Creating habits to encourage participation
Cath's recent post about Mappiness , and my response, prompted me to think about habits. How we form them, how we break them and how, as designers of utilities and services, we can build our apps to encourage habits to form in users.
After all, don't we want the things we build to be adopted and used regularly by thousands (millions!) of people?
But we all know that is difficult. Apps that look great on first glance, are downloaded with a sense of eager anticipation but are abandoned in the fetid wasteland that is three screens into your iPhone a few weeks later are all too common.
Why is this?
This wouldn't be a blog post without a bit of personal opinion so here's what I think. And before we go on I just want to clarify that I'm not talking about games, RSS readers or weather apps. But those other apps that record data and information over time and require input form the user on a regular basis.
I feel that for an app to really succeed it needs to become embedded in the user's daily behaviour. The app that Cath wrote about, Mappiness, uses push notifications to get the user's attention and prompt them to interact or do 'a thing'. In this case the 'thing' is to track mood against location, and other variables, each day.
But the way it goes about it is a bit blunt. A clumsy mechanism which says "Oi, over here, look at me!" As Cath points out, the notifications usually come at the most inappropriate time and increasingly get ignored as the novelty of the app wears thin.
Once upon a time I rode a bike competitively. I read an article back then about the psychology of training and how, if we really want to form a habit, we need to do something 21 times. So, once a day for 3 weeks, once a week for 5 months… It went on to discuss ways in which you could help form these habits by integrating them into our daily routine. If you want to take a multi vitamin every day you put the bottle next to your cereal packet or bowl in the cupboard.
If we can apply that same thinking to the apps we develop then perhaps we can abandon our reliance on crude push notifications to cajole our users into participating.
One such app does this perfectly, for me, is Cyclemeter. It tracks mileage, average speed, maximum speed and route while I'm out cycling. All I need to do is press start before I set off and stop when I get back home. I'm already putting the phone in my pocket before I set off. I now have an automatic reaction to set the app going at that point. The return? A load of data about my ride. It doesn't disrupt my workout or any calls I may receive. It just does its thing in a completely frictionless way.
So what are the mechanisms we can employ to create habits in users without relying on interruption to attract participation?
- Design your app or service so that it integrates into something the user already does in their daily routine. Piggybacking off already engrained habits.
- Try to make the point of interaction as quick as possible. How can I gather as much information without asking the user to do too much? Think one button press.
- How can you give the sense to the user that they are getting more back than they put in? What's the value exchange?
- Do ONE thing and do it well. It's been mentioned a thousand times and there's a reason for that.
So, any other thoughts on how to form user habits to encourage participation? After all, Tim's suggestion of 'tech embedded inside our bodies' is a little way off.
4 comments
I also wonder whether how your feelings about the initial habit has any impact on how well embedded the new habit will be? If you feel really strongly about something, will you form a deeper emotional tie between it and the new habit you’re creating? I’m thinking particularly about smoking and drinking here, versus say, brushing your teeth and taking your vitamins.
I never forget to brush my teeth but my attempt at taking multivitamins quickly fell by the wayside (though perhaps I didn’t try all that hard, and probably ignored your 21 times rule). I strongly associate smoking with drinking, and because I enjoy drinking, I think that has an impact on how I view smoking in this context. The same could be said for associating smoking with a break from work, or going outside for some fresh air (yes, I’m aware of the irony) etc.
Do you think the fact that you enjoy cycling, and starting the app signals the beginning of a ride, had any impact on how easy it was to make a habit of using it?
Extremely well-argued essay. I, too, use the Cyclemeter (http://meh2meh.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/cyclemeter-a-back-to-the-future-app/) and find it very useful. But it has not yet become a habit for me. A lot of it is my scatter-brainedness (e.g., always bring iPhone while on road rides, but often leave behind when on the mountain bike). Getting a holder for the iPhone on my handlebars would also encourage more use.
However, I’ve encountered a few minor issues with the app and one major one. The major drawback I see is that if I leave for, say, a pre-ridden “Ankeny Refuge”jaunt, but while on it I decide to take an additional spur ride or two, turning it into a different ride, maybe “Ankeny Refuge 2,” I cannot change the name once I click Done. Not being able to change a file name is significant. (Maybe you know how?)
Also, while I use my iPhone, I live and work on my computers. For all its drawbacks (and there are countless ones) at least my Garmin lets me work with my stats in a more efficient environment, my Mac or PC. Cyclemeter needs to work where I do. Calendar integration is a good first step, a true app would be better.
Anyway, very much enjoyed your piece.
Interestingly enough I just wrote a simple webapp (http://habitualapp.com) to keep track of habits, and help with forming habits. So I did some research on the subject.
The idea of 21 days is actually 21 days in a row, not 21 times ever. Personally I think its 30 days, but that a detail.
In order to make an app into a habit the user first has to want to use it, every day, for about a month. I don’t think there are any way to trick the user into this, other than writing an app that provides some use for the user each day for 30 days.
@Cath I definitely think that there is a correlation between forming habits being easier when associated with something you love. That’s why I feel my adopting of Cyclemeter has been so quick and complete. I like riding my bike and it gives me a load of stuff to look at when I get home.
@Croisan There is a was to edit the route name. Click into a route via the calendar view, hit ‘Edit’ top right then click the route name. Edit away!
@Wildfalcon Doing something 21 times in a row would definitely embed it in habit. I like the fact your app relies on your social circle for support rather than some machine-based alerts.