Notifications

A digital notification can include a message or alert sent to a customer’s device. They are an integral part of the Banks communication strategy and are used to inform our customers about various events, updates or actions that require their attention. They can be one way, where we are informing the customer of something, or two-way, where we ask the customer to take an action.  Through analysis and research, we’ve created notifications conventions that we apply to our projects to achieve consistency across our digital channels. Projects can replicate these solutions, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

What makes a good notification?

A good notification experience in digital banking enhances customer engagement, keeps users informed, and ensures that they have control over their financial activities.

An engaging notification should be timely, personal, purposeful, and clear.

Timely

Deliver notifications promptly and when they are most useful to the customer. We should avoid overwhelming customers with excessive or untimely messages. This empowers decision-making and provides peace of mind. These can be one-off, real-time events or status changes.

Personal

Notifications should always be relevant to the user's context and needs. Ensure that the content of the notification aligns with the user's preferences, behaviours, and context. We do this by offering targeted content and providing control to customers to choose their notification preferences. We also aim to address our customers by name to build trust.

Purposeful

Notifications provide peace of mind and compel customers to act. We do this by crafting title and message copy with a clear call to action.

Clarity

Notifications should be clear and concise. Use language that is, conversational, easy to understand and conveys the message or action required without ambiguity. Avoid jargon or complex terminology.

How to apply the notifications conventions

Step 1: Determine the urgency and importance of the message.

This will help you understand the notification types you can use to best serve your message and elicit the intended customer engagement and response. A severity rating scale has been created to help you define your use case.

Begin by picking where your message falls on the scale. Refer to the definitions below to help determine what severity rating category your use case fits into.

The severity categories are:

Urgent action

• Notifications that require an immediate response or action from the customer. These high priority notifications typically pertain to time-sensitive matters or emergency situations. Customers are strongly urged to respond promptly to resolve the issue.
• Examples: A customer’s card is blocked card due to a potential fraudulent transaction; or a suspicious payment that has been flagged as a possible scam.

Action recommended

• Notifications that advise a response or specific action from the customer. These notifications convey important information or suggestions that would benefit the customer or improve their experience, but there is flexibility in the timing of their response.
• Examples: A payment is stopped due to a suspicious merchant or risk of potential identity theft. i.e. we are confirming that a transaction is legitimate with the customer

Action desired

• Notifications that would be beneficial for the customer to respond to or take action. Typically used to engage customers or encourage them to explore additional features, products, or services. While a response is desired, there is no immediate urgency.
• Examples: A damaged card or difficulty receiving a One Time Pin (OTP), i.e. setting up a new payee to transfer money

Informational

• Notifications that provide customers with valuable information, updates, or insights. These notifications do not require a response from the customer. They intended to keep customers informed, enhance their understanding, or provide relevant content without requiring any specific action on their part.
• Examples: A deposit push reminder or transaction (withdrawal) alerts, i.e. a customer has spent $50 at a cafe

Step 2: Create your notification sequence

To make it easy to design your set of notifications, we have created four Sequences based on the Severity rating scale above. Our sequence are the most common solutions that cater to the majority of use cases within that category, presented as a flowchart and example screens. They are well-documented, researched and provide an effective and intuitive user experience.

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Begin with accessing your desired sequence, in the Figma files below.

• Urgent action
• Action recommended
• Action desired
• Informational

These Sequences also demonstrate the relevant notification patterns:

• Push
• SMS
• Splash
• Secure message
• Skinny banner

Step 3: Draft content

Using the Digital Writing Guidelines and WBC Brand Tone Of Voice Guidelines (Westpac employees only), draft your message content for the various notification types.

You should adopt the patterns as they are, however, you’ll need to adjust the copy so your message is fit for purpose.

Some hints below:

• Different notification types will have specific word or character limits.
• Use language that is clear and easy to understand.

Step 4: Review proposed Notifications

Prior to build, you must have your customer experience reviewed for Content, Legal, Accessibility, Brand and Design compliance.

Find out more about this process and getting support.

Step 5: Ensure your final build is accessible

At Westpac, we are committed to creating experiences that are accessible and inclusive for all. We have aligned the patterns with the accessibility standards.

If you’re changing a UX pattern, you will need to ensure that your case for change includes an accessibility validation.

Although the individual patterns themselves are compliant with accessibility standards, when you are using the conventions, things may change based on your message needs and customer flows. You may still need to have your design and technical build reviewed in order to meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards at a minimum (with support from the Access & Inclusion Team).

Getting support

How to get support and have your work reviewed.