Modal - Direct Message Notifications

Introduction

Direct Message Notification introduces real-time notifications (email and/or in-app) for direct messages within the Community Platform to improve user responsiveness, increase engagement, and enhance retention. This feature is also included in the Daily Digest. Please see the Daily Digest Email Notification article for more information. 

Table of Contents

• Notification Preferences
• In-app Notifications
• Direct Message Interface
• Creating a Chat/Conversation
• Message Options
• Real-time Email Notification for New Conversations
• Daily Digest Unread Messages

Notification Preferences

A notification preference setting is available for Community users to opt in/out of direct message notifications, including in-app toast notifications and real-time email notifications.

These settings are enabled by default for all users.

Go to Settings > Notification Preferences > Direct Messages.

In-app Notifications

A toast notification will display for each direct message received while the user is detected as active on the platform, provided the user has in-app notifications turned on.

In-app notifications will show the first few words of the message. 

Direct Message Interface

• Click-and-drag functionality allows users to keep Messenger open and engage with elements on the screen behind it, including during a session.

• Conversations are organized in tabs to filter by All, Unread, and Hidden.

  • The “All” tab is the default view.

  • The “Unread” tab will display the number of unread conversations.

  • Within each tab, conversations are organized into an accordion based on age: Today, Yesterday, This Week, Older.

• New hide, leave, and mute functionality.

Creating a Chat/Conversation

• List of users excludes GZ staff, guest users, deactivated users, and those who have individually turned off the messaging feature.

• New “Clear All” during chat creation, allowing users to clear their user/participant selection. (This feature is not available after the conversation has been created.)

• A maximum of 100 participants within a single conversation.

• Media is better supported and displays properly inline:

  • gifs

     

    

  • emojis

     

    

  • YouTube videos

     

    

  • Community Session link

     

    

Message Options

Mark a conversation as “read.”

• Conversations can be marked as “read” and will be removed from the “Unread” tab.

• There isn’t currently an option to “mark as unread.”

Mute/unmute a conversation

• Muting a conversation will turn off the toast notification in the upper-right corner; however, the notification bubble on the messenger icon will still show the number of conversations with unread messages. A bell icon with a slash going through it indicates which conversations are muted.

   

  

• An unmuted conversation will receive the toast notification and the notification bubble on the messenger icon.

   

  

Hide/show a conversation

• This will remove the conversation from the “All” and “Unread” tabs and make it visible only in the “Hidden” tab.

• Unread conversations that are hidden will be marked as “read” automatically. (If the user decides to “show” the conversation, it will not be changed to an “unread” state.

• If a new message is posted within the conversation, the conversation will move from the “Hidden” column and will display automatically back in the “All” and “Unread” tabs.

Leave a conversation

• Option to leave is only available for group conversations, will not display for 1:1

• A message will be posted when users have left a conversation/chat.

   

  

Real-time email notification for New Conversations

Community members can receive real-time email notifications when someone initiates a new conversation via direct message. For security and privacy, the message details are not included in the email. Users will need to go into the Community Platform to view the message(s).

Note: real-time email notifications for subsequent messages within a conversation are not available at this time.

Daily Digest Unread Messages

A section within the Daily Digest called Your Unread Direct Messages (positioned between the new discussions and “Your Recent Activity") will display up to 4 unread messages within the previous 24 hours from when the daily digest is sent. For security and privacy, the message details are not included in the email. Users will need to go into the Community Platform to view the message(s).