diff --git a/scripts/config.php b/scripts/config.php
index ed18c8d..102df5a 100644
--- a/scripts/config.php
+++ b/scripts/config.php
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ if(isset($_GET['sendtest']) && $_GET['sendtest'] == "true") {
   $title = str_replace("\$sens", $sens, $title);
   $title = str_replace("\$overlap", $overlap, $title);
   $title = str_replace("\$flickrimage", $exampleimage, $title);
+  $title = str_replace("\$reason", 'Test message', $title);
 
   $body = str_replace("\$sciname", $sciname, $body);
   $body = str_replace("\$comname", $comname, $body);
@@ -322,6 +323,7 @@ if(isset($_GET['sendtest']) && $_GET['sendtest'] == "true") {
   $body = str_replace("\$sens", $sens, $body);
   $body = str_replace("\$overlap", $overlap, $body);
   $body = str_replace("\$flickrimage", $exampleimage, $body);
+  $body = str_replace("\$reason", 'Test message', $body);
 
   $temp = tmpfile();
   $tpath = stream_get_meta_data($temp)['uri'];
@@ -565,6 +567,8 @@ https://discordapp.com/api/webhooks/{WebhookID}/{WebhookToken}
       <dd>Overlap set in "Advanced Settings"</dd>
       <dt>$flickrimage</dt>
       <dd>A preview image of the detected species from Flickr. Set your API key below.</dd>
+      <dt>$reason</dt>
+      <dd>The reason a message was sent</dd>
       </dl>
       <p>Use the variables defined above to customize your notification title and body.</p>
       <label for="apprise_notification_title">Notification Title: </label>
diff --git a/scripts/install_config.sh b/scripts/install_config.sh
index ab538bc..d77efe8 100755
--- a/scripts/install_config.sh
+++ b/scripts/install_config.sh
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ RTSP_STREAM_TO_LIVESTREAM="0"
 #-----------------------  Apprise Miscellanous Configuration -------------------#
 
 APPRISE_NOTIFICATION_TITLE="New BirdNET-Pi Detection"
-APPRISE_NOTIFICATION_BODY="A \$comname (\$sciname)  was just detected with a confidence of \$confidence"
+APPRISE_NOTIFICATION_BODY="A \$comname (\$sciname)  was just detected with a confidence of \$confidence (\$reason)"
 APPRISE_NOTIFY_EACH_DETECTION=0
 APPRISE_NOTIFY_NEW_SPECIES=0
 APPRISE_WEEKLY_REPORT=1
diff --git a/scripts/update_birdnet_snippets.sh b/scripts/update_birdnet_snippets.sh
index afa5fb7..8096734 100755
--- a/scripts/update_birdnet_snippets.sh
+++ b/scripts/update_birdnet_snippets.sh
@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@ if ! grep -E '^RTSP_STREAM_TO_LIVESTREAM=' /etc/birdnet/birdnet.conf &>/dev/null
   echo "RTSP_STREAM_TO_LIVESTREAM=\"0\"" >> /etc/birdnet/birdnet.conf
 fi
 
+SRC='^APPRISE_NOTIFICATION_BODY="A \$comname \(\$sciname\)  was just detected with a confidence of \$confidence"$'
+DST='APPRISE_NOTIFICATION_BODY="A \$comname (\$sciname)  was just detected with a confidence of \$confidence (\$reason)"'
+sed -i -E "s/$SRC/$DST/" /etc/birdnet/birdnet.conf
+
 [ -d $RECS_DIR/StreamData ] || sudo_with_user mkdir -p $RECS_DIR/StreamData
 [ -L ${EXTRACTED}/spectrogram.png ] || sudo_with_user ln -sf ${RECS_DIR}/StreamData/spectrogram.png ${EXTRACTED}/spectrogram.png
 
diff --git a/scripts/utils/notifications.py b/scripts/utils/notifications.py
index d59addc..847f7a9 100644
--- a/scripts/utils/notifications.py
+++ b/scripts/utils/notifications.py
@@ -43,6 +43,23 @@ def notify(body, title, attached=""):
 def sendAppriseNotifications(species, confidence, confidencepct, path,
                              date, time, week, latitude, longitude, cutoff,
                              sens, overlap, settings_dict, db_path=DB_PATH):
+    def render_template(template, reason=""):
+        ret = template.replace("$sciname", sciName) \
+            .replace("$comname", comName) \
+            .replace("$confidencepct", confidencepct) \
+            .replace("$confidence", confidence) \
+            .replace("$listenurl", listenurl) \
+            .replace("$date", date) \
+            .replace("$time", time) \
+            .replace("$week", week) \
+            .replace("$latitude", latitude) \
+            .replace("$longitude", longitude) \
+            .replace("$cutoff", cutoff) \
+            .replace("$sens", sens) \
+            .replace("$flickrimage", image_url if "{" in body else "") \
+            .replace("$overlap", overlap) \
+            .replace("$reason", reason)
+        return ret
     # print(sendAppriseNotifications)
     # print(settings_dict)
     if os.path.exists(APPRISE_CONFIG) and os.path.getsize(APPRISE_CONFIG) > 0:
@@ -103,34 +120,8 @@ def sendAppriseNotifications(species, confidence, confidencepct, path,
                 image_url = flickr_images[comName]
 
         if settings_dict.get('APPRISE_NOTIFY_EACH_DETECTION') == "1":
-            notify_body = body.replace("$sciname", sciName)\
-                .replace("$comname", comName)\
-                .replace("$confidencepct", confidencepct)\
-                .replace("$confidence", confidence)\
-                .replace("$listenurl", listenurl)\
-                .replace("$date", date)\
-                .replace("$time", time)\
-                .replace("$week", week)\
-                .replace("$latitude", latitude)\
-                .replace("$longitude", longitude)\
-                .replace("$cutoff", cutoff)\
-                .replace("$sens", sens)\
-                .replace("$flickrimage", image_url if "{" in body else "")\
-                .replace("$overlap", overlap)
-            notify_title = title.replace("$sciname", sciName)\
-                .replace("$comname", comName)\
-                .replace("$confidencepct", confidencepct)\
-                .replace("$confidence", confidence)\
-                .replace("$listenurl", listenurl)\
-                .replace("$date", date)\
-                .replace("$time", time)\
-                .replace("$week", week)\
-                .replace("$latitude", latitude)\
-                .replace("$longitude", longitude)\
-                .replace("$cutoff", cutoff)\
-                .replace("$sens", sens)\
-                .replace("$flickrimage", image_url if "{" in body else "")\
-                .replace("$overlap", overlap)
+            notify_body = render_template(body, "detection")
+            notify_title = render_template(title, "detection")
             notify(notify_body, notify_title, image_url)
             species_last_notified[comName] = int(timeim.time())
 
@@ -148,36 +139,8 @@ def sendAppriseNotifications(species, confidence, confidencepct, path,
                     numberDetections = detections[0]
                 if numberDetections > 0 and numberDetections <= APPRISE_NOTIFICATION_NEW_SPECIES_DAILY_COUNT_LIMIT:
                     print("send the notification")
-                    notify_body = body.replace("$sciname", sciName)\
-                        .replace("$comname", comName)\
-                        .replace("$confidencepct", confidencepct)\
-                        .replace("$confidence", confidence)\
-                        .replace("$listenurl", listenurl)\
-                        .replace("$date", date)\
-                        .replace("$time", time)\
-                        .replace("$week", week)\
-                        .replace("$latitude", latitude)\
-                        .replace("$longitude", longitude)\
-                        .replace("$cutoff", cutoff)\
-                        .replace("$sens", sens)\
-                        .replace("$flickrimage", image_url if "{" in body else "")\
-                        .replace("$overlap", overlap)\
-                        + " (first time today)"
-                    notify_title = title.replace("$sciname", sciName)\
-                        .replace("$comname", comName)\
-                        .replace("$confidencepct", confidencepct)\
-                        .replace("$confidence", confidence)\
-                        .replace("$listenurl", listenurl)\
-                        .replace("$date", date)\
-                        .replace("$time", time)\
-                        .replace("$week", week)\
-                        .replace("$latitude", latitude)\
-                        .replace("$longitude", longitude)\
-                        .replace("$cutoff", cutoff)\
-                        .replace("$sens", sens)\
-                        .replace("$flickrimage", image_url if "{" in body else "")\
-                        .replace("$overlap", overlap)\
-                        + " (first time today)"
+                    notify_body = render_template(body, "first time today")
+                    notify_title = render_template(title, "first time today")
                     notify(notify_body, notify_title, image_url)
                     species_last_notified[comName] = int(timeim.time())
                 con.close()
@@ -198,36 +161,9 @@ def sendAppriseNotifications(species, confidence, confidencepct, path,
                 if len(detections):
                     numberDetections = detections[0]
                 if numberDetections > 0 and numberDetections <= 5:
-                    notify_body = body.replace("$sciname", sciName)\
-                        .replace("$comname", comName)\
-                        .replace("$confidencepct", confidencepct)\
-                        .replace("$confidence", confidence)\
-                        .replace("$listenurl", listenurl)\
-                        .replace("$date", date)\
-                        .replace("$time", time)\
-                        .replace("$week", week)\
-                        .replace("$latitude", latitude)\
-                        .replace("$longitude", longitude)\
-                        .replace("$cutoff", cutoff)\
-                        .replace("$sens", sens)\
-                        .replace("$flickrimage", image_url if "{" in body else "")\
-                        .replace("$overlap", overlap)\
-                        + " (only seen " + str(int(numberDetections)) + " times in last 7d)"
-                    notify_title = title.replace("$sciname", sciName)\
-                        .replace("$comname", comName)\
-                        .replace("$confidencepct", confidencepct)\
-                        .replace("$confidence", confidence)\
-                        .replace("$listenurl", listenurl)\
-                        .replace("$date", date)\
-                        .replace("$time", time)\
-                        .replace("$week", week)\
-                        .replace("$latitude", latitude)\
-                        .replace("$longitude", longitude)\
-                        .replace("$cutoff", cutoff)\
-                        .replace("$sens", sens)\
-                        .replace("$flickrimage", image_url if "{" in body else "")\
-                        .replace("$overlap", overlap)\
-                        + " (only seen " + str(int(numberDetections)) + " times in last 7d)"
+                    reason = f"only seen {numberDetections} times in last 7d"
+                    notify_body = render_template(body, reason)
+                    notify_title = render_template(title, reason)
                     notify(notify_body, notify_title, image_url)
                     species_last_notified[comName] = int(timeim.time())
                 con.close()