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How Do We Engage with Activity Trackers? 
A Longitudinal Study of Habito

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Evan Karapanos
Evan Karapanos

We report on a 10-month in-the-wild study of the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of an activity tracker called Habito, by a sample of 256 users who installed the tracker on their own volition. We found ‘readiness’ to behavior change to be a strong predictor of adoption (which ranged from 56% to 20%). Among adopters, only a third updated their daily goal, which in turn impacted their physical activity levels. The use of the tracker was dominated by glances – brief, 5-sec sessions where users called the app to check their current activity levels with no further interaction, while users displayed true lack of interest in historical data. Textual feedback proved highly effective in fueling further engagement with the tracker as well as inducing physical activity. We propose three directions for design: designing for different levels of ‘readiness’, designing for multilayered and playful goal setting, and designing for sustained engagement.

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How Do We Engage with Activity Trackers? 
 A Longitudinal Study of Habito Ruben Gouveia, Evangelos Karapanos & Marc Hassenzahl
1200 steps Activity trackers have the potential of encouraging physical activity Chan et al., 2002 Steps per day increased from 7,029 to 10,480 after 4 weeks of intervention.
1 in every 10 US adults has purchased an activity tracker for personal use Hammond, 2014
One third of these stop using their devices within 6 months of receiving it. Hammond, 2014
do activity trackers create new practices up to a point they are no longer necessary or fail to address users needs?
inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers
inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers #1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement
inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers #1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement #2 look at the impact engagement has on physical activity levels
inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers #1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement #2 look at the impact engagement has on physical activity levels #3 acquire a long-term, naturalistic estimate of adoption rates
Habito !! !
goal setting how frequently do users update their goals? do people with different goals engage differently? how do people engage with their activity trackers as they progress towards their goals?
informational and persuasive messages how many messages do users read per session? how do informational strategies trigger action compared to persuasive?
contextualising historical data through location how frequently do people engage with their historical information?
256 users downloaded Habito over the course of 10 months none of these users were recruited or rewarded towards usage
usage sessions physical activity 30 seconds; 4 minutes 4 minutes; 500 meters;
stages of behavior change questionnaire understanding how different stages of ‘readiness’ impacted adoption
stages of behavior change questionnaire understanding how different stages of ‘readiness’ impacted adoption precontemplation currently have no intention of being active contemplation not active but intend to be soon preparation trying, but not regularly active action regularly active, but for less than 6 months maintenance regularly active for 6 months or more
62% (159) stopped using Habito within their first week of use 97 adopters, which used the app for more than a week
precontemplation 5 of 36, 14% contemplation preparation action maintenance 14 of 26, 54% 19 of 33, 58% 7 of 24, 29% 4 of 19, 21% Readiness for use: motivation and adoption
Glances sessions in which users open and close Habito with no additional actions or inputs 57%, 5 sec Review Engage 22%,12 sec 21%,45 sec sessions with at least one additional actions and last up to 22 seconds sessions with at least one additional actions and last more than 22 seconds Usage sessions
Glances 73% Review Engage 18% 9% Usage sessions
Usage sessions historical information was only accessed in 30% of all usage sessions even more, 87% of these concerned an ongoing day
Only 31% of users updated their preset goal of 1000 steps Design strategies
novel content prolongs engagements and brings users back quicker Recurring 7sec Novel 15sec 21min 13min session duration time to next session
dual nature of persuasive messages: short- term change, yet aversion and reactance Informational 13sec Persuasive 7sec 13min 22min 38min 29min session duration time to next session time to next walk distance walked to next session 203meters 359meters
current trackers work at intermediate stages of behaviour change, where users have the intention but not the means to change, but they only represented 50% of our population designing for different levels of readiness strategies for remaining stages is still a pressing question implications for design
increasing self-efficacy and competence of people in initial stages of behaviour change designing for different levels of readiness implications for design
designing for playful goal setting enforcing goal setting can create unrealistic goals implications for design playful goal setting to help people reflect upon their goal-setting practices
designing for sustained engagement creating checking habits with activity trackers implications for design keeping a minimum of engagement with trackers is important.
implications for design supporting novelty into tracking feedback: information gratification leads to quicker re-engagments designing for sustained engagement
designing for sustained engagement implications for design CatchUp: just-in- time comparisons supporting just-in-time comparisons as a means to support checking habits
ruben.gouveia@m-iti.org our study explored the real-world, long-term use of activity trackers more of our work at: experiencedesign.m-iti.org
Understanding engagement is a precondition towards the development of successful behaviour change strategies ruben.gouveia@m-iti.org more of our work at: experiencedesign.m-iti.org

More Related Content

How Do We Engage with Activity Trackers? 
A Longitudinal Study of Habito

  • 1. How Do We Engage with Activity Trackers? 
 A Longitudinal Study of Habito Ruben Gouveia, Evangelos Karapanos & Marc Hassenzahl
  • 2. 1200 steps Activity trackers have the potential of encouraging physical activity Chan et al., 2002 Steps per day increased from 7,029 to 10,480 after 4 weeks of intervention.
  • 3. 1 in every 10 US adults has purchased an activity tracker for personal use Hammond, 2014
  • 4. One third of these stop using their devices within 6 months of receiving it. Hammond, 2014
  • 5. do activity trackers create new practices up to a point they are no longer necessary or fail to address users needs?
  • 6. inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers
  • 7. inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers #1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement
  • 8. inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers #1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement #2 look at the impact engagement has on physical activity levels
  • 9. inquiring into the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of activity trackers #1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement #2 look at the impact engagement has on physical activity levels #3 acquire a long-term, naturalistic estimate of adoption rates
  • 11. goal setting how frequently do users update their goals? do people with different goals engage differently? how do people engage with their activity trackers as they progress towards their goals?
  • 12. informational and persuasive messages how many messages do users read per session? how do informational strategies trigger action compared to persuasive?
  • 13. contextualising historical data through location how frequently do people engage with their historical information?
  • 14. 256 users downloaded Habito over the course of 10 months none of these users were recruited or rewarded towards usage
  • 15. usage sessions physical activity 30 seconds; 4 minutes 4 minutes; 500 meters;
  • 16. stages of behavior change questionnaire understanding how different stages of ‘readiness’ impacted adoption
  • 17. stages of behavior change questionnaire understanding how different stages of ‘readiness’ impacted adoption precontemplation currently have no intention of being active contemplation not active but intend to be soon preparation trying, but not regularly active action regularly active, but for less than 6 months maintenance regularly active for 6 months or more
  • 18. 62% (159) stopped using Habito within their first week of use 97 adopters, which used the app for more than a week
  • 19. precontemplation 5 of 36, 14% contemplation preparation action maintenance 14 of 26, 54% 19 of 33, 58% 7 of 24, 29% 4 of 19, 21% Readiness for use: motivation and adoption
  • 20. Glances sessions in which users open and close Habito with no additional actions or inputs 57%, 5 sec Review Engage 22%,12 sec 21%,45 sec sessions with at least one additional actions and last up to 22 seconds sessions with at least one additional actions and last more than 22 seconds Usage sessions
  • 22. Usage sessions historical information was only accessed in 30% of all usage sessions even more, 87% of these concerned an ongoing day
  • 23. Only 31% of users updated their preset goal of 1000 steps Design strategies
  • 24. novel content prolongs engagements and brings users back quicker Recurring 7sec Novel 15sec 21min 13min session duration time to next session
  • 25. dual nature of persuasive messages: short- term change, yet aversion and reactance Informational 13sec Persuasive 7sec 13min 22min 38min 29min session duration time to next session time to next walk distance walked to next session 203meters 359meters
  • 26. current trackers work at intermediate stages of behaviour change, where users have the intention but not the means to change, but they only represented 50% of our population designing for different levels of readiness strategies for remaining stages is still a pressing question implications for design
  • 27. increasing self-efficacy and competence of people in initial stages of behaviour change designing for different levels of readiness implications for design
  • 28. designing for playful goal setting enforcing goal setting can create unrealistic goals implications for design playful goal setting to help people reflect upon their goal-setting practices
  • 29. designing for sustained engagement creating checking habits with activity trackers implications for design keeping a minimum of engagement with trackers is important.
  • 30. implications for design supporting novelty into tracking feedback: information gratification leads to quicker re-engagments designing for sustained engagement
  • 31. designing for sustained engagement implications for design CatchUp: just-in- time comparisons supporting just-in-time comparisons as a means to support checking habits
  • 32. ruben.gouveia@m-iti.org our study explored the real-world, long-term use of activity trackers more of our work at: experiencedesign.m-iti.org
  • 33. Understanding engagement is a precondition towards the development of successful behaviour change strategies ruben.gouveia@m-iti.org more of our work at: experiencedesign.m-iti.org