Push notifications that people do not mute

A notification interrupts a person who is not in your app. The ones that survive are the ones that match a change the person already cares about.

What is worth a push

• A time-sensitive change: a cancelled fixture, a platform change, a closing time that moved today.
• One new item on a schedule people opted into, such as a new episode of a show they follow.
• A reminder the person set themselves.

What is not

A weekly “we are still here,” a repeat of a post that is also in the newsletter, and a prompt to rate the app. People mute those, and a muted app is worse than a quiet one because you cannot reach them when the fixture is cancelled.

Write the rule down

Decide who may send one, how many leave the building in a week, and what the first line must contain. The first line should name the change, not the brand. “Pitch 2 is closed tonight” is a notification. “Big news from the club” is an advertisement, and the phone already has a place for those.

Also decide the quiet hours. A correct message at 06:10 about a change at 18:00 can wait. A correct message at 06:10 about a closure at 07:00 cannot.