The Challenge
Create user-centered framework for sending push notifications
Explore, define, and validate what makes meaningful push notifications and create a framework to help Sharesies send world-class push notifications that engage our customers without being intrusive.
Company Sharesies
Team Jenna Ritchie (Design Lead), Joyce Kim-Dentice (Intermediate Designer)
Scope 4 months
My Role
Our biggest challenge in ensuring high-quality push notifications was that our team wouldn’t be the only one responsible for creating them.
As Sharesies explored the potential of a native mobile app, a key driver was the ability to send targeted push notifications to re-engage investors. As the design lead on this project, I guided my team in creating a thoughtful, user-centered approach to notifications that would enhance the user experience without prompting customers to disable notifications altogether.
To achieve this, we wanted to bring our stakeholders along on the journey. Our aim was to demonstrate the value of well-crafted notifications through A/B testing data and to collaborate on building frameworks that provided clear, reliable guidelines. This way, everyone—not just the mobile design team—would share a strong foundation for understanding what makes a push notification effective, meaningful, and engaging for our users.
Opportunities & Solutions
Workshop 1: Ideation and Mapping
To prepare for our first workshop, I analyzed user behavior and engagement data to pinpoint where investors were most likely to drop off. This identified opportunities for the workshop where notifications could offer timely advice, reassurance, or prompts.
In the workshop facilitared by our intermediate designer Joya, we shared her research on the importance of well-crafted push notifications. The team then brainstormed and storyboarded notification ideas that aligned with these insights.
I aimed to have this workshop be framed around real user journeis and problems, not just ideating on what could be sent out. Our goal is for Sharesies to view push notifications as tools that support users rather than a marketing tool.
Workshop 2: Refinement
In this second workshop, we regrouped to refine our notification concepts. We created a framework to help Sharesies assess each notification's viability based on frequency, relevance, and reach, along with a decision tree to guide informed choices for each push notification.
These tools proved invaluable for validating ideas and served as an easy reference for what makes a world-class notification. This approach helped participants prioritize high-impact ideas, narrowing our focus to five concepts for A/B testing.
Outcomes
Our findings were shared across the organization, providing insights that could inform future product strategies and align all teams on a user-centered approach to notifications. This collaborative and data-driven project established a strong foundation for designing meaningful, engaging notifications that would support Sharesies’ user engagement goals well into the future.
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