Applying CAR + RI and The Zeigarnik Effect within apps

Sustained and meaningful user interaction and engagement are key to unlocking increased retention, something many apps fail to do for a variety of factors. Many apps fail to engage users due to a lack of understanding about the user's needs, or by providing insufficient incentives to the user for investing time into its use.

Balancing these important aspects than cause engagement and disengagement is a tough act, and one that is difficult to get right but crucial to the survival of a product that aims to not just capture attention but also improve the health of its user.

• One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is "why does someone want/need to use my app?

This question is an important one to answer, because it will determine the complexity in which to apply many of the concepts in this article. For example:

• Apps with a central dominant purpose: ie: getting a user to go from A to B, such as getting the user to book a therapy session, should not put in place blockers for that to happen, but should utilise these concepts to reenforce why it should happen or to keep them engaged with the brand so they come back.
• Apps with many functions to achieving a central goal such as coaching apps, ie: getting the user to a healthier state, should consider how the many aspects of the user's health journey need to be reenforced regularly in order to realise the desired outcome.

This article explores how principles of behavioral psychology such as the Cue, Action, Reward + Reflection and Investment (CAR+RI) model and The Zeigarnik Effect can be applied to enhance user engagement and promote habit formation within digital health apps. This article aims to offer simplified insight into the intricacies of these techniques and shed light on how they can be applied. ​

Cue, Action, Reward + Reflection and investment

The CAR model created by Charles Duhigg for his book “Power of a habit” is a model that delineates a user's interaction with a product as a progression through four stages: a cue to initiate product usage, an action in response to the cue, a reward for the action, and an investment that increases the product's value to the user.

As the user navigates these stages, they cultivate positive habits.

1. Cue: Often referred to as a trigger, a cue typically serves as a reminder prompting users to engage with the app.
2. Action: This is the specific behavior you wish to encourage. If your triggers are effective, the user performs a specific action. In a fitness coaching app, this could be something as simple as entering daily calorie intake. When designing actions, it is essential to break down larger goals into the smallest possible actions.
3. Reward: This is the positive outcome of performing the desired action. A reward for a behavior increases the likelihood of repeating that behavior. The unpredictability of the reward can lead to the formation of a habit. Rewards in digital health solutions can range from recommendations, badges, nice sounds, access to new content to incentives such as free sessions or even monetary rewards like discounts.
   1. Many apps adopt the concept of "streaks", encouraging action regularly so to continue a streak and not create a visible gap in routine, habits or training.
   Applying variable rewards for habit formation
   Habits become more potent when the rewards vary each time the routine is performed. This principle is utilized effectively in various products to keep users returning. Let's take a look at another example:
   • Social media platforms exemplify the successful use of variable rewards. Each time a user checks their feed, a sense of uncertainty prevails. This uncertainty, paired with the potential for a rewarding experience, contributes to user engagement and retention. The engagement loop is realised.
   The cycle starts with a cue or trigger, followed by an action and eventually a variable reward. However, not every action leads to a reward. This unpredictability is what makes the habit stick and drives deeper engagement with the product.
   • Incorporating a social media feature like sharing success (social proof) within a digital health application can apply the science of habit building effectively.’
4. Reflection and investment: Encouraged by the reward, the user invests further in the product in anticipation of more rewards. To complete the CAR cycle and increase user investment in an app, features such as "Reflective journeys" help users reflect on their progress, as often health & wellbeing goals are realised of periods of time as opposed to immediately. Such features create an interactive journey of self-discovery through engaging visual elements on timelines.
   • This concept builds on the “The endowed progress effect”, which shows how showing advancement increases effort.
   • Datadab has provided a guide on how this can be applied within SaaS company feature engineering.

After users cycle through these stages enough times, the habit of regularly opening and using your app should become ingrained. Over time, internal triggers should kick in, propelling the user towards meaningful change.

One of our partners, Kahunas.io, a Global fitness coaching platform that facilitates users' transition from a cue to a reflective state by utilising momentum provided by real coaches and expedited through the use of in-app active & passive health data tracking and AI, further personalising the experience for users and keeping them engaged.

Encouraging task completion by applying The Zeigarnik Effect.

The Zeigarnik effect (TZE), or the brain's tendency to remember unfinished tasks, is another psychological principle that can enhance user engagement. This effect is considered a fundamental law of UX.

Apply TZE for task completion in applications.

One way to utilize this effect is through the use of hyper-personalized push notifications or reminders that indicate the user is on the brink of completing a certain action. However, it is crucial to maintain a balance and keep notifications minimal, too many notifications and your users will begin to disengage.

Enhancing engagement using this phenomena:

1. Facilitate the discovery of new content: This encourages users to explore more of your content, fostering a deeper engagement with your platform.
2. Create Perceived Progress: By strategically presenting users with 'artificial' progress towards their goals, you can stimulate motivation for task completion. This strategy leverages the psychological principle that people are more likely to complete a task if they perceive that they have already made some progress towards it.
3. Showcase Achievements: Providing a clear and tangible display of users' progress can be a potent motivator. Such visibility of advancement can drive users towards the completion of tasks and foster a sense of accomplishment.

This effect doesn't apply to long-term commitments. For instance:

• Most positive health and wellbeing activities take time to see results, so instant gratification can rarely be achieved.
  • A solution could be to reward the user for previous progress, reminding them of their journey to date, and then encouraging them to revisit a goal so close to being achieved, helping them to consider the benefits of that achievement and the reward that follows. ​
• Gym Franchises often suffer from high member churn-rates due to low membership usage (especially early-on in a member’s joining)
  • The solution many forward thinking franchises have adopted is relying on modern gym management technologies that offer member apps that give the member a level of personalisation through health insights and bespoke health content (it is often these features that apply other methodologies to help resolve the issues) that helps to build brand when the member is not in their gym.
• Another example outside of health and wellbeing are MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) often suffer from low completion rates despite their accessibility.
  • The solution many MOOCs have opted for to resolve this issue lies in introducing a time limit on courses, fostering a sense of urgency and community, and making dropping out a costly decision. The same methodologies can be applied to digital health applications.

In brief, The Zeigranik Effect is a phenomenon whereby individuals exhibit enhanced memory for incomplete or interrupted tasks, as opposed to tasks that have been accomplished, is a crucial consideration in user experience design.

Combining CAR+RI and The Zeigarnik Effect

The application of behavioral psychology in UI/UX design can greatly enhance the user experience and positively impact user retention and engagement. Through the strategic use of techniques such as the CAR model, variable rewards, and The Zeigarnik Effect, digital health applications can foster habit formation and create a more immersive and resonating user experience.

Implementing the principles of CAR + RI alongside The Zeigarnik Effect can help in bolstering user engagement. The focus of using these methods is to create an immersive and resonating experience for users. The objective is not only to enhance the immediate engagement of users but also to encourage a sustained and meaningful interaction with the product over time.

However, it is important to remember that these techniques should be used thoughtfully and responsibly, with the ultimate goal of improving the health and wellbeing of users. As we continue to advance in this field, we must always strive to balance technological innovation with ethical considerations.