Notification Copy
Front-load the specific thing that happened, because most notifications are read as a truncated line on a lock screen.
Definition
Notification copy is written for a preview: the first few words on a phone, in a list, or in an inbox. Everything that decides whether it is worth opening has to fit there.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
On this plate
Reach for this when
- Designing push, email or in-app notifications.
- Opt-out rates or mute rates are rising.
- Notifications are being written for a channel where only the first few words are read.
Common mistakes
- Generic previews that force an open to find out what happened.
- One notification per event where a digest would do.
- Urgent phrasing on routine events, which trains people to ignore the channel.
The same notification, three ways
| Weak | Better | Best | Why the last one wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| You have a new notification | New comment on your document | Priya commented on Q3 Roadmap: “can we move the date?” | Who, where and what, inside the preview length. |
| Activity in your workspace | 3 new items in Design | 3 files added to Design by Sam and 2 others | Batched, attributed and specific. |
| Action required | Your card expires soon | Your card ending 4471 expires on 30 September | Removes the ambiguity that makes people ignore billing warnings. |
| Your export is ready | Export ready to download | Export ready: 12,480 rows, available for 7 days | Says the size and the deadline, so the reader can decide when to act. |
Writing them
Do
- Put the distinguishing detail in the first four or five words.
- Attribute human actions to the person who took them.
- Batch repeated events into one message with a count rather than sending each one.
- Match the notification's urgency to its channel: push for time-critical, in-app for the rest.
Do not
- Do not use 'Action required' as a subject unless failing to act has a stated consequence.
- Do not notify about something the reader just did themselves.
- Do not let marketing messages inherit the transactional channel.
Writing a notification that survives the lock screen
Do
- Put the who and the what in the first few words.
- Make the subject specific enough to act on without opening the app.
- Say what changed, not that something changed.
- Match the urgency of the wording to the channel you chose.
Do not
- Open with the product name, which is already shown.
- Write a subject that requires opening the message to learn anything.
- Send a notification about the reader's own action.
- Use urgency language for something routine, which trains people to dismiss you.
In practice
- i.
Something happened in your workspace
Subjects that carry nothingA notification that requires opening the app to learn what it is about wastes the interruption it just spent. Naming the person and the change is usually within the character limit.
Local chart
WRT·013 · Region III · Grid E2
This entry and the entries it is stated to connect with. Each line is labelled with what the connection means.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Principles behind this
The reasoning this solution is an application of.
- Banner BlindnessPSY·003 · Psychology
- Selective AttentionPSY·004 · Psychology
Practical example
A worked decision where this was the deciding factor.
- Reducing Notification Volume Without Losing SignalCASE·007 · Case study
Related concept
Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.
- ToastCMP·014 · Component
- NotificationsPAT·015 · Pattern
- MicrocopyWRT·001 · UX writing