What Digital Health Companies Can Learn From the Habits Behind Long-Term Use

Getting someone to download a health app, put on a wearable or try a new digital health service tells you something. What happens three weeks, three months or six months later can tell you much more.

In a recent MedCity News article, Dara St. Louis, EVP at Reach3 Insights, looks at how the digital health conversation is changing as more of these technologies become part of everyday life. For years, healthcare companies had good reason to focus heavily on adoption. Many products were new, and getting patients comfortable with apps, wearables, virtual care and other digital tools was a hurdle of its own.

Today, people check sleep scores before work, monitor their activity throughout the day and use apps to manage health goals. As Dara writes, many of those interactions have become “part of the background rhythm of everyday life.”

So what makes a digital health product stick?

Initial adoption can be driven by curiosity, a recommendation from a healthcare provider, a new diagnosis, a promotion or simply the appeal of trying something new. Continued use has to survive daily life.

Dara points to a simple test: Does the product fit naturally into someone’s routine and help them accomplish something they care about?

That might mean a wearable that gathers useful information without demanding much attention. An app might help someone stay accountable to a goal or give them reassurance when something about their health feels uncertain. Other tools gradually become another notification to dismiss or account to manage.

These distinctions can be difficult to see in traditional usage metrics. A dashboard can tell you that engagement dropped after 90 days. It can’t necessarily tell you whether the person stopped seeing value, became frustrated with a feature, changed their routine or simply found that the product required more effort than they wanted to give it.

Study the habit while it’s forming

Rather than asking someone months later why they stopped using an app, researchers can follow people as their relationship with a product changes. Short, mobile-first activities can capture reactions when someone encounters a confusing feature, receives an alert, reaches a personal goal or decides to ignore the product for a few days.

This is where in-the-moment research can add context to the behavioral data healthcare companies already have.

Consider a sudden increase in app activity. Analytics can identify the change. Talking to the person at that point can help explain whether they’re making progress toward a goal, responding to a health concern or struggling with something that has caused them to check the app repeatedly.

Declining activity raises its own questions. Is someone losing interest? Has the product done its job so well that they need it less? Did their circumstances change? Or did a small point of friction gradually become enough to push the product out of their routine?

Passive technology still creates human experiences

Dara also points to growing interest in passive monitoring and ambient health tracking. These technologies can reduce the amount of work required from patients, which may help them earn a more permanent place in someone’s life.

The less someone has to actively interact with a product, the less likely a traditional satisfaction survey may be to capture its role in their life. A device could provide reassurance without being opened every day. An alert could create anxiety. A weekly summary might prompt a change in behavior even though the person barely thinks about the technology between reports.

Researchers need ways to understand those moments alongside the behavioral signals.

Reach3’s conversational, mobile-first approach is designed for this type of research. Participants can share feedback through text, photos, video and other mobile activities while an experience is still fresh. Longitudinal research and insight communities can then help teams see how those experiences change as the novelty fades and routines begin to form.

What happens after adoption?

Healthcare organizations have more behavioral data than ever about how people use digital products. The opportunity is to connect those signals to the person behind them.

Dara recommends looking at how usage changes over time, capturing experiences as they happen and combining behavioral data with patient feedback. Together, those approaches can help teams understand why a tool earns a place in someone’s routine, where friction develops and what might help people continue using it.

And with AI becoming part of more wearables, health apps and digital care experiences, there will be even more to understand. A product may interpret health data, identify patterns or offer guidance without requiring someone to actively search for information.

The question six months later may be surprisingly simple: Did this make managing my health easier?

Read Dara St. Louis’ full article, “Beyond adoption: the habits shaping digital health,” in MedCity News.

Want to get closer to what patients and healthcare consumers are experiencing? Reach3 Insights helps healthcare and pharma teams capture feedback in the moment, understand behavior over time and uncover the context behind the choices people make. Explore our healthcare and pharma research capabilities. Contact us today!