About why notifications in their current form are only harmful. What algorithms already exist for maximum notification targeting. What to pay attention to and how to be ready for major changes.

Alex Potrivaev - Product Designer at Intercom shares his pain:

My phone vibrated. I'm somewhere in Iceland. My car and the nearest humanity are over 10 miles away. Charging your smartphone on its last legs. I quickly turn on the Internet to get directions on Google Maps and see: “Spotify has added 2 new songs to your playlist. Right on time, damn it, this is what I need, right here and now))). Periscope offered me “@kayvon is streaming”, 2 new emails in my inbox, a new Twitter follower, notifications from my Slack channel.
A total of 9 notices. Nothing useful at the moment. Situation: me, some kind of wilderness, the last 2% of the charge on the phone, a bunch of useless notifications, a weak Internet signal and an insane need to use maps.

In fact, the same approach was used back in the early 2000s, and a lot of time has passed since then. Yes, a lot of companies, startups, manufacturers and entrepreneurs are discussing the topic of notifications. They agree that it is time to change the mechanics and principles of work, the question is: how? Let's see how it will be implemented and what developments are already in place.

Data is our everything

Algorithms that analyze massive databases solve everything: from what we see in Google or Yandex searches to Facebook news feeds. Recently, self-learning algorithms have appeared that are actively used in Facebook and Google Now. Yes, smart algorithms have just begun to appear, but, fortunately, this data should already be enough for smart, truly useful notifications. We recently discussed how the model of user communication on the Internet has changed and how it has affected online consultants .

Personal information

The popularity of social networks has made the process of sharing personal data easy and simple: why force someone to register when you can simply provide the opportunity to log in through a social network? So you also automatically learn the name of your client.

This is how visitor data looks in our service:

The user did not even register, but simply left his email in a chat or in any form on the site, and we already know not only about his actions and where he came from, but also his name and social contacts. networks.

behavioral information

Even if a site doesn't collect additional information about a user, there's a lot to be learned from each user's history of behavior. When do they usually visit the site? How much time is spent there? Is there any relationship between the time of day and the performance of the target action? You can even follow the visitor online and, if anything, ask him a question or help with the purchase (any other action).

Information about the ecosystem surrounding the client

It is important to understand:

What are the other interests of this or that user?
What other products does he use? How exactly does he use it? Are there any common features?
What else interests him?
Where does he go?

This can be achieved by aggregating customer information. By the way, there is already a possible solution to the problem with personal information. In Google's recently announced smart auto-reply feature, people are not allowed to read private conversations. On the other hand, algorithms can both read and segment the user.

Truly smart notifications

If we have all the information we can about a user, what should smart notifications look like then? At a minimum, they would be genuinely helpful, personalized, punctual, and accurate; in other words, they would always be on topic.

Notifications that come at the right time

Instant notifications are not always in place. Recently, Basecamp3 (an online project management, collaboration and tasking service) released an update that made it possible to choose when notifications can be received.

For example, you definitely don't want to receive a notification from your colleague from another time zone during your date. Notifications at the wrong time - worse than ever. Inappropriate signals not only do not attract real attention, but they annoy the addressee and distract. The user immediately transfers all these emotions to the company.

Future notifications will come at the right time automatically. The notification mechanism will take data from the context, finding out at what time you are more or less available and read the notification from the service, and at other times you can enjoy your evening date to the fullest.

Smart location

Geolocation is critical to understanding the context and accessibility of the user. If someone recently flew out of Russia, this is not the best time to send them a one-day sale notice from IKEA in Moscow. Many applications already use geolocation for their own purposes. For example, Foursquare alerts you when you've visited a new location and sends you useful information about that location. And many task managers automatically remind you of the tasks that are best done at one point or another on the map when you find yourself there.

Smart segmentation

Like any system built on push notifications, notifications are quite a subtle and complex tool. If the service uses notifications too much, then users gradually get used to it and simply close them. Even if the calls are useful and interesting, it doesn't matter. That is why segmentation is becoming more and more important.

Think about how Facebook groups the same notifications, like who liked your photos. It partially shows the names and number of likes, and if the user himself wants, he can expand the detailed information.

If we develop this idea, then we can make such a segmentation. If you often get no more than 10 likes per photo, then you might want to know about each one. Also, probably, you will be more interested in notifications from close friends and relatives, and maybe from various famous personalities. Well, for example, if Mark Zuckerberg comments on your post, you would want to know about it right away, right?

smart reaction

Yes, we are all unique, but adapting to everyone is unrealistic. You have to make compromises. Smart notifications are more likely to grab a user's attention. Depending on how you handle content, you will be able to offer more and more interesting options. How do you usually react to notifications of new likes? Do you scan or just barely touch them with your eyes? Or do you thoroughly review each notification? Notifications can be customized depending on your behavior.

Smart targeting

Let's look at our example of personalization, how we allocate an audience for a specific task. We send a targeted message to exactly those users who can provide a valuable answer to our question. For example, when we created the "Live" section, in order to evaluate and improve it, we identified a segment of those who have already tried "Live". We wrote to them and found out if they had any difficulties in their work and how they benefited for themselves.

This process can be automated if you want to ask people constantly in the process for some time. The person made an action - you sent him a letter (showed a pop-up window or chat). A message sent to the right people at the right time has a high conversion rate and provides truly valuable feedback. With all this information, notifications can become truly valuable and smart, focusing on certain users and not bothering others.

Smart Notifications vs Notification System

Smart notifications are more like a note from your assistant. Compare this to the system notification that appears at the top of the screen. Should they show the same persistence? Should they be the same size and personalization?

It is inherent in people to experience such a psychological phenomenon as pareidolia: the ability to notice human features in ordinary everyday objects. We see clouded faces, animals in cartoons speak and act like humans, and robots in science fiction look like humanoids. We feel the same way about Siri, SlackBot and Google. A notification from a bot is much more interesting to people, since the bot has a personality and the notification sounds human. In truth, messages from the bot become more conducive to conversation. Here is a comparison of what happened a year ago and what is happening now in Slack:

The future of smart notifications

Obviously notifications will change soon. They are distracting. They are not loved. However, at the same time, we have all the capabilities to create smart notifications. There are services that use the collected data for smart notifications, they are already trying to make their notifications really useful and appropriate in time. What depends on us, we try to embody in our service. Behind personalization and automation is already the present, there is no time to put it off for the future.

The popularity of instant messengers is growing every day. An increasing number of users are choosing apps that allow them to communicate with friends and colleagues around the world for free. Viber has a simple interface and smart notifications. Therefore, users will be interested to know what to do if they do not receive notifications in Viber on Android.

Features of Push Notifications

For optimal performance of Viber, the developers of the messenger offer to activate the Push messages function. Their main purposes:

notification of the user that he received a new message;
missed call notification;
notification about the installation by the subscriber from the contact list of the Viber application on his gadget.

You can set up receiving such notifications directly during the installation of the messenger on your mobile device.

The app reports everything:

to the incoming contact to Viber,
on pop-up windows
to turn on, unlock the screen.

In this case, you can use various sounds, both system and your own. Vibration is also provided, as well as intelligent notification.

The latest version of the application is distinguished by interactive notifications that make it easy to manage calls and messages. The developers offered Viber users full support for such news. Thanks to them, you can interact with incoming / outgoing messages in three ways:

From Notification Center.
Through the lock screen.
Through special banners.

To enable this feature, simply check it in Settings.

How to turn off the sound?

To turn off sounds or vibration, you must:

Launch messenger.
Open advanced options.
Select Notifications from the Settings menu.
Uncheck the box next to "Use system sounds". This action will mute the sound for incoming calls, receiving new messages.
The vibration signal is turned off by unchecking the "Vibrate on call" option.

How to disable?

Groups are one of the most popular features of Viber, but sometimes their constant news can be annoying. You can turn them off for Android for a specific group by doing the following:

Open Viber on your Android device (make sure you have the latest version).
Open the group for which you want to turn off notifications.
Navigate to settings by clicking on the gear icon in the top menu.
Check the Mute Group option and you will no longer receive anything in that particular group. The news will be able to come only if you turn the option back on.

While it's easy to disable/enable notifications on a per-group basis, for some reason there is no way to disable receiving them for a specific single conversation. But there is a way to completely disable receiving updates on Viber for Android.

This is done as follows:

Go to Settings - Programs. Select and open Viber.
Turn off the "Show notifications" option.
Open the Viber app, go to messenger settings and then notification settings.
Uncheck these options: "Show Message", "Preview", "New Message", "Screen Light", "Sounds".

Ready! You will no longer receive news from Viber for Android, including text SMS previews, sound alerts, pop-ups. And if there are no notifications, then you also additionally save space in your mobile device and battery power.

How to receive smart notifications in Viber?

Today there is a great demand for mobile messengers as more and more people rely on the Internet to communicate with others for free around the world.

There are hundreds of communication apps on the market and one of the most popular among them is Viber. There is a high probability that your relatives and friends are already using this utility. This is another reason. In addition, Viber itself and most of its features are completely free. In addition, the utility has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface.

Smart notification feature

Fortunately, the Viber developers are aware of this issue and have already provided a solution. The smart notifications feature consolidates all incoming messages into a single notification. This means that even if one person writes several messages in a row, you will only receive one notification informing you that there are new replies in a particular group.

How to activate smart notifications

To use the smart notifications feature, you need to turn it on in a group chat. Open the chat and go to the settings by swiping from right to left or by clicking on the corresponding icon at the top of the application. In the settings, you will see an icon for a group chat, and below it is the name of the group, background image, and smart notifications. Just click on smart notifications to turn them on.

Group chats

Viber gives you the opportunity to chat with not only one, but also with several friends using the group chats feature. Group chats allow you to chat with several people at the same time. Although other messengers also have this feature, the number of chat participants in Viber can reach 100 people ( On a note:) This is a convenient way to communicate with your classmates to discuss group projects or send invitations to your friends. For whatever purpose you use them, Viber group chats remain one of the best among all analogues in other messengers.

Disadvantages of group chats

While group chats have many benefits, they also have their downsides. By default, every time someone in the group sends a message, you will receive a notification even if that user writes multiple messages one after the other. Notifications keep you up to date, but if there are a lot of messages in group chats, they can distract you. Especially if you are busy with other things at this time.

How to mute a group

If you are in an important meeting or just busy and don't want to be distracted by the chat, you can mute it. After activating this feature, you will no longer receive notifications of new messages. It can also be found in the group chat settings, under smart notifications. You can later disable this feature and receive notifications again.

Everyone is familiar with the situation when you subscribed to some group in Viber and, with active communication, the smartphone literally plays a sound notification about a new message every few seconds. Of course, you can turn off or reduce the sound level when you are at a business meeting or cannot answer, but you must agree that this is not a way out of the situation.

The developers came up with a special function " Smart notifications in Viber". Sometimes it is also called smart notifications, but the essence of this does not change.

Smart Notifications will be especially useful to those people who communicate a lot and are subscribed to different groups. The main task of smart notifications is to reduce the user's awareness of new messages.

How it works: You are a member of the "parents of class 8-b" group if someone typed 5 messages before and you listened to all 5 beeps. Then when you turn on smart messages, you will receive only one, and all the rest of the text will be grouped side by side.
This rule also applies to regular chats, no matter how many messages you receive from another person, you will receive only one notification, all the rest will be grouped. This will allow you not to be distracted from important matters and answer as much as you have free time.

How to turn on Smart Notifications

On smartphone:

Open the Viber app on your phone or other gadget;
Select the desired dialog in which you want to install Smart Notifications
Move the screen window and go to the Settings dialog.
At the bottom we make the option "Smart notifications" active.

On the computer:

Open Viber on PC;
Click on the gear icon (Settings) in the upper corner of the program
In the window that appears, look for the "Notifications" tab.
Check the box "Play sounds for" - "Group messages and all calls";
Confirm the actions taken by clicking on the "OK" button.

Thus, you can significantly increase the comfort of communicating with friends and acquaintances. If you have any questions - ask in the comments.

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My phone vibrated. I'm somewhere in Iceland. My car and the nearest humanity are over 10 miles away. Charging your smartphone on its last legs. I quickly turn on the Internet to get directions on Google Maps and see: “Spotify has added 2 new songs to your playlist. Right on time, damn it, this is what I need, right here and now))). Periscope offered me “@kayvon is streaming”, 2 new emails in my inbox, a new Twitter follower, notifications from my Slack channel.
A total of 9 notices. Nothing useful at the moment. Situation: me, some kind of wilderness, the last 2% of the charge on the phone, a bunch of useless notifications, a weak Internet signal and an insane need to use maps.