The problem
Gumtree experienced issues with its notification system, leading to user dissatisfaction due to unwanted notifications or missed alerts. As the lead product designer for the Buyer team, I collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to address these challenges by refining the notification preferences and improving user control.
Users faced inconsistencies with notification settings:
Receiving notifications despite opting out.
Missing notifications they had opted into.
Objectives:
Resolve the existing notification bugs.
Decrease the number of people opting out of push notifications on iOS and Android and on web.
The timeframe
April - June 2022
Role
UX and visual design.
I led the UI and UX design for the Buyer team, working closely with the product manager and tech lead.
Ideation
To align the team and explore potential solutions, I facilitated an ideation session.
The prompt:
“How might we give users more control over what notifications they receive?”
The key themes that emerged were:
Frequency Control – Allowing users to set notification intervals (immediate, daily, weekly).
Clarity – Ensuring clear labeling of notification types to reduce confusion.
Contextual Relevance – Sending notifications based on user activity.
Channel Preferences – Letting users control whether they received notifications via email or push.
Personalization/segmentation – Tailoring communications based on user behavior and interests.
User testing
To validate our ideas, I conducted usability testing for two designs.
Most participants turned off some notifications
4/5 participants said they usually turn off personal recommendation notifications
3/5 participants said they turn off events, surveys, third party and saved search notifications
3/5 preferred the longer screen
“You can see the different kind of options available to you without having to click into each individual section like you would on the other prototype”.
2/5 struggled to figure out how to turn off newsletters in the short prototype
Participants were looking for the word “newsletter” but the copy is “personlisation recommnedations and updates”
5/5 successfully turned off saved search notifications in both prototypes
Everyone could turn off saved notifications
Main insights:
Users were opting out entirely because they lacked specific controls
Confusion over toggles – users weren’t sure which settings affected email vs. push notifications.
A single, scrollable screen worked better than separate segmented screens.
Solutions
Improved notification preferences (iOS & Android)
Problem: Users were overwhelmed by disjointed notification settings.
Solution: A single, consolidated preferences page with clear labels and toggles.
2. Clearer email vs. push notification controls
Problem: Users didn’t understand which settings applied to email vs. push notifications.
Solutions:
Adding email and push notifications on the apps and separating sections for buyers and sellers
Clearer copy to get rid of confusion: communicating that this page on the website was for emails only
Contextual prompts to enable push notifications
Problem: Many users had disabled notifications and weren’t aware of missed updates.
Solution:
Pre-permission prompt – Before showing the default iOS system prompt, a custom modal explained the benefits of notifications.
Message sent prompt – A prompt after sending a message encouraged enabling notifications for replies. User testing participants said that they would be inclined to to turn this notification on and that it did not feel spammy.
Impact
Three months after launching, there was:
18% increase in push notification opt-ins on Android.
4% increase in push notification opt-ins on iOS.
25% increase in email engagement after improving opt-out clarity.