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Emails & Notifications Roadmap

Building on our UK SMB market research—where customers demand “enterprise-grade” features in a self-serve, affordable package (£50–£200/mo) oai_citation:0‡streamlined-market-research.md—here’s how we’ll roll out a best-in-class Notifications system from MVP to Market Leadership.

MVP (Weeks 1–4): Core Deliverability & Self-Serve Setup​

  1. Notifications Configuration Screen

    • What: “Configuration → Notifications” section in Admin UI.
      • Provider Settings: API key/SMTP details for one transactional provider (e.g. SendGrid).
      • Global Defaults: Sender name, “from” address, reply-to.
    • Why: Zero-touch onboarding; SMBs can be up and running with invites/reminders in minutes.

  2. Scheduled Jobs for Invites & Reminders

    • What: Under-the-hood scheduled_jobs table + worker loop to enqueue and dispatch:
    • Why: Automates the most critical notifications without bespoke cron scripts.

  3. Core Email Templates

    • What: Editable MJML/Handlebars templates for:
      • Assignment Invite
      • Reminder
      • Submission Confirmation/Results
      • Password Reset
    • Why: SMBs need simple branding (logo, colours) and live preview to build confidence.

  4. Basic Health & Audit Snapshot

    • What: Dashboard panel showing last 24 hrs: sent, delivered, bounced counts.
    • Why: Quick visibility into deliverability issues and bounce spikes.

Phase 2 (Months 2–3): Flexibility & User Preferences​

  1. User Preference Center

    • What: End-user opt-in/out for channels (Email, In-App, SMS) and “Quiet Hours.”
    • Why: Respects candidate choices and local working hours.

  2. Channel Toggles & Fallbacks

    • What: Admin can enable/disable channels globally; configure SMS/API keys for urgent alerts.
    • Why: Offers multi-channel reach without code changes.

  3. Template Versioning & A/B Testing

    • What: Maintain history of template edits; support simple subject-line A/B tests.
    • Why: Continuous improvement of open/click rates.

  4. Webhook Integration for Bounces & Complaints

    • What: Ingest provider webhooks to suppress invalid addresses automatically.
    • Why: Keeps sending reputation high and reduces operational overhead.

Phase 3 (Months 4–5): Resilience & Automation​

  1. Multi-Provider Failover

    • What: Configure a secondary email provider; automatic failover on transient errors.
    • Why: 99.9% uptime even if one provider degrades.

  2. Digest & Scheduled Summaries

    • What: Admin-configurable daily/weekly digest (“Pending Invites, Overdue Submissions”).
    • Why: Reduces noise for high-volume programs; keeps teams aligned.

  3. Analytics & Alerts

    • What:
      • Detailed dashboards: open rates, click-through, latency percentiles.
      • Alerts on bounce spikes or SLA breaches.
    • Why: SMBs get enterprise-grade observability without hiring an SRE team.

  4. Per-Tenant & Sub-Company Overrides

    • What: In multi-tenant scenarios, allow each tenant to override “from” address, templates, or even provider.
    • Why: Scales to agencies or franchises needing distinct branding.

Phase 4 (6+ Months): Market Leadership & New Channels​

  1. Push & Mobile Notifications

    • What: Web Push via Service Workers; optional mobile SDK for in-app alerts.
    • Why: Meets modern users where they are—beyond email.

  2. SMS & Chat Ops Integrations

    • What: Native SMS sends for critical deadlines; Slack/Teams notification modules for Admins.
    • Why: Ensures no invite or escalation is ever missed.

  3. AI-Driven Notification Suggestions

    • What: Analyze open/click patterns and suggest optimal send times or subject-line tweaks.
    • Why: Maximizes engagement with minimal admin effort.

  4. Consent & Compliance Automation

    • What:
      • GDPR-compliant consent records for each candidate.
      • Auto-purge of suppressed contacts after retention period.
    • Why: Trust and legal compliance are non-negotiable for UK SMBs.

By prioritizing self-serve ease, robust deliverability, and flexible preferences in the MVP, then layering in resilience, analytics, and new channels in later phases, we’ll deliver a Notifications platform that meets SMB budgets and expectations while positioning Evalium as the UK’s go-to assessment tool.