Notification strategy

Notifications are the primary tool apps use to recapture attention throughout the day. Every ping interrupts focus, fragments concentration, and triggers stress responses. Research shows it takes an average of 23 minutes to fully regain focus after an interruption^[1], making notification strategy a critical well-being concern.

Apps send 3 notification types: transactional, social, and engagement-driven. Transactional notifications serve clear user needs like delivery updates or payment confirmations. Social notifications signal genuine human interaction like direct messages or mentions. Engagement notifications exist purely to drive app opens, like "trending now" alerts or content recommendations. The best notification strategies prioritize user control and relevance.

Poor strategies default to all notifications enabled, bury settings deep in menus, or use manipulative copy like "we miss you" to guilt users into re-engagement. Ethical notification design means asking whether each alert genuinely serves the user or just company metrics. Default to fewer notifications, make disabling easy, and respect user preferences once set.