Follower Notifications

How to get there: Click All Posts in the sidebar → open a post → view the Followers section in the post details panel.

When you send updates to followers, it's important to understand who will actually receive email notifications. Not all followers receive emails due to various account statuses.

Who Receives Email Notifications?

When you click "Send Update to Followers" or move a post to a different status with notifications enabled, emails are sent to followers who meet ALL of these criteria:

✅ Active account - Not blocked or marked as a test account
✅ Email subscribed - Haven't unsubscribed from emails
✅ Accepted invite OR imported - Either accepted your invitation or were imported from another system

Who Does NOT Receive Emails?

Followers who don't receive emails:

❌ Blocked users - Accounts you've blocked from your portal
❌ Test accounts - Dummy accounts used for testing
❌ Unsubscribed users - Users who clicked "unsubscribe" in a previous email
❌ Pending invites - Users you invited but who haven't accepted yet

Understanding Email Recipient Counts

Voters and Followers Table

On each post page, the voters and followers table shows who voted and who's following. For followers who cannot receive emails, you'll see:

  • ⚠ Warning badge - Shows next to their name with the reason they can't receive emails
  • Reasons displayed: "Blocked", "Test account", "Invite not accepted", or "Unsubscribed"
  • Hover for details - Tooltip shows full explanation

At the top of this table, you'll also see a summary like:

2 users voted and there are 2 followers (1 can receive emails ⓘ)

This helps you quickly identify which followers won't get email notifications before you send them.

Send Update to Followers Modal

When you click "Send Update to Followers" on a post, the modal shows:

  • Accurate recipient count - Only users who will actually receive the email
  • Excluded count - How many followers are skipped and why (with info icon tooltip)

Example:

1 follower will receive this email.
1 follower is skipped ⓘ

Hover over the info icon (ⓘ) to see: "Blocked, unsubscribed, or invite not accepted"

Move Post Modal

When moving a post to a different status, you can enable "Send update email to all followers". When enabled, you'll see:

  • Real-time recipient count - How many users will receive the notification
  • Excluded count - If some followers are skipped, you'll see how many with an info icon

This helps you understand the actual reach of your notifications before sending.

Notification History

At the bottom of each post page (visible to admins only), you'll find a complete notification history showing:

  • Who sent the notification (or commented)
  • What message was sent (status updates, manual updates, or comment text)
  • When it was sent (compact format: "Jan 14, 3:34 PM")
  • All followers at the time of sending

Comment Notifications in History

When users create comments, these also appear in the notification history with clean, readable text:

  • [New comment] - For top-level comments
  • [New reply] - For replies to other comments
  • Shows the comment text without HTML formatting
  • Lists all users who received the notification

Viewing Recipients

For each notification, you'll see a summary by default:

1 received · 👁 1 · 👤 1 (details)

This shows:

  • Number who received the email
  • 👁 (eye-slash icon) - Number who didn't receive it
  • 👤 (user-plus icon) - Number of imported users who received it

Click "details" to expand the full list of all followers with their names and icons.

Icons in Notification History

The recipient list includes helpful icons to show each follower's status:

  • 👁 Eye-slash icon (bi-eye-slash) - User didn't receive the email

    • Hover to see the reason (blocked, unsubscribed, invite not accepted, etc.)

  • 👤 User-plus icon (bi-person-plus) - Imported user who received the email but has never logged in

    • These are users imported from another system
    • They receive emails to stay engaged during migration
    • All emails include an unsubscribe link if they don't want updates

  • No icon - Regular user who received the email successfully

Imported Users

When you import users (from CSV or another feedback tool), they are automatically set up to receive notifications:

Why Imported Users Receive Emails

✅ Seamless migration - Users stay engaged when switching from another tool
✅ Implied interest - If they're following features, they want updates
✅ Easy opt-out - Every email has an unsubscribe link
✅ Transparent tracking - Admins can see who's imported (user-plus icon)

Imported users are identified as:

  • Never logged in (last_login_at is empty)
  • No invitation status (they weren't invited, they were imported)

Once they log in for the first time, they become regular active users.

Email Settings Override

Even if a follower meets all the criteria above, they still won't receive emails if:

  • Portal mail is disabled - You've turned off email notifications entirely in portal settings
  • Individual user unsubscribed - User clicked "unsubscribe" in any previous email

Tips for Managing Notifications

Before Sending Updates

  1. Check the recipient count - Make sure it matches your expectations
  2. Review excluded followers - See how many followers are blocked/unsubscribed
  3. Clean up test accounts - Mark test users as "dummy" to exclude them

Encouraging Email Engagement

  1. Clear subject lines - The system automatically generates subject lines, but your message should be clear
  2. Actionable content - Tell users what changed and what they can do
  3. Respect unsubscribes - Users who unsubscribe won't receive any emails

Monitoring Delivery

  1. Check notification history - See who received each notification
  2. Review import status - Use the user-plus icon to identify imported users who haven't logged in
  3. Track engagement - Monitor which users stay subscribed vs. unsubscribe

How It Works

Behind the scenes:

  • When you send a notification, the system filters followers based on account status
  • The recipient count is calculated in real-time using your current follower list
  • Notification history captures both recipients AND non-recipients for transparency
  • Visual indicators help admins understand delivery status at a glance
  • All emails include proper unsubscribe links and respect user preferences

Comment Notifications

When someone comments on a post, notifications are sent based on the type of comment:

Top-Level Comments

When someone creates a new comment on a post (not a reply):

  • All followers of the post receive a notification
  • Admins with comment notifications enabled receive a notification
  • The comment author does NOT receive a notification

Replies to Comments

When someone replies to an existing comment:

  • Only the parent comment author receives a notification with personalized subject: "Reply to your comment on: [Post Title]"
  • Email links directly to the specific comment with a #comment anchor for instant context
  • Admins with comment notifications enabled receive a notification
  • Other followers of the post do NOT receive a notification (only the person being replied to)
  • The reply author does NOT receive a notification

Managing Comment Notifications

You have two ways to control comment notifications:

1. Unfollow a Specific Post

Click "Unfollow this post" in any comment notification email to stop receiving ALL notifications for that specific post. This includes:

  • New comments on the post
  • Replies to your comments on that post
  • Status change updates for the post

You can re-follow the post anytime by visiting it and clicking the follow button.

2. Global Comment Notification Preferences

Go to your Profile Settings and choose your comment notification preference:

All comments and replies (default):

  • Receive notifications for all comments on posts you follow
  • Receive notifications when someone replies to your comments
  • Get the full discussion experience

Only replies to my comments:

  • Only receive notifications when someone directly replies to your comment
  • Skip general comment notifications on posts you follow
  • Still stay informed about your conversations

No comment notifications:

  • Stop receiving all comment notifications
  • You'll still receive status change updates for posts you follow
  • You'll still receive mention notifications (when someone @mentions you)

3. Choose Notification Preferences Per Post

When following a post, you can choose between two notification modes by clicking the "Following" button on any post:

Everything (default):

  • Receive all comments on the post
  • Receive replies to your comments
  • Receive status change updates
  • Full notification experience

Status changes only:

  • Only receive status change notifications
  • Skip all comment notifications
  • Useful for posts you want to track without discussion noise

To change preferences:

  1. Click the "Following" button on any post you're following
  2. A dropdown will show your current preference with a checkmark
  3. Select your preferred notification level
  4. Changes take effect immediately

You can also adjust preferences when unfollowing:

  • Click the "Following" button
  • Choose "Unfollow" from the dropdown
  • You'll see all three options (Everything / Status changes only / Stop updates)
  • Pick the option that fits your needs

Admin Comment Notifications

Admins have a separate setting for comment notifications:

  • Go to Profile Settings
  • Toggle "Receive new comment notifications"
  • When enabled: admins receive ALL comment notifications (both top-level and replies)
  • When disabled: admins still see comment notifications in-app, but don't receive emails

Comment Notification Email Features

Comment notification emails include several helpful features:

Personalized Reply Emails:

  • Subject line: "Reply to your comment on: [Post Title]"
  • Email greeting: "Reply to your comment"
  • Clear indication that someone responded to you specifically

Direct Comment Links:

  • All email links include a #comment_[id] anchor
  • Clicking the email button takes you directly to the specific comment
  • No scrolling needed to find the relevant comment

Smart Email Footer:

  • "Change notification preferences" - Links to the post page where you can adjust settings
  • "Unfollow this post" - Stop all notifications for that specific post
  • For admins: "Unsubscribe from new comment notifications"

Multilingual Support:

  • All email text and UI elements are translated to your portal's language
  • 27+ languages supported including:
    • European: English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish
    • Eastern European: Polish, Czech, Russian, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish
    • Asian: Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai
    • Middle Eastern: Arabic

Email Examples:

Reply to your comment:

Subject: Reply to your comment on: Feature Request Dashboard

Greeting: Reply to your comment

Hello Sarah!

John has replied to your comment.

Post: Feature Request Dashboard
Comment: I think this would work better with a dropdown menu instead...

[View Reply]

Unfollow this post • Change notification preferences

New comment on followed post:

Subject: New comment on: Feature Request Dashboard

Greeting: New comment on a post you follow

Hello Sarah!

John has commented on a post.

Post: Feature Request Dashboard
Comment: This looks great! When can we expect this to be released?

[View Comment]

Unfollow this post • Change notification preferences

Comment Notification Examples

Example 1: Top-level comment

  • User A, B, C follow Post #123
  • User D creates a comment on Post #123
  • Result: Users A, B, C receive notification (but not User D)

Example 2: Reply to comment

  • User A wrote a comment on Post #123
  • User B replies to User A's comment
  • Result: Only User A receives notification (not other followers)

Example 3: User unfollows post

  • User A unfollows Post #123
  • User B creates a comment on Post #123
  • Result: User A does NOT receive notification

Example 4: User chooses "Status changes only"

  • User A follows Post #123 with "Status changes only" mode
  • User B creates a comment on Post #123
  • User C changes the post status
  • Result: User A receives the status change notification, but NOT the comment notification

Example 5: User chooses "Only replies to my comments"

  • User A sets global preference to "Only replies to my comments"
  • User A comments on Post #123
  • User B creates a different comment on Post #123
  • User C replies to User A's comment
  • Result: User A receives the reply notification from User C, but NOT the comment notification from User B

API Silent Mode

When using the ProductLift API to create comments, you can add silent: true to skip sending notifications:

POST /api/posts/{postId}/comments
{
  "user_id": "user-uuid",
  "comment": "This is a silent comment",
  "silent": true
}

This is useful for:

  • Importing comments from another system
  • Bulk comment operations
  • Internal comments that shouldn't notify users

When silent: true:

  • Comment is created successfully
  • NO email notifications are sent
  • Comment appears normally in the post
  • Users can still see it when they visit the post