diff --git a/app/models/user/inbox_methods.rb b/app/models/user/inbox_methods.rb
index 15276579..8e3b00fe 100644
--- a/app/models/user/inbox_methods.rb
+++ b/app/models/user/inbox_methods.rb
@@ -14,19 +14,16 @@ module User::InboxMethods
   end
 
   def unread_inbox_count
-    Rails.cache.fetch("#{inbox_cache_key}/unread_inbox_count") do
-      count = Inbox.select("COUNT(id) AS count")
-                   .where(new: true)
-                   .where(user_id: id)
-                   .group(:user_id)
-                   .order(:count)
-                   .first
-      return nil if count.nil?
-      return nil unless count.count.positive?
+    Rails.cache.fetch(inbox_cache_key) do
+      count = Inbox.where(new: true, user_id: id).count(:id)
 
-      count.count
+      # Returning +nil+ here in order to not display a counter
+      # at all when there isn't anything in the user's inbox
+      return nil unless count.positive?
+
+      count
     end
   end
 
-  def inbox_cache_key = "#{cache_key}-#{inbox_updated_at}"
+  def inbox_cache_key = "#{cache_key}/unread_inbox_count-#{inbox_updated_at}"
 end
diff --git a/app/models/user/notification_methods.rb b/app/models/user/notification_methods.rb
index d123f121..db7e5018 100644
--- a/app/models/user/notification_methods.rb
+++ b/app/models/user/notification_methods.rb
@@ -2,13 +2,16 @@
 
 module User::NotificationMethods
   def unread_notification_count
-    Rails.cache.fetch("#{notification_cache_key}/unread_notification_count") do
-      count = Notification.for(self).where(new: true).count
+    Rails.cache.fetch(notification_cache_key) do
+      count = Notification.for(self).where(new: true).count(:id)
+
+      # Returning +nil+ here in order to not display a counter
+      # at all when there aren't any notifications
       return nil unless count.positive?
 
       count
     end
   end
 
-  def notification_cache_key = "#{cache_key}-#{notifications_updated_at}"
+  def notification_cache_key = "#{cache_key}/unread_notification_count-#{notifications_updated_at}"
 end
diff --git a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
index abec3188..15d7601b 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
@@ -3,50 +3,6 @@
 require "rails_helper"
 
 describe ApplicationHelper, type: :helper do
-  describe "#inbox_count" do
-    context "no signed in user" do
-      it "should return 0 as inbox count" do
-        expect(helper.inbox_count).to eq(0)
-      end
-    end
-
-    context "user is signed in" do
-      let(:user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
-      let(:question) { FactoryBot.create(:question) }
-
-      before do
-        sign_in(user)
-        Inbox.create(user_id: user.id, question_id: question.id, new: true)
-      end
-
-      it "should return the inbox count" do
-        expect(helper.inbox_count).to eq(1)
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  describe "#notification_count" do
-    context "no signed in user" do
-      it "should return 0 as notification count" do
-        expect(helper.notification_count).to eq(0)
-      end
-    end
-
-    context "user is signed in" do
-      let(:user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
-      let(:another_user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
-
-      before do
-        sign_in(user)
-        another_user.follow(user)
-      end
-
-      it "should return the notification count" do
-        expect(helper.notification_count).to eq(1)
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
   describe "#privileged" do
     context "current user and checked user do not match" do
       let(:user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
diff --git a/spec/models/user/inbox_methods_spec.rb b/spec/models/user/inbox_methods_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..efa7d16e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/models/user/inbox_methods_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "rails_helper"
+
+describe User::InboxMethods do
+  context "given a user" do
+    let(:user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
+
+    describe "#unread_inbox_count" do
+      subject { user.unread_inbox_count }
+
+      context "user has no questions in their inbox" do
+        it "should return nil" do
+          expect(subject).to eq(nil)
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "user has 1 question in their inbox" do
+        # FactoryBot seems to have issues with setting the +new+ field on inbox entries
+        # so we can create it manually instead
+        let!(:inbox) { Inbox.create(question: FactoryBot.create(:question), user:, new: true) }
+
+        it "should return 1" do
+          expect(subject).to eq(1)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/user/notification_methods_spec.rb b/spec/models/user/notification_methods_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..550d3116
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/models/user/notification_methods_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "rails_helper"
+
+describe User::NotificationMethods do
+  context "given a user" do
+    let(:user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
+
+    describe "#unread_notification_count" do
+      subject { user.unread_notification_count }
+
+      context "user has no notifications" do
+        it "should return nil" do
+          expect(subject).to eq(nil)
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "user has a notification" do
+        let(:other_user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
+
+        before do
+          other_user.follow(user)
+        end
+
+        it "should return 1" do
+          expect(subject).to eq(1)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end