Understanding How Social Accountability Influences Long-Term Habit Adherence in Digital Health Tracking
My Role: Product Designer
Client: Prime Care Limited (Simulated)
Context: Product Design Postgraduate Project, King’s College London
Timeline: 2 Month Lean UX Sprint
Tools: Figma Design, Figma Make, Figjam, Miro, Claude AI, Midjourney AI, Usability Testing, competitive analysis, usability testing, journey mapping, hypothesis testing
Team: (Simulated) Product Manager, Product Designer, 2 Front-End Developers, 2 Back-End Developers, Data Scientist, DevOps Engineer
Stakeholders: (Simulated) Product Leadership, Product Design and Research, Engineering and Infrastructure, Data and Analytics
20-35%*
*Projected uplift in long-term feature adoption
15-30%*
*Projected uplft in user retention
96.43%
Ease-of-use scoring (SEQ)
20-40%*
*Projected uplift in Monthly Active Users
91.25%
System Usability Scoring
100%
Task Completion Rate
Introduction
Health Hero is a simulated early-stage digital health product designed to help users build sustainable habits through goal tracking and accountability-based rewards.
Prime Care uses monthly active users as their North Star metric and target users are health-conscious adults, many managing chronic health risks.
This research-led project investigated how behavioural motivation and social accountability influence long-term engagement. Through multi-stage user research and concept validation, I identified and tested a socially integrated feature designed to improve habit consistency and retention.
My Role
As the Product Designer, I led end-to-end discovery and validation to uncover the drivers of user behaviour and translate insights into a testable product solution.
My contributions included:
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User Research & Problem Discovery – Defining research objectives and conducting moderated discovery interviews to identify the root causes behind user feedback and engagement challenges.
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Insight Synthesis & Framing – Analysing behavioural patterns, synthesising findings, and developing personas and customer journey maps to clearly define user needs.
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Hypothesis & Validation Planning – Formulating testable hypotheses and defining success criteria to guide evidence-based design decisions.
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Interaction Design & Prototyping – Designing and testing a mid-fidelity prototype to explore key user flows and feature concepts.
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Usability Testing & Iteration – Running moderated usability tests to validate assumptions and inform iterative product improvements.
The Challenge
The redesign project was initiated in response to recurring user feedback; revealing recurring issues which were condensed into our initial problem statement.
Many digital health products struggle to retain users over time. Initial motivation is high, but engagement drops as novelty fades and behavioural support mechanisms are limited.
HabitHero enabled users to track habits but did not sufficiently support the behavioural drivers that sustain long-term adherence, particularly accountability, reinforcement, and meaningful feedback.
As a result, users disengaged before achieving desired outcomes.
Problem Definition
The product lacked a clear understanding of which behavioural mechanisms sustain long-term habit adherence.
In particular, it was unclear whether social accountability meaningfully influences motivation, consistency, and continued platform engagement.
This research aimed to identify and validate behavioural drivers that could support long-term user retention.
Research Goals
Understand what motivates continued health habit adherence.
How product design can support long-term behavioural change.
Evaluate the role of social accountability in motivation
Determine whether a socially integrated feature could improve motivation
Determining the core user segment's primary motivations would support the client; Prime Care's organisational goals of increased user retention, acquisition and monthly active user engagement over a 30 day period.
The Team
Product Manager, Product Designer, 2 Front-End Developers, 2 Back-End Developers, Data Scientist, DevOps Engineer
Stakeholders
Product Leadership
Product Manager responsible for defining product vision, roadmap, and cross-functional alignment
Product Design and Research
Product Designer responsible for UX research, interaction design, and user experience strategy
Engineering and Infrastructure
Front-End Developer responsible for user interface implementation and usability
Back-End Developers responsible for system architecture, performance, and security
DevOps Engineer responsible for scalability, reliability, and deployment infrastructure
Data and Analytics
Data Scientist responsible for behavioural insights, usage analysis, and feature value evaluation
Discovery Phase
Research Process & Methodology
To address the challenges users faced with progress tracking and motivation, I conducted a structured UX research process aligned with PrimeCare’s goals.
My process has six steps, resulting in strategically informed opportunities for design concepts and feature development.
Assumption Analysis
Before conducting research, several product assumptions were identified through applying a 'Knowns and Unknowns' framework, that reflected my specific research focus.
Knowns, Unknowns & Assumptions
Assumption mapping stage applying Knowns, Unkowns Framework and Key Performance Indicators in line with Prime Care's Organisational Objectives
Hypothesis Statement
I identified one key product assumptions that reflected specific research focuses, before translating them into a testable hypothesis statement.
Assumption 5 –
Behavioural Reinforcement
“Supportive accountability and progress feedback mechanisms will contribute to a measurable improvement in sustained engagement, reflected in an estimated 20–30% uplift in DAU / MAU ratio over a 4-week period relative to non-reinforced tracking.“
Research Hypothesis
"We believe accountability and progress feedback mechanisms support sustained engagement with HabitHero.
Therefore, we think exposure to these reinforcement features will improve measurable usability and adoption indicators that predict long-term engagement, including projected uplifts in feature adoption and monthly active users."
Selection Justification
Validating this hypothesis would inform strategic product decisions and help PrimeCare optimise long-term user retention and growth.
If supported, resources could be prioritised toward reinforcement mechanisms that increase engagement and attract new user segments.
If not supported, PrimeCare could redirect investment toward alternative habit formation strategies, improving cost efficiency and maximising return on development efforts.
Jobs To Be Done
To better understand user motivation beyond feature usage, I applied a Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework.
My moderated research, particularly in relation to user's social accountability, showed that people are not just tracking habits, but seeking commitment, motivation, and support to sustain behaviour change.
Develop healthy habits and see meaningful progress
Make achieving my habit goals motivational and engaging
Invite a trusted accountability partner who is also developing shared healthy habits
Build routines that are easier to maintain
Recover from setbacks without losing momentum
Health Hero = Reward based health tracker + social accountability
Motivate me to build healthy habits and improve my wellbeing when my initial drive fades
Core Identified User Need
'How Might We?'
Questions
Building on the Jobs To Be Done framework, the following How Might We (HMW) questions translate observed user needs into opportunity areas for design exploration.
These questions are intentionally open and non-directional, allowing multiple potential solutions to be explored and tested without assuming a predetermined outcome.
How can we make the progress tracking feel rewarding to both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated users?
How can we allow for more personalisation for the user base, reflecting individual pace and performance?
How can we appeal more to users expressed need for emotional engagement?
How might we support accountability interactions that feel encouraging?
How might we make inviting and engaging an accountability partner feel frictionless?
How can we ensure our users are retained long enough to understand the value of the health tracking functionality?
Research Phase 01
Exploratory Discovery
Moderated User Resarch Interviews
I conducted moderated exploratory interviews to understand users’ motivations, emotional drivers, and unmet needs when tracking health habits.
This phase focused on open-ended discovery rather than evaluating specific solutions.
Research Synthesis
Key Insight
Social accountability appears to influence sustained behaviour change.
Participants consistently struggled to maintain motivation when tracking habits alone.
Many described social support and shared progress as powerful motivators in other areas of life, but absent in health tracking tools.
User Persona
I created a user persona- 'Charlene', to deepen my understanding of the target demographic's needs and pain points identified during discovery research.
User Needs
Quickly understand how HabitHero supports her health goals and why engaging with it regularly benefits her
Build consistent health tracking habits that fit seamlessly into daily life and are easy to maintain over time
Stay motivated to return to the platform regularly through supportive accountability and meaningful progress feedback
Customer Journey Mapping
Journey mapping revealed key drop-off points where motivation declines, particularly during periods of reduced external reinforcement.
I outlined seven stages from registration to using the food scanner feature.
There were mostly positive emotions during onboarding through to the rewards phase, but a drop-off mid-journey due to confusing navigation and difficulty interpreting the overly static goal and tracking system.
This pain point becomes especially pronounced when our user tries to view her goal history, and she sees no clear way to contextualise it based on past progress or personalise her viewability.
Stakeholder Needs
To support Prime Care’s strategic and operational goals, the solution needed to:
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Increase monthly active users
Improve retention through sustainable habit formation
Support acquisition through clear product value
Stakeholder Strategy Mapping
To ensure the research would drive meaningful product decisions, I conducted stakeholder mapping to understand priorities, and communication needs across the simulated product team.
This alignment helped define how findings would be evaluated, prioritised, and translated into design direction.
Research Phase 02
Hypothesis Validation
To validate whether social accountability could improve motivation, I designed a mid-fidelity prototype featuring a habit buddy invitation system.
Participants interacted with the prototype through structured tasks and moderated evaluation sessions.
Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected.
Habit partner setup user flow mid fidelity wireframe and protoype
Research
Study Design
To understand how the Shared Habit feature could support user motivation and long-term engagement, I designed targeted research questions and evaluated performance through effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction metrics during moderated usability testing.
I conducted four moderated sessions in May 2025 with UK-based participants aged 30–68, aligned with the target user profile. Sessions ran remotely and in person, each lasting around 40 minutes.
Participant Profiles
Participants represented varied demographics, technical confidence levels, and accessibility needs, offering a broad perspective on how different users experience social accountability in health tracking.
Validation
Key Findings
Findings supported my original hypothesis
Users reported increased motivation when accountable to another person
Social tracking perceived as supportive
Behavioural intention increased
Feature shows strong potential to support sustained engagement
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Research Synthesis
Affinity Mapping
To identify patterns across participant responses, I synthesised qualitative data using affinity mapping.
Observations, behaviours, and user feedback were grouped into thematic clusters to reveal recurring motivational drivers and barriers.
Clustering revealed strong patterns around accountability, motivation reinforcement, and perceived social support.
Key Themes - Participant Quote Highlights
Key Qualitative Insights
Theme 2
Theme 3
Theme 1
All participants in our panel expressed interest and appreciation for the feature and found it to be relevant to their lifestyles and preferences to varying degrees.
“Seeing someone else on the same journey makes me feel more accountable and more motivated.’’
High likelihood of appealing to potential engaged and power users - Participants with previous health tracking experiences expressed high recorded interest and appreciation levels for the feature and stated that it was highly relevant.
“This reminds me of my group on my other other fitness application … but more focused. I’d actually use this.”
High likelihood of appealing to potential new user segments - Participants with limited or less consistent health tracking experiences also expressed high interest and appreciation for the feature.
In response to the anonymous survey question : I think that I would like to use this system frequently – All Responded with Agree to Strongly Agree.
Quantitative Insights
To provide an objective evaluation of performance, usability metrics were compared against established industry benchmarks.
This allowed for a clearer understanding not only of what users were doing, but how effectively the product supports task completion relative to wider standards.
The results are visualised in the accompanying graph to support quick comparison and interpretation.
Moderated User Testing Success Metrics - Mean Results Vs Competitive Industry Benchmarks For Mid Fidelity Testing Stage
Validation
Hypothesis Validation
Through usability testing and scenario-based tasks, I validated that:
All participants in our panel expressed interest for the feature and found it to be relevant for preferences to varying degrees or participants reported in the wrap-up questions and survey ratings high to moderately high frequency and likelihood of continued use in the future.
Positive Findings
Positive findings from the study indicate strong emotional and motivational resonance across all participant types. Users consistently reported feelings of encouragement, reduced isolation, and increased motivation when engaging with the feature.
Positive Finding 01
All users responded positively, expressing feelings of encouragement, reduced isolation, and added motivation.
Positive Finding 02
High likelihood of appealing to potential engaged and power users - Participants with previous health tracking experiences expressed high recorded interest and appreciation levels for the feature and stated that it was highly relevant.
Positive Finding 03
High likelihood of appealing to potential new user segments Participants with limited or less consistent health tracking experiences also expressed high interest and appreciation for the feature.
Usability Issues
Usability findings revealed several areas where clarity, trust, and interaction design could be strengthened.
Action Plan
Prioritising Our Next Steps
Here we move onto our team’s prioritized action plan, designed to address the most pressing issues we found.
Business Implications
The findings suggest that social accountability has strong potential to improve sustained engagement and support Prime Care’s North Star metric of monthly active users.
By strengthening behavioural reinforcement, the feature may reduce drop-off, increase return frequency, and support long-term habit formation.
This provides a validated behavioural direction for future product development.
