If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at another pointless notification popping up in Slack or on your phone, you’re not alone. Most teams are drowning in alerts, pings, and “congrats” messages that nobody reads. But if you’re using Spinify to motivate your team, you might actually want those notifications to work instead of just adding to the noise. This guide is for managers, admins, or anyone who wants to make Spinify’s notifications actually mean something—and maybe even boost a little friendly competition.
Let’s cut through the hype and get real about what you can (and can’t) do to make Spinify notifications worth everyone’s attention.
Why bother customizing notifications?
Default notifications are generic, easy to ignore, and often miss the mark. If your team is tuning them out, you’re missing a chance for real engagement. Customizing your notifications lets you:
- Celebrate actual wins that matter to your team, not just random milestones.
- Avoid spamming everyone for every little thing.
- Make recognition feel more personal (and less like an auto-bot).
- Build rituals and running jokes that keep people checking the leaderboard.
But here’s the honest truth: If your notifications are still too frequent, irrelevant, or forced, your team will mute them or ignore them just as fast as before. Customization is about quality, not just quantity.
Step 1: Get clear on what you want to achieve
Before you start fiddling with settings, ask yourself:
- What behaviors do you want to reinforce? (E.g., closing deals, fast response times, hitting daily targets.)
- How does your team actually communicate? (Slack? Email? In-app?)
- What’s going to feel motivating vs. cheesy or patronizing?
Not every team wants a confetti explosion every time someone sends an email. Pin down what really matters, and don’t be afraid to skip the rest.
Pro tip: Ask your team! A quick poll or chat can reveal what they’d find motivating—or just plain annoying.
Step 2: Audit your current Spinify notifications
Log into your Spinify admin dashboard and look at your current notification setup:
- Which events trigger notifications now? (Wins, losses, milestones, birthdays…)
- What channels are you using? (In-app, Slack, Teams, email, TV screens)
- How often are notifications firing?
You might be surprised at how much noise you’re already generating. If people are getting bombarded, you’re already fighting an uphill battle.
Honest take: More notifications rarely means more engagement. If your team’s ignoring half of what comes through, it’s time to cut back.
Step 3: Decide which notifications to keep, tweak, or kill
This is where you turn off the autopilot. For each notification type:
- Keep: It celebrates a real win, is timely, and people actually respond to it.
- Tweak: It could be good, but the message or timing is off.
- Kill: It annoys people, is irrelevant, or nobody even remembers seeing it.
What works: - Celebrating big milestones (e.g., 100th sale, monthly top performer) - Notifying when someone overtakes a leaderboard spot - Celebrating team goals, not just individual ones
What doesn’t: - Notifying for every single tiny action (no one cares who logged in first) - Generic “good job!” messages with no context - Celebrating participation trophies (people see through it)
Step 4: Customize your notification messages
Spinify lets you edit most notification messages. Here’s how to make them less robotic and more human:
- Use your team’s language (inside jokes, nicknames, emojis if that’s your thing)
- Be specific: “Sam just smashed their weekly call goal with 60 calls!” is better than “Goal achieved.”
- Mix up the format: Sometimes a simple shoutout, sometimes a GIF or meme (if your team’s into it)
- Avoid empty praise—tie notifications to real results
How-To Example:
- Go to your Spinify dashboard.
- Find the notification you want to edit (e.g., “Goal Achieved”).
- Click “Edit Message.”
- Change the text to something more personal, like:
“🔥 {playerName} just closed their biggest deal yet! That’s what we’re talking about.” - Save and preview how it’ll look.
Pro tip: If you’re not sure what’ll land, rotate a few different styles and see what gets a response.
Step 5: Pick the right channel (and don’t use all of them)
Spinify can blast notifications to multiple places—your in-app dashboard, Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, even TV screens in your office. But more isn’t always better.
- In-app: Good for people who are in Spinify all day.
- Slack/Teams: Great for quick wins and shoutouts, but easy to mute if overused.
- Email: Usually ignored for anything except major milestones.
- Office TV: Fun for in-person teams, but pointless for remote folks.
What works:
Send big wins to Slack so everyone sees it in real time. Use in-app for regular updates. Save email for weekly summaries or major achievements.
What doesn’t:
Blasting every notification to every channel. That’s just a recipe for instant opt-out.
Step 6: Set up notification rules and frequency
Here’s where you prevent alert overload:
- Limit frequency: Once per day per person for certain notifications (e.g., only the first deal closed, not every deal).
- Batch notifications: Send a summary at the end of the day instead of each event individually.
- Conditional triggers: Only notify for deals over a certain value, or when a leaderboard changes.
How-To Example:
- In Spinify’s notification settings, look for “Frequency” or “Rules.”
- Set limits like “One notification per player per goal per day.”
- For batch summaries, use “Digest” or “Summary” options if available.
- Test with your team—if people still complain, you’re not done yet.
Pro tip: Less is more. People remember the occasional, well-timed notification. The rest is just noise.
Step 7: Review and iterate (don’t set and forget)
Even if you nail it on the first try (spoiler: you won’t), teams change. What worked last quarter might flop next month. Schedule a regular review:
- Check engagement stats: Are people reacting, commenting, or just ignoring?
- Ask for feedback: A simple “Too many notifications? Too few?” in Slack can work wonders.
- Be ready to kill or tweak notifications that aren’t working.
Honest take: There’s no perfect formula. Aim for “just enough” to keep people interested and motivated.
Things to ignore (unless you really need them)
Spinify is always adding bells and whistles. Here’s what you can usually skip:
- Overly complex reward systems: If it takes a flowchart to explain, people won’t care.
- Automated “motivational” quotes: These rarely feel genuine.
- Trophy overload: Not every action needs a badge or a pat on the back.
Stick with what actually moves the needle for your team.
Real-world examples from teams that get it right
- Sales teams: Only notify when someone books a qualified meeting, not every call. Celebrate hitting team revenue goals, not just individual quotas.
- Customer support: Shout out streaks for fast response times, but only when it’s above the usual average.
- Remote teams: Use short, personalized messages with the person’s preferred nickname or emoji.
Don’t be afraid to steal what works, and ditch what doesn’t.
Keep it simple, check back often
Customizing Spinify notifications isn’t about using every feature; it’s about making a few things actually matter. Start small, focus on what your team enjoys, and be ruthless about cutting anything that turns into noise. Check in regularly, and don’t be afraid to change things up if people stop caring.
The best notification is the one people actually look forward to seeing. Everything else is just more digital clutter.