Notification Fatigue

---
name: notification-fatigue
description: Detect and reverse the point where users stop reading, by measuring engagement decay and cutting volume before they mute. Use when open rates are falling or mute rates are rising.
---

# Notification fatigue

Fatigue is not a user problem, it is a product signal. When engagement
falls the instinct is to send more or make them louder, which
accelerates the collapse. The correct response is always to send less
and make what remains matter.

## Method

1. **Measure per type, not in aggregate.** One high-volume, low-value
   type usually drags the whole channel down and is invisible in the
   average.
2. **Watch the leading indicators.** Declining open rate, rising
   time-to-open, and preference changes precede muting, which is the
   point of no return.
3. **Treat a mute as a strong signal.** Users rarely unmute, so a mute
   is a permanent loss of the channel rather than a temporary setting.
4. **Cut the lowest-value type first.** Removing one type entirely beats
   trimming everything slightly, because the goal is fewer
   interruptions, not smaller ones.
5. **Consolidate rather than suppress.** Several notifications becoming
   one digest preserves the information and removes the interruptions
   (see digest-design).
6. **Give granular controls before users need them.** Someone who can
   turn off one type will; someone who can only turn off everything
   does.
7. **Re-earn the channel slowly.** After cutting, resist adding new
   types for a period so engagement can recover.

## Boundaries

Fatigue metrics show engagement, not value; a notification people ignore
may still be legally required. Reducing volume can reduce short-term
engagement metrics that reward interruption, which is a measurement
problem rather than a reason to continue. Some users want high volume,
which is what preferences are for (see unsubscribe-and-preferences).