Car App’s Persuasive Design Principles and Behavior Change

The emphasis of this study lies in behavior change after using car apps that assist users in using their vehicles and establishing a process for examining the interrelationship between car app’s persuasive characteristics and behavior change. A categorizing method was developed and 697 car apps were investigated and classified into eight categories. Meanwhile, an evaluation guideline was developed and nine persuasive design characteristics were found to be popular used. A quasi-experiment was conducted and a behavior change evaluation process was developed. 109 participants were recruited and asked to use a car app for two weeks. The results indicate that participants clearly perceived eight persuasive design principles and four types of behavior change were found. The participants in four behavior change groups showed different perception levels for eight persuasive design principles. Our pioneer work has contributed to help designers and automakers to develop more effective and more persuasive car apps.