2.16 Provide useful notifications
Ensure any required notifications or alerts are clearly explained before activation, and that the user can both control and change them.
Criteria
- 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.- Biased By Design
- Design Guidelines For Better Notifications UX
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 4.13 – UX and UI (Notifications)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 6.6 – Front-End (Sensor Requests)
- GR491 – 4-7046 – Notification Necessity
- How To Design Notifications For Better UX
- Indicators, Validations, and Notifications
- Mobile Design Mistakes That Cost You Customers and Money
- Push Notifications
- 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. Optional notifications must be off by default and only activated upon user opt in. The user should be able to change their contact details.- Can I email?
- Carbon Footprint of Email Spam Report (PDF)
- Five Mistakes in Designing Mobile Push Notifications
- GR491 – 5-3034 – E-mailing Necessity
- GreenIT – 109 – Avoid sending heavy and redundant emails
- GreenIT – 111 – Reduce emails size
- Notifications
- The Ultimate Guide to Not F#!@ing Up Push Notifications
Benefits
- Accessibility
Signposting individuals to information through helpful notifications or error messages will reduce abandonment. All information must be presented in a way that does not discriminate, as this could exclude many potential users. - Environment
Notifying users about important events can reduce the need to constantly refresh pages. These notifications provide a shortcut, ensuring content is loaded when it becomes available. This can save emissions. - Privacy
Using notifications appropriately ensures personalized content is only displayed on specific devices, reducing the risk of information exposure.
GRI
- Materials: Medium
- Energy: Low
- Water: Medium
- Emissions: Low