Finding 1
Email dominates. Everything else is an afterthought.
Across all 9 platforms, email was the one notification channel that everyone had. Push existed in most but was used narrowly — almost exclusively for job alerts. The more nuanced notification types (company updates, recruiter outreach, expiry reminders) barely appeared anywhere.
Totaljobs, CV Library and Adzuna were at the bottom of the pack. They offered bare-minimum job alert notifications with no personalisation and no secondary channels.
Job alerts feature comparison — email, push, in-app and SMS across all 9 platforms. Reed had email and push but was missing in-app entirely.
Finding 2
In-app is the fallback nobody built
Push notifications depend on users granting permission. Many don't. Of the 7 app-based platforms in the audit, only 2 had built an in-app notification centre that would catch alerts when push wasn't available or hadn't been seen.
The logic is simple: if a user opens the app and has a pending job alert they never received as a push, there's nowhere to surface it. The in-app channel closes that gap. Reed had nothing in this space.
Only 2 of 7 app-based platforms used in-app notifications as a fallback for missed push alerts.
SMS was almost entirely untapped. Only Indeed used it, covering recruiter invites, employer responses and interview updates.
Finding 3
Company following was LinkedIn's moat
Company-specific notifications — following a company and getting alerts when they post jobs — was only available in a small number of platforms. LinkedIn had built this well. Glassdoor allowed following on web but forced users to manage it in the app. Otta (now Welcome to the Jungle) had a version too.
For Reed, this was a gap. Job seekers targeting specific employers had no way to follow them and get notified. They had to rely on keyword alerts, which generate too much noise.
Company-following notifications existed only on LinkedIn, Otta and Glassdoor — all with different implementations and limitations.
In-app messages from companies to candidates existed in only 3 of 7 apps. A clear differentiator for the platforms that had it.
Finding 4
Expiry reminders: obvious, almost nobody did it
Users save jobs and forget them. Job listings expire. Monster and Totaljobs had both built reminders that fire before a saved job closes. Totaljobs had recently removed theirs — but the fact it existed at all validated the concept. Reed had no equivalent.
This is a low-effort, high-value notification type. It requires no new data. Reed already knew when listings expired. The reminder just needed to be built.
Monster and Totaljobs both surfaced expiry reminders. Totaljobs had removed theirs by the time of this research — but prior existence proved the concept worked.
Finding 5
Salary insights: Reed had the data. Nobody was using it to re-engage.
Glassdoor was the only identified competitor using salary insights as a notification surface. They pushed salary range updates for roles users had saved or searched for. Reed already had a salary checker tool — but it was passive. Users had to find it.
Turning salary data into a proactive notification was an opportunity nobody else was taking. Done right, it brings users back to the app for a reason that isn't "you have a new job alert" — which creates variety and reduces notification fatigue.
Glassdoor was the only competitor delivering salary insights as a notification. Reed already had comparable salary data — it just wasn't being surfaced proactively.
Finding 6
Profile views: a hook LinkedIn owned but nobody else used
LinkedIn's "your profile appeared in X searches this week" is a powerful re-engagement mechanic. It triggers a response ("who was it?"), nudges users to optimise their profile, and brings them back to the app with positive intent rather than task-based urgency.
No other job board in the audit had replicated this. Reed's tech team already tracked profile views from recruiters. The notification itself would need investment, but the data existed.
Search appearances paired with profile improvement suggestions create a strong re-engagement loop. Reed had the underlying data — the notification layer was the missing piece.
Opportunities
Six things Reed could do that most competitors hadn't
In-app notification centre
Build a persistent inbox inside the app so users who miss push alerts still see them when they open Reed. The lowest effort, highest reliability improvement.
Saved job expiry reminders
Alert users when a saved listing is about to close. No new data required — the expiry date already exists in the system.
Proactive salary insights
Push salary updates for roles users have searched or saved. Reed already had the salary checker data — this just turns it into a re-engagement channel.
Profile views as re-engagement
Tell users how many recruiters searched their profile this week. Creates positive intent, drives profile completion, and brings people back without task pressure.
Company following
Let users follow specific employers and get notified when they post. Reduces alert noise for people with targeted job searches — a gap competitors hadn't closed.
Recruiter SMS for high-intent moments
Only Indeed used SMS. For time-sensitive events — interview invites, application updates — SMS outperforms push on open rate. Worth piloting for opted-in users.
What I took away
Research as a product lever
The most useful thing this research did was give the team permission to prioritise. Before it, notifications were seen as a low-priority engineering task. After it, we had a clear picture of where Reed was behind, which gaps were cheap to close, and which would require tech investment.
The in-app notification centre and expiry reminders went into the next sprint. Salary insights and profile views were scoped as a larger initiative. Company following became part of a longer product roadmap conversation.
Competitive research isn't always glamorous. But knowing exactly what the market has built — and hasn't — is what makes design decisions defensible.
