> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.neariq.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Alerts

> Understand and act on competitive intelligence alerts.

## What triggers an alert?

NearIQ generates alerts when it detects a meaningful change in competitor data. Alerts are classified by type and severity.

<video controls muted playsInline preload="metadata" poster="https://neariq.io/hero/dashboard-alerts-poster.webp" style={{ width: "100%", borderRadius: "8px", border: "1px solid rgba(15,14,12,0.16)", margin: "1rem 0" }}>
  <source src="https://neariq.io/hero/dashboard-alerts.webm" type="video/webm" />

  <a href="https://neariq.io/hero/dashboard-alerts.webm">Watch the Alerts walkthrough.</a>
</video>

What you see: expand an alert, review delivery channels, inspect competitor-change context, and switch between alert types.

## Guided alert configuration tutorial

<video controls muted playsInline preload="metadata" poster="https://neariq.io/tutorials/alert-configuration-poster.webp" style={{ width: "100%", borderRadius: "8px", border: "1px solid rgba(15,14,12,0.16)", margin: "1rem 0" }}>
  <source src="https://neariq.io/tutorials/alert-configuration.webm" type="video/webm" />

  <a href="https://neariq.io/tutorials/alert-configuration.webm">Watch the guided alert configuration tutorial.</a>
</video>

What you see: open notification settings, enable delivery channels, enter a webhook endpoint, and save preferences. The clip uses product-demo sample data only.

### Alert types

| Alert type                  | What it means                                                                  |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `rating_drop`               | A competitor's rating decreased by ≥ 0.1 stars                                 |
| `rating_rise`               | A competitor's rating increased — they may be recovering                       |
| `review_surge`              | A competitor received significantly more reviews than usual                    |
| `competitor_response_drop`  | A competitor's owner response rate dropped by more than 15 points              |
| `competitor_negative_surge` | A competitor received 3+ low-star reviews in one week                          |
| `trend_opportunity`         | A rising trend keyword is missing from your own reviews                        |
| `competitor_rating_window`  | A competitor's rating fell below yours for the first time                      |
| `market_closure`            | A competitor is reported temporarily or permanently closed                     |
| `own_rating_drop`           | **Your** rating dropped — high priority                                        |
| `own_review_surge`          | **Your** business got a surge of reviews (positive or negative)                |
| `hours_change`              | A competitor updated their business hours                                      |
| `website_change`            | A competitor changed their website URL                                         |
| `local_pack_change`         | A competitor entered or exited the top-3 local pack for a tracked keyword      |
| `velocity_spike`            | Review velocity spiked abnormally — potential review campaign or review attack |
| `new_competitor`            | A new business appeared in your tracked area                                   |

### Severity levels

| Severity      | Description                                                             |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `info`        | Low-signal change, informational only                                   |
| `warning`     | Notable change worth monitoring                                         |
| `opportunity` | A competitor is struggling — potential customer acquisition window      |
| `danger`      | Requires immediate attention (your rating dropped, review attack, etc.) |

## Configuring alerts

Go to **Settings** -> **Notifications** to configure:

* **Enabled alert types** - toggle specific alert types on/off
* **Minimum severity** - filter alerts below a threshold (e.g. only `warning` and above)
* **Delivery channels** - dashboard alerts, email alerts, digest emails, and Growth+ real-time channels

## Delivery details

Each alert includes delivery context in the dashboard:

* Delivery channel icons for dashboard, email, Slack, Discord, Teams, and webhooks when a channel has a recorded delivery event
* Delivery status, timestamp, retry count, and webhook HTTP response status
* A sanitized webhook payload preview with alert and competitor identifiers, not secrets or endpoint credentials
* A details panel showing what changed, old/new values when available, affected competitor, and delivery history
* A retry action for failed webhook deliveries after you fix the receiving endpoint

## Email digest

Starter and higher plans include dashboard alerts, email alerts, and digest emails. The daily digest is a summary of all alerts from the past 24 hours, delivered at your configured time in your local timezone. You can configure:

* Delivery time (default: 8:00 AM)
* Day-of-week filter (e.g. weekdays only)
* Minimum severity for digest inclusion

## Webhooks

Growth and higher plans can also deliver alerts in real time to Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, and API webhook endpoints. See [Webhooks](/api-reference/webhooks) for payload format and signature verification.