Health and Fitness Wearables

ed some of its sensor data by providing users with a proprietary “Fuel number” which represents a measure of overall activity in relation to biology-based “oxygen kinetics.” This number is meant to motivate users toward a general daily goal. However, many mainstream users report that the meaning of this number is opaque and confusing. These consumer perceptions underscore the need (and opportunity) for Nike to present more authentic and personally meaningful data to users.! ! Jawbone provides simple metrics to track toward, such as number of steps or hours of sleep. In addition, users receive messages within the mobile application that provide more context about their activity and the activities of all Jawbone users. For example, users receive notice when their activities is placing them in a higher performing percentile. The software also provides basic health facts or tips. Again, the application does a great job of providing users with personal statistics, but aside from urging users to take ever more steps, specific recommendations are largely absent. ! ! These products certainly appeal to users who seek to understand the quantified self and place their health status in a bit of context. However, the burden of understanding and advantageously using the data is left to the user. It’s true that knowledge can empower. But these devices are not yet providing deep knowledge, rather just statistical observations. For information to be truly valuable, it must be actionable and ! ! 4 A health tip from the Jawbone UP app. Considering their abstract representation of energy, is arguable whether or not calories are a meaningful health 1 metric. A recent study by the University of North Carolina found that number of minutes of physical activity required to burn of an item of food led to healthier eating choices than calorie counts alone. emotionally resonant. And this is where most products in this category are struggling. Providing clear guidance and emotionally resonant advice is king. They are value-added services for which consumers are willing to pay substantially. Consider, for example, how much consumers spend on personalized guidance from financial advisors, lawyers, career coaches or personal trainers. Wearable fitness systems have the opportunity to provide such advice at a fraction of the cost.! ! So how can these products be designed to promote users’ health more effectively? Manufacturers can begin by addressing the principles of behavior and motivation more carefully. ! ! Extrinsic motivation is cursorily addressed in existing products. The Nike FuelBand’s LED display easily alerts users to their goal fulfillment throughout the day. The Jawbone UP goes further, using a vibrating reminder whenever wearers have remained motionless for too long. Nearly every device on the market connects users with a larger external community, so individuals can compare and crowdsource their motivation, perhaps motivated by peer pressure.! ! Interestingly, Forrester’s report suggests that an external motivator of financial reward may be more appealing to consumers than a fitness wearable. However, numerous studies have shown that when an individual has come to expect an extrinsic reward, they engage less in the task once the reward is removed, a phenomenon known as the overjustification effect. Overjustification can be avoided by properly giving praise and compliments perceived as authentic and sincere by the recipient. However, the rewards associated with achieving these goals by fitness wearable applications rarely add up to more than animations or simple encouragements – hardly enough for most users to alter behaviors engrained by life-long behavioral patterns. It is easy to feed and please a tamagotchi or Furby with a few clicks of a button. It requires more effort to lose 20 pounds.! ! Perhaps the biggest opportunity for fitness applications to address extrinsic motivation is through more personally relevant depictions of progress toward goals. Studies at Stanford University have shown that individuals are likely to save more for retirement when shown computer manipulated images of their retirement-aged faces, suggesting that observing more concrete visual representations rather than abstracted data provoked greater empathy for participants’ future selves. Similarly, providing users the ability to see how their health behaviors will affect their physical appearance (both negatively and positively) by revealing their effect on their own body composition may be a way of externally motivating individuals in an emotionally meaningful way.! ! ! ! 5 It’s true that data can