ZOOM
Real-time meeting notifications feature
January, 2024
Role: UI/UX Product Designer
Tools: Figma
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Schedule Meeting
In Meeting (Basic)
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Email Notification
Notification
Notification
Receive real-time notifications
Get notified in real time when the meeting you're invited to starts
Receive the messages on the devices:
Smart watch
Desktop
Enter a phone number to receive notifications
4 device(s) selected
Approve
Meeting calendar notifications
Settings saved successfully
Real-time notifications enabled for 4 devices
Receive the messages on the devices:
Smart watch
Desktop
Registered phone number
Edit
Overview
Leading video platform with over 300 million daily participants
Zoom is the leading video communications platform with over 300 million daily meeting participants worldwide. As remote and hybrid work became the norm, users increasingly juggled multiple devices throughout their day - starting meetings on desktop, continuing on mobile, or switching between work and personal devices. However, users sometimes wait long periods for meetings to start, wasting valuable time, and also missed important meetings because there was no notification when the host started the meeting. This led to late joins, disrupted workflows, and decreased productivity. This case study examines how we redesigned the notification system to provide intelligent, real-time alerts across all user devices.
Problem Statement
Prolonged waiting before the meeting actually starts and missing important meetings
Users sit in front of their screens and wait for the meeting to start to avoid missing anything, but they have no way to know exactly when the meeting will begin. There are no notifications alerting them when the meeting starts in real-time.
Research
User Interviews: Conducted with 25 participants across different work environments.
Support Ticket Analysis: Analysis of Zoom support tickets regarding notifications.
Competitive Analysis: Review of notification systems:
Microsoft Teams
User Research
A survey was conducted with 32 users, revealing that users sometimes wait for meetings to start due to delays in meeting commencement, before meetings actually begin. Users sit in front of their screens waiting for the meeting to start to avoid missing anything, but they have no way to know exactly when the meeting will begin. This leads to late arrivals to meetings and missing important information in critical discussions. Due to this, there is a significant need for an automatic notification system to inform users in real-time when the meeting starts, helping to prevent wasted time, reduce late joins, and improve overall time management.
Key Findings
78%
of users actively use 3 or more devices throughout their workday and want notifications to be received automatically in real-time on their preferred devices.
65%
reported unnecessary waiting for meetings and want to manage their time more efficiently and calmly.
89%
want granular control over notification preferences, including the ability to route work meeting notifications to preferred devices.
User Persona
Yosef Cohen, 32
"My father passed away 8 months ago.
I'm looking for a meaningful way to keep his memory alive and bring our scattered family together."
Job Title: Hybrid Product Manager
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Work Setup: 3 days office, 2 days home
Devices: MacBook Pro, iPhone,
Smart Wach, Office desktop
Digital Tools:
Gmail
Goals
Prevent unnecessary waiting for meetings to start, and join meetings punctually to maintain professionalism.
Pain Points
Experiences unnecessary waiting before 2-3 meetings per week due to notification issues.
Experiences anxiety about potentially missing important calls.
Frustrations
Prolonged and nerve-wracking waiting for meetings, and not receiving real-time notifications.
Behaviors
Keeps calendar open in a separate window as backup.
Sets manual phone reminders for critical meetings.
Frequently checks if the meeting has started.
I just want to work on my job, not work on keeping track of when the meeting starts or is delayed
user journey
Common
user journey:
Schedule Meeting
Early Reminder
Waiting for Meeting
Meeting Starts
Adding Memory
Schedules meeting in calendar
😐
Receives 10-minute reminder
🤔
Waits at computer, constantly checking if meeting started
😰
Didn't know when meeting started, kept checking or joined late
😓
Apologizes for being late
😔
Desired
user journey:
Schedule Meeting
Early Reminder
Waiting for Meeting
Meeting Starts
Adding Memory
Schedules meeting in calenda
😊
Receives 10-minute reminder
😌
Continues working peacefully, knows will get real-time alert when meeting starts
😎
Receives real-time notification host joined, joins immediately
😁
Joins on time, professional and calm
🎯
Goal:
Save time and reduce late meeting joins
Save valuable time waiting for meetings, without needing to wait in front of the computer. Enable smart notifications to the user's preferred device. Reduce late meeting joins by 60% through more reliable and timely notifications.
Solutions
Wireframes
Intelligent, multi-device notification system
We designed an intelligent, multi-device notification system that gives users control while leveraging smart automation to deliver alerts to the right device at the right time.
01
Smart Device Detection & Routing
The system automatically detects which device the user is actively using and intelligently routes notifications accordingly.
Key Features:
Active Device Detection: Real-time detection of which device is currently in use based on recent activity.
Intelligent Fallback: If primary device is unavailable, automatically routes to secondary device.
Quick Device Switch: One-tap option to change preferred device for upcoming meetings.
notification
Smart Watch
notification
Desktop notification A pop-up message that jumps over all open screens
notification
Notifications activation
02
Unified Notification Control Center
A centralized hub where users can manage all notification preferences across devices from one intuitive interface..
Key Features:
Device Priority Settings: Interface to set device preference order.
Cross-Device Sync: Settings automatically sync across all active connected devices.
Device Priority Settings
Interface to set device preference order
Notifications Activated
After saving the settings, display a confirmation card with an 'Edit Settings' button, that allows quickly changing notification preferences for specific devices
Per-meeting notification control
In the meeting calendar within the system, the user can adjust notification preferences for a specific meeting according to their choice.
CTA to enable notifications
Interaction #1 Enabling Notifications
CTA card prompting users to enable real-time notifications directly from the meeting invitation email.
Interaction #2
Enabling Notifications
In the email notification inviting to the meeting, there is a "Join Meeting" button. When the scheduled meeting time arrives, the user joins the meeting through this button. If the meeting hasn't started yet, this waiting window appears. In this window, we added a call-to-action button to the interface to enable notifications.
If the user has already configured notification settings, a Notification Badge will appear informing them that notifications are already active for their meetings.
What I Learned
Key insights from the design and research process
Simplicity in UI, complexity in logic: Users wanted powerful features but dead-simple interfaces.
Default behavior matters more than settings: 80% of users never changed defaults, so intelligent defaults were critical.
Additionally, I learned about the world of notifications, the hierarchy of alerts, different behaviors, and types of notification interfaces.
I believe that the best solutions come from truly understanding user context, relentless testing, and having the courage to rethink systems from the ground up when incremental improvements aren't enough.
