The Field Guide

New Push Notifications

A brand new way to use Push Notifications.

This morning we rolled out a pretty big update to Yellowstone's push notification tools. A ton of work has gone into this update over the last few months and we are very excited to finally have it out in the field.

Before we get into the new features, a few notes: Push Notifications now exist as a separate content type from Messages. You will see a new section for Push Notifications in your Console with the option to Create and Manage the notifications. Messages still exist as a content type in Yellowstone and in your apps, but they no longer trigger a Push Notification themselves. The Push Notification itself does not appear in your app. They are designed to send your members to other bits of content within the app itself.

Okay, now onto all the cool new stuff:

Scheduling: All push notifications can now be scheduled. Want to send a push notification reminder to get out and vote? You can create that today and schedule it for Nov 8th. Use the new scheduling system to send separate notifications to members in the morning for each time zone. All notifications are created in GMT. We've included a link to a handy time zone converter to figure out when to set your notification in GMT. Please double-check you have both the date and the time correct when creating push notifications.

Targeting: You are now able to send push notifications to a segment of your members. Just upload a CSV file of email addresses and Yellowstone will do the rest. Now target everyone who has RSVP'd to an event (just download the CSV from the Event's RSVP page). Create a custom list of members in a specific zip code, or state, or any other combination you want. All Yellowstone needs is a list of email addresses. Users must have created a membership account in the app in order to receive target notifications. Push Notifications created without a list of members will go to all members.

Content Linking: Lastly, any Action, News item, or Event can be linked to from a Push Notification. Create a push notification for an Action to boost its response rate, send everyone on the RSVP list to the Event screen directly from the Push Notification, or use a notification for breaking news.

With the combination of scheduling, targeting, and linking, push notifications just got a whole lot more powerful. We're excited to roll this out for you all today.

One last note: as always, because of the way Push Notifications work, it can take up to ten minutes for a notification to appear on a phone after it has been delivered by Yellowstone.