How Fitbit could reward users
Over the past 2 months, I’ve become an avid Fitbit user.
This post looks at how I think Fitbit could introduce rewards around a user’s daily goals. Based (selfishly) on how I wish Fitbit rewarded me.
Context
I’ve tried different trackers over the years, starting with the Jawbone UP and now settling (for the time being) with Fitbit’s Charge HR.
I bought my first tracker so that I could measure my sleep. At the time, I didn’t care about the other metrics . That’s changed over the past ~2 months — I now more than care about them, I’m driven by them.
I track my daily active minutes, calorie burn, step count, water intake and sleep. I have daily goals for each of these “metrics” and I make decisions throughout the day based on them — to drink more water, to walk for longer, to be more active.
They’re small decisions but they’re enough to motivate changes in my behavior. Why? Because I want to achieve my goals.
The Fitbit app
For those unfamiliar with the Fitbit app, your progress towards your goals is represented by three colors: yellow, orange and green. Green = goal achieved. Good times!
This screenshot (from my Fitbit app) shows the colors in action…
I check my Fitbit app many (probably too many) times a day to see how I’m doing. Am I in the yellow, orange or green?
Frequently, I’ve opened the app to be surprised that I’m already in the green — I’ve hit one of my goals and I didn’t even know it.
This experience is actually a little disappointing. As someone who cares about achieving their goals (enough to change my behavior to do so), I want to know when I’ve hit them. And when I do, I’d like a virtual high five…or a push notification.
Before we dive into how I think Fitbit could introduce rewards, let’s look at why rewards are important.
Why are rewards important?
In a nutshell, rewards reinforce behavior.
When we’re presented with a reward after performing a particular behavior, the likelihood that we’ll perform that behavior again is increased. We know this — we’ve seen it in games, where we’re driven by earning rewards, unlocking achievements and leveling up.
I’m driven by my daily goals. I want to achieve them — it feels really good when I do and disappointing when I don’t.
I think it would feel even better if someone else (Fitbit) celebrated with me. I’m convinced that more rewards (they have some already) will keep me going and push me to achieve more.
That’s why I think the right rewards and reward schedule (the frequency at which you receive them) would be powerful in this context.
They’ll reinforce and encourage positive behaviors (drinking more water, walking for longer, racking up more active minutes), which over time will have a compound interest for the user.
How Fitbit could introduce rewards
Firstly, I think the best rewards would tick the following boxes:
- Be instant — reward me the second I achieve my goal.
- Grab my attention —stand out in this noisy world.
- Make me smile — delight me with some humor.
- Be personal — recognize what I’ve done and encourage me to do more.
So, how do I wish Fitbit rewarded me? Here are a few thoughts…
I’m focusing on push notifications to start with — purposefully staying within the realms of the systems Fitbit already have in place.
Push notifications
- Progress updates
I’d like to know when I’m close to achieving my goal so that I can make decisions to help me cross the finish line. I think a push notification when I’m 50% there and then again at 75% there would do it.
Fitbit does send progress push notifications for steps (not specifically when you’re 50% or 75% there, they seem to be sporadic). However, I’m yet to receive a push notification related to my other goals (active minutes, water intake, calorie burn etc), which is the driver behind this idea — I want to know how I’m doing against those goals too please!
Here’s a push notification that I received earlier today:
I find this push notification helpful and encouraging and would love to get a similar one for my other goals.
Inspired by that, this is what I have in mind for a progress update on my other goals, in this case, active minutes:
“10 more active minutes and you’ve smashed your goal for today, Jess! Bring it home!”
2. Goal achieved
This one is pretty obvious; I’d like to know when I’ve achieved one of my goals. Receiving a congratulatory push notification would make me feel good.
Fitbit does this for steps but my experience with these notifications hasn’t been consistent — some days I’ll receive them and others I won’t, even though I’ve passed my goal. (Fitbit team, if you’re listening — this might be a bug.)
Echoing my point above, I’d like to know when I’ve achieved any of my goals, not just steps. I get particularly excited when I achieve my active minutes goal so if I had to choose a starting point, that would be it.
Given these push notifications have the potential to be quite frequent (daily, if we’re crushing it), it would be ideal to have a variety of push notifications for each goal (each using different copy) to keep things fresh.
Receiving the same push notification every day, for every goal would quickly lose it’s shine and desired effect; to delight the user.
3. Streak achieved
On top of knowing when I’ve achieved my daily goals, I’d like to know when I’m on a steak — when I’ve hit my daily goal(s) x days in a row.
I think a push notification on day 2, day 4 and day 7 of a streak would suffice to start with. Then we can move into longer term milestones, such as day 14, day 17 etc and expand beyond push notifications — a streak that long deserves a badge!
This is what I imagine a streak push notification would look like:
“Jess, you’re nailing it! You’ve achieved your active minutes goal 7 days in a row!”
4. A surprise high five
If I’m doing well with my goals (but not necessarily maintaining a streak), I’d like to receive a surprise high five. The idea here being that it tells me Fitbit is “listening” and that my hard work isn’t going unnoticed.
The delight in this reward would be in its unpredictability — as a user, I wouldn’t expect this surprise high five or know what triggers it to try and reverse engineer it. I’ll just keep going, hoping I get another one.
5. Comparisons
Looking beyond my daily goals, I’d love to know how I’m progressing over time. How am I doing this week vs. last week, this month vs. last month?
The idea behind this notification is to inform users when they have racked up more active minutes, steps, hours slept, calories burnt etc. in a single, more recent time period vs. another. For example, when they have achieved more active minutes this week vs. last week.
The hope is that this kind of reward would encourage users to strive to achieve more week on week, month on month — cashing in on that compound interest.
Here’s what I have in mind:
“Jess — you’ve walked 5,000 more steps this week over last week! Go you!”
Wrapping up
If you’ve made it this far, thank you! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or you can reach me on Twitter.
I’d specifically love to know:
- Would you find the notifications described helpful and rewarding?
- What else would you like to see Fitbit (or your tracker of choice) doing around goals?
If you’d like to talk rewards or all things product — hit me up on Twitter :)