Discovery: What is the optimal method to batch immediate email notifications?

[ayub02]

We need to come up with a solution that:

1. Prevents user's inbox from being flooded from notification emails if they've selected immediate cadence.
2. Is technically feasible and not too complex.

This ticket is just for brainstorming approaches and finalizing one that makes sense from product and technical perspective.

[ayub02]

As per our internal notifications sync on Dec 3rd, we found a workflow that seems optimal from a technical and product perspective. I'm describing it below from a product perspective.

When a user selects Immediate email cadence for one or more notification types, emails behave as follows:

1. The first notification is always sent immediately.
2. A 15-minute cooldown window starts after that email. Any additional notifications during this window (that use immediate cadence) are held instead of being sent individually.
3. When the cooldown ends, a single summary email is sent. It includes all notifications collected during the 15-minute window and uses the same layout as the daily digest.
4. After the digest is sent, a new 15-minute cooldown begins. Any new notifications during this time are batched into the next digest. This cycle continues as long as notifications keep arriving.
5. If a cooldown period ends with no new notifications, it simply expires. No digest is sent, and the next notification will again be delivered immediately. Therefore, users who typically receive only 1 notification per day will never see this summary behavior.

We'll keep cool down duration configurable, with 15mins as default.

@AhtishamShahid @muhammadadeeltajamul does this accurately describe what we discussed last week. @AhtishamShahid do you have any concerns or suggestions here?

[ayub02]

@AhtishamShahid I discussed this with Jenna and Sarina and they are happy with the approach. You can move with this approach and close this ticket (if there's nothing else to discover).