Enhancing the Indeed Invite-to-Apply Push Notification Experience

Role: UX Lead Designer

I managed the end-to-end design project and led a team of engineers, content designers, and product managers to design a multi-platform communication strategy (email, push, and SMS) that resulted in a 40% increase in job seekers applying to jobs directly from push notifications. This work had a significant impact on our revenue OKRs.

Background

Indeed aimed to optimize its mobile app's invite-to-apply (I2A) push notifications for active job seekers. The existing email-only strategy limited reach, and push notifications suffered from low engagement due to poor timing, relevance, and lack of personalization.

The Challenge

The existing push notification system for Indeed job recommendations had remained unchanged (and untouched) for over 2 years. It lacked personalization and often failed to deliver the most relevant job matches to users at optimal times. This resulted in missed opportunities for both job seekers and employers.

As the lead UX designer, my responsibilities spanned the entire design process, from synthesizing user research and analyzing user behavior to developing and A/B testing  concepts. I collaborated closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, engineers, and data scientists, to ensure a holistic and data-driven approach.

Approach

We conducted a competitive analysis of push notification strategies used by other job platforms, focusing on messaging content, timing, and user management options.

Product Insights

• Apply completion rate is higher on the Indeed Mobile app.

• 60% of push-driven applies happen within 1 hour.

• Jobseekers have preferred job delivery channels (46% only applied from email and 31% only applied from push notifications)

Unable to conduct net-new user research due to project timing constraints, we relied heavily on leveraging existing user research to identify pain points and opportunities, revealing that users desired more relevant, personalized notifications with clear actions.

Solution

• Optimize push notification content for increased engagement By improving the end-to-end experience of push notifications, we can increase the amount of job seekers with positive connections

• Focus on sending high-quality matches via push By targeting job seekers with a resume and recent activity on Indeed, we can ensure we’re sending higher match quality job recommendations to job seekers

Impact

The redesigned push notification experience significantly improved user engagement and satisfaction. Key metrics included:

• 15% increase in push notification open rates.

• Including salary information in the push notification body copy led to a 40% increase in job seekers applying to jobs from push notifications.

• The one-click apply feature streamlined the application process, leading to increased conversions.

Conclusion

The enhanced I2A push notification experience successfully addressed user pain points, leading to increased engagement, faster applies, and ultimately, a more efficient job search process for Indeed's users.