Contextual Push Notifications on Mobile Devices: A Pre-study on the Impact of Usage Context on User Response

Abstract

In a time where users are facing increasing amounts of daily push notifications, a variety of research has been conducted to find a more systematic way to deliver content to the user more efficiently. These studies aim to establish scheduled services that are aware of the user’s attention or context, and defer the notifications until an opportune moment arises. Thereby, the impact of push notifications should be enhanced, as the user is less disturbed or the situation of the user makes a reception of the content more likely. In this study, the context categories for triggering push notifications on mobile devices are being elaborated and structured. This is followed by an examination of the technical possibilities of the Android platform for determining user activities. Finally, an experimental structure will be presented, with which insights into the reception of push messages and the precision of the activity-related usage context will be acquired. The study is work in progress and describes the structure of the investigation as well as the first results of a small test group of users.