By Emily Wang, Principal Product Manager, Viva Engage
Notifications are one of the most useful parts of Viva Engage. They are also one of the most sensitive.
When you publish an important announcement, you want confidence that people were reached. When you receive notifications, you want them to be relevant, timely, and respectful of how you work. Those two needs can feel like they are in tension: communicators want reach; employees want less noise.
We heard that feedback clearly. Over the last few months, we have shipped several updates to make Viva Engage notifications faster, more transparent, and more relevant.
Give communicators confidence after they publish
One of the biggest pieces of feedback we heard from leaders and communicators was simple: "I posted an announcement. Did the notifications actually send?"... That question matters most for large, time-sensitive communications, like when when you are sharing an executive update, policy change, crisis communication, or company-wide announcement. That is why we introduced the new Notifications Delivery Tracker for announcements.
The tracker helps leaders, delegates, and community admins see:
- When notifications delivery starts
- Delivery progress by channel, including Outlook and Teams
- Estimated time to complete delivery of notifications
- Confirmation when all notifications have successfully sent
The Notifications Delivery Tracker is now available for both Storyline announcements and Community announcements.
Make high-priority announcements faster
We also improved the speed of announcement notification delivery. Previously, some large-scale announcement notifications could take up to 15-20 minutes to begin reaching people. Recent delivery improvements have changed that significantly. For example, in one large-scale announcement targeting more than 200,000 users, we delivered the first email and Teams notification within 7 seconds.
That matters because speed changes trust. Communicators can publish with confidence, and employees receive important updates closer to the moment they are sent. For organizations using Viva Engage for leadership communication, crisis updates, operational announcements, or time-sensitive employee messaging, seconds matter.
Reduce noise without reducing engagement
The other side of the feedback was just as clear: employees do not want every action to become another interruption.
‘Smart Notifications’ are designed to help with that. Instead of sending every at-mention or reply notification across multiple channels at once, Engage now prioritizes the channel a person is most likely to engage with, while continuing to respect their notification settings.
For example, when a new community announcement is created, instead of receiving multiple notifications in Teams, Email, and Mobile Push – the announcement notification will send to only one of these channels, based on where a user is most active. A second notification will send after 2 hours if the first notification has not been opened within that time. This helps reduce significant notifications noise, while reaching users where they’re at.
The early results are encouraging: Smart Notifications for at-mentions and replies reduced at-mention notification volume by 35% while increasing click-through rate by 36%, with no negative impact to overall engagement metrics.
That is the goal: fewer notifications, better signal. And not less communication, but more intentional delivery.
Improve digests as a catch-up experience
Digests are another area where relevance matters. A good digest helps you catch up. A poor digest becomes background noise.
We have been improving digest timing and relevance so that digests show up when they are more likely to be useful. Delivery timing improvements now optimize within a user's local workday instead of relying on a single default time. We have also tested digest consolidation to reduce fatigue while preserving engagement.
In recent testing, digests consolidation reduced digests send volume by 10% and increased click-through rate by 1.5%, with no change in monthly active usage, replies, reactions, or contributors.
The principle is simple: a digest should help people return to what matters. It should not make them work harder to find it.
Why this matters
The notification experience sits at the center of two important jobs in Viva Engage:
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If you are a communicator |
If you are an employee |
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You need confidence that important messages are delivered. |
You need fewer interruptions and more relevant prompts. |
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You need visibility by channel. |
You need notifications to respect how you work. |
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You need faster delivery for urgent messages. |
You need useful ways to catch up. |
The latest updates are designed to improve both sides of that experience. Notifications should not be a guessing game for communicators. They should not feel like noise for employees. They should help the right people find the right conversations at the right time. We know it's a balancing act for both sides, and we'd love your feedback as we continue to improve our notifications experiences.
Microsoft