Bringing clarity to a noisy enterprise notification system

Computer screen displaying IBM Partner Portal with notifications and updates.

Overview

Partners using the IBM Partner Portal were overwhelmed by the volume of in-app and email notifications. These messages included updates about contracting, portal activity, and other IBM Partner Plus program communications.

I led the effort to streamline these notifications and improve the communication preferences page, giving partners more control over what they receive and how. By reducing noise and focusing on what mattered most, we significantly cut the number of notifications sent and received positive feedback from partners who felt their experience was more manageable and personalized.

Team

1 Lead Designer (myself)
1 UX Researcher
1 Product Owner
1 Architect
1 Squad

Starting point

Notifications are typically sent through both email and in-app, providing users with important updates, though there are not many options available for customizing their preferred methods of receiving these messages. The types of notifications that users receive vary depending on their specific user role.

IBM Partner Portal notifications showing registration updates and partner resources.

In-app notifications

Communication Preferences

Issues

Crowded inboxes for admin users.

Partner administrator roles receive the greatest number of communications regarding their account. This is multiplied for admins responsible for more than one partner account.

Simple in-app experience.

In-app UI does not provide options to organize, sort, or delete notifications.

Limited communication preferences.

There is only one option available on the communication preferences page, resulting in users having very limited control over how they receive all other categories of communication.

Goals

The goals of this redesign included minimizing the overall volume of communications sent via email, implementing an enhanced preferences management system for all partners, and conducting an audit of our existing library of communication templates.

Research

I collaborated with a UX researcher to carry out a competitive analysis of various notification and communication preference user interfaces. We examined key features and usability aspects across several platforms to identify best practices and potential areas for improvement.

User journey flow

These journey flows showcase several entry points a user can take to arrive at in-app notifications or communication preferences.

Flowchart showing different user scenarios for updating communication preferences, viewing notifications on a portal, handling relationship revalidation, and making contract changes. The diagrams illustrate steps in a user interface, including home pages, email notifications, dashboards, and contract management features.

Notification mapping

By persona

I mapped every unique notification that exists in the system to different roles with the aim of visualizing the volume of communications that are being sent to each user. I found that some partners can become quite overwhelmed by the volume of notifications that are be sent to them.

By category

Then, I mapped those same notifications to proposed default methods (in-app, email, both) while introducing new categories to the UI — actions, updates, and requests. Actions are tasks that require the partner to take action by a certain deadline. Updates include status updates, changes to their program tier, user management, and other information. Requests include employees requesting to associate themselves with their company within the portal.

Two flowcharts displaying categories, labels, and color-coded boxes, indicating a process or system overview on a white background.

Explorations

In-app notifications

After deciding to introduce categories to the UI (actions, updates, and requests), I spent some time exploring different navigation types. I started by using a tab design across the top of the body and I eventually created a navigation pattern that resides on the left side of the page. This pattern aligns closer to how users typically navigate through an inbox.

IBM Partner Portal notifications page displaying tasks with due dates, categorized as Overdue, This Week, Next Week, and This Month.

IBM Partner Portal notifications page showing updates, including a rejected solution listing.

IBM Partner Portal notifications page displaying various updates and actions, including a message about progressing to Gold tier and benefits such as cloud credits and co-marketing opportunities.

Communication preferences

Our long-term goal for preferences is to expand the method selection to include opt-out options, while also introducing controls for frequency that would allow partners to schedule the delivery of certain types of communications.

Three side-by-side user interface panels for selecting frequency options. The first panel shows options for "Individual," "Daily," and "Weekly." The second panel expands on "Daily" with a dropdown to select a "Preferred time of day," showing "Monday" as selected. The third panel, for "Weekly," has a dropdown to select "Preferred day of the week," showing a list of days from "Monday" to "Sunday." The last panel shows "Monthly" selected with a dropdown to choose "Preferred day of the month," displaying "1st" selected.

Final design

In-app notifications

The redesign added Actions and Updates to the experience, while Requests were integrated into another area of the portal. Actions show a countdown to their due date in both the preview and expanded panel. Users can now move notifications to a Saved folder for reference later, or a Deleted folder. Notifications in the Saved folder stay until removed by the user, while those in the Deleted folder are permanently cleared after 30 days.

IBM Partner Portal notifications page displaying a list of alerts and updates related to business relationships and partner status.

Screenshot of the IBM Partner Portal showing a pop-up confirmation dialog for deleting a notification. The left panel lists categories like Actions, Updates, Saved, and Deleted. On the right, details about IBM Partner Plus tier benefits and criteria are visible.

IBM Partner Portal notifications page with a list of actions and updates, including employee requests, agreement reviews, and solution approvals.

Notification enhancements

Options to mark a notification as unread, move to Saved, or Delete a notification were introduced to all notifications.

Action notifications included a countdown tag to remind partners to address time-sensitive tasks. Highlighting these notifications was essential, as not completing them could lead to being downgraded to a lower program tier, contract termination, or other consequences.

Notification email with IBM partner status update. Contains a countdown indicator for a time-sensitive notification stating "Due in 90 days" and a new actions menu with options such as mark unread, add to saved, and delete. The message informs the recipient of tier requirements needed by June 30, 2024, to maintain Gold partner benefits.

Global notification drawer

I also made enhancements to the global notification drawer to mirror the updates made to the in-app notifications UI.

Image of a notifications panel displaying four messages, including unread alerts about tier benefits at risk, a partner agreement ready for signature, successful removal from an enterprise, and overdue training completion.

Communication preferences

The updated preferences page allows users to choose how they want to receive notifications and opt-out of non-essential communications. Several preference categories were introduced, each featuring collapsible sections for easier navigation. These preferences varied based on user roles.

User interface for managing company communication preferences, showing options for notification methods like In-app, Email, Both, or None for categories such as program progression and company requests.

Outcome & Reflection

Through research, planning, and cross-functional collaboration, we successfully launched an MVP in Summer 2024. The project allowed us to audit and categorize IBM Partner Portal notifications in a way that made them easier for partners to understand and manage. As a result, we reduced email notifications by 40% and received positive feedback from partners who appreciated the more relevant, streamlined experience.

This project also highlighted how often our communication was defaulted to email when it could be built into the product. For example, company admins were getting too many emails when employees requested to join their company. A better long-term solution would be to handle those requests directly in the portal, making it easier to manage everything in one place.