this level,
technology is often 'magic'). To that end, something unanticipated can be
unsettling. For example, my mum might install an app (which she can just about
do). For her, she's installed it and only seems to expect to interact with it
when pressing its icon. When a notification appears, it causes her to slightly
panic or become uncertain about what has just happened and why, so she'll
often consult me (when I'll simply swipe it away for her). It doesn't matter
that the notification might give a clue about what it relates to - it's
already thrown her. It's this kind of experience which makes me very reluctant
to have my grandparents using a tablet because it is so unpredictable for
them, despite there being some fantastic apps and functions that they could
make use of to assist them in elderly living.

The worst notifications, of course, are the ones written in Chinese
characters. I've no idea how to eviscerate my mum's phone of the app
responsible for them.

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hudell
Any app that shows me a notification that isn't a message or something that
someone sent to me, I uninstall right away. I don't even check if there's a
way to disable it unless the app is very useful.

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LeoPanthera
I always thought that spam push messages were forbidden by the iOS developer
TOS. The number of spam messages I actually get makes me question this. Anyone
know if they're supposed to be banned or not?

If I'm feeling _extremely_ generous, an app that sends me a spam message will
get its notifications disabled forever. But most of the time it simply gets
deleted and a 1-star review left on the store, and replaced with an app that
doesn't spam me.

~~~
itafroma
> Anyone know if they're supposed to be banned or not?

They are prohibited by App Store review guidelines 5.5 and 5.6:[1]

> 5.5 Apps that use Push Notifications to send unsolicited messages, or for
> the purpose of phishing or spamming will be rejected

> 5.6 Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or
> direct marketing of any kind

Apple has responded positively to reports I've made regarding those
guidelines, but it's hard to say how much of an effect it had. The DM push
notifications I reported seemed to come out of the blue and were never
repeated: the company could've been told by Apple to stop or they could've
just been doing it as a test.

[1]: [https://developer.apple.com/app-
store/review/guidelines/#pus...](https://developer.apple.com/app-
store/review/guidelines/#push-notifications)

~~~
DanBC
Apple may want to expand 7 to include "Apps with an under 18 age rating may
not include advertising for alcohol" (and probably gambling too).

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dnautics
Android push notifications have always been a sacred space and I uninstall
apps that violate it, except, Amazon, Pandora, twitter, and airbitz, which
provide services I really need.

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bla2
You can long-press on the notification to block Amazon from sending them
again. The Kindle app is great, but its spammy notifications really aren't.

~~~
dnautics
The problem is I want "stuff has arrived" notifications but not "top 10 black
Friday deals" notifications.

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dredmorbius
Anecdata: a few days ago I got a push notification from Google Play Games.
Someone was "inviting" me to something.

I don't play games. I don't engage with the "Play" Store for anything other
than apps. I don't like notifications or interruptions of any sort.

The experience prompted me to disable as much of the Google Play framework on
my Android tablet as possible.

Just sayin'.

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DrScump
Push notifications are the online equivalent of the Home Shopping Network.

Heck, I hated Pointcast with a passion when it came out, what, 20 years ago?

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jccalhoun
yes

