For timely reminders and helpful "nudges," notifications can effectively motivate and keep participants engaged. The notifications section of the dashboard allows you to create scheduled notifications to be sent to members of your organization. You can edit automated notifications or create new ones from scratch.
Here's how it works:
Create Notifications in minutes
You can create notifications from scratch. Or, get started quickly with auto-generated notifications:
Select a Notification Type
Notifications are a tool to give your members information and direct them to perform a specific follow-up action. Tapping on the notification will take them to:
General: tapping on the notification will take the user to the app. General notifications are not linked to any content and are, therefore, best for nudging members to open the app or for informational purposes.
Challenge: tapping on the notification will take the user to the referenced Challenge. Use Challenge notification when you want the user to interact with a specific Challenge.
Action: tapping on the Action notification will take the user to the referenced Action. Use Action notifications to encourage the user to try a new Action or draw attention to priority Actions for your organization.
Creating a General notification
General Subject: fill in the notification's subject or headline; keep this unique piece of text short yet explain the context of the message.
Message: the main body text of the notification. The message is limited to 140 characters, including spaces. Remember that different devices and screen sizes have different amounts of space, so the message may be truncated on some device views.
Audience Type: select the segment of members to receive the notification. For general notifications, you can choose between:
Everyone: all members in the app organization (e.g., all France Coworkers); no Audience parameter used.
User: an additional Audience field will need to be completed to select the User(s) that should receive the notification. This is good for A/B testing messaging to motivate your participants.
Send Date: The date and time the notification will be sent.
Notifications can be scheduled a minimum of 5 minutes after the current time, to allow for processing.
The time zone the notification will be sent is indicated above the time field, and is based on your computer/browser's time zone settings.
Notifications will be sent to all members at the same global time regardless of their time zone. Keep this in mind if you expect to have recipients in multiple time zones.
Creating a Challenge notification
Challenge Subject: Type the challenge's name to search for it, and then select the Challenge you wish to reference in the notification. This will automatically fill in the Subject of the notification with the Challenge name and create a link to the challenge from the In-App notification.
Audience Type: select the segment of participants to receive the notification. You can choose between:
Everyone: all members in the app organization.
User: an additional Audience field will need to be completed to select the User(s) that should receive the notification.
Joined: all members in the app organization that have Joined the challenge.
Not Joined: all members in the app organization that have NOT Joined the challenge.
Team: an additional Audience field will need to be completed to select the Team(s) that should receive the notification.
Creating an Action notification
Action Subject: Type the action's name to search for it, then select the Action you wish to reference in the notification. This will automatically fill in the Subject of the notification with the Action name and create a link to the action from the In-App notification.
Audience Type: select the segment of members to receive the notification. For general notifications, you can choose between:
Everyone: all members in the app organization (e.g., all France Coworkers); no Audience parameter used.
User: an additional Audience field will need to be completed to select the User(s) that should receive the notification. This is good for A/B testing messaging to motivate your participants.
Notifications Preview
Notifications are delivered both as a Push message AND an In-App notification. There are two different types of previews to help you create your notification.
The Push Message is a notification sent through the device's operating system and will typically appear on the lock screen of the device or in the device's Notification Center (accessed by pulling down from the top of the screen on most iOS and Android devices). In addition, on iOS devices, a red number indicator will also be displayed on the app's icon.
Push messages display only the App icon, App name, and the Message text. This is a limitation of the iOS and Android operating systems.
Note: Receipt of Push Messages can be disabled or silenced by members from their Android or iOS settings.
The iOS Preview displays the notification as it will appear on the iOS lock screen. Notifications can appear in various formats according to the device's OS version, size, and device settings, so this preview is to be used as an approximation only.
The In-App notification will be displayed inside your app's Notification section. In-App notifications will display a picture corresponding with the app icon for General notifications or a Challenge icon for Challenge notifications. For Challenge notifications, tapping the In-App notification will display the Challenge.
The In-App Preview displays the notification as it will appear in the Notifications section of the app.
What makes a good Notification?
Relevant: Notifications are generally interruptions, so your message should be something your members want to know.
Keep it short: You're limited to 140 characters to help you focus your messaging. Choose your words carefully.
Link to Challenge when it's Challenge related (e.g., "Big Lead Change! Team B just overtook Team A!")
Review in both Previewers: This should help ensure your message is coming through as desired.
Don't overdo it! Every user can turn off Notifications from the app, and they'll exercise that choice if the app gets too noisy.