Are the apps you are designing for Health and Fitness, Finance, and Productivity (really could go on and on categories) just not reaching the engagement you hoped for?
Don't worry you are not alone, and there seems to be some explanation from the research I have been doing.
I have been coming through lots of papers and doing my own research for an upcoming project (and possible course)
I can summarize it here for the health apps:
Lets remember that these apps are made with the purpose of helping people improve their lives - and the same can be said for fintech apps in many cases.
The apps typically have a low amount of behavior change techniques (BCTs) based on theory.
If more BCTs were used, the effectiveness of these apps would give you a higher rate of sucess and people would be more likely to use them and stick to them.
One behavior technique that seems to be overused by most designers is notifications/reminders - seems like the one that everyone defaults to (and for the most part they are not designed to be timely or convey the right message)
In Summary
Maybe have a look at the app, at the impact and outcomes you are trying to achieve, and at the users and the context and see if you are applying the right solutions and features.
Don't just copy your competitors, verify that what you copy is actually going to help your customers.
If you wanted to see more of the BCT's - ill link a board on the comments.
Image source
Bondaronek et.al - Quality of Publicly Available Physical Activity Apps: Review and Content Analysis
#behavioralscience #innovation #design