User story & summary:
As a newcomer, I want to receive a well-timed and engaging notification, so I can quickly understand what to do next and feel encouraged to contribute. Receiving clear, relevant guidance at the right moment will increase my confidence and likelihood of contributing or continuing to contribute to Wikipedia.
Background & research:
Supporting Data & Insights:
- The “Get Started” notification has already been shown to increase newcomer editing when sent at 48 hours after account creation (1). This suggests that well-timed interventions can positively impact newcomer activation.
- Prior studies show that positive reinforcement, such as the "Thanks" feature, leads to increased editor engagement (2). This suggests that notifications framed as encouragement rather than just instructions may yield better results.
Rationale for Pivot:
Minimize Technical Overhead:
We initially planned to experiment with different notification timings and messaging. However, we identified significant technical complexity and limitations in A/B testing notification timing using our current infrastructure.
Leverage the Experimentation Lab:
Shifting future experimentation to the Experimentation Lab will reduce custom engineering effort, accelerate testing, and allow us to collect clickthrough rates and engagement metrics more efficiently in partnership with the Data Products team.
Agile Development Approach:
Rather than delaying improvements for a full experiment set-up, we aim to implement low-risk changes iteratively and observe their impact.
Alignment with Annual Plan Priorities:
While the previous work had potential to impact constructive activation, this pivot better aligns with our FY25–26 Annual Plan focus area: Constructive Edits for New(er) Contributors WE1.1).
New Approach
Current UX:
Growth currently sends one of two notifications at 48 hours after account creation. These two notifications were developed as part of Growth's Positive Reinforcement project.
- Keep Going Notification: sent to newcomers who have already completed a Suggested Edit.
- Get Started Notification: sent to newcomers who have NOT completed a Suggested Edit.
We hypothesize that if we can make these 48 hour notifications more personalized, they will be more effective in re-engaging newcomers.
Proposed UX:
Segment users more precisely at 48 hours and send one tailored notification per account based on editing behavior:
| User Segment | Notification | Design |
|---|---|---|
| No edits made | Get Started Notification |  |
| Edits made, but no Suggested Edits completed | Re-engage Notification |  |
| Suggested Edit completed | Keep Going Notification |  |
| Highly active (10+ edits) | No notification (avoid distraction) | N/A |
The "No notification" segmentation is based on past experiment findings (e.g. T342819) indicating that highly active newcomers do not benefit from additional notifications.
Measurement:
This update is a lightweight improvement intended to better personalize Growth notifications. We do not plan to conduct a full A/B test at this time.
However, we will:
Use the Metrics Platform to track notification delivery & clickthrough rates.
Identify any unexpected negative signals
