Quit2Gether - Using Psycology to kick the habit
Quitting smoking is one of the hardest things to do on the planet. Most alternatives rely on nicotine alternatives to curb cravings. Other apps out there will give you information on your health, in an effort to create better habits. But by pairing people together in their efforts to quit, Quit2Gether attempts to help people quit not by nicotine alternatives but by using the psychology of accountability to help people achieve their goal.
Project Introduction
Duration: 80 hrs (4 weeks)
Role: Product Designer
Skills: UX Design - UI design - User Research
Overview: Create and End-to-End mobile app to help people quit smoking
Competitor Analysis, Smoking Facts and Psychology of Goal Setting
Part 1: Psychology of Goal Setting
Despite the challenges, it is possible to increase one's chances for success to a 95 percent rate. The American Society of Training and Development found that people are 65 percent likely to meet a goal after committing to another person. Their chances of success increase to 95 percent when they build in ongoing meetings with their partners to check in on their progress.
The researchers found that individuals have the following probabilities of completing a goal by taking these actions:
Having an idea or goal: 10% likely to complete the goal
Consciously deciding that you will do it: 25%
Deciding when you will do it: 40%
Planning how to do it: 50%
Committing to someone that you will do it: 65%
Having a specific accountability appointment with someone you’ve committed to: 95%
Part 2: Smoking Facts - General
Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in high-income countries (World Health Organization, 2009).
The vast majority of smokers regret ever starting to smoke (Fong et al., 2004).
Most smokers want to quit, however quitting smoking remains difficult (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011; Hughes & Keely, 2004).
In 2010 in the United States, 52.4% of smokers attempted to quit, and 6.2% successfully quit (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).
There is nearly universal agreement that the primary reason that quitting is difficult is because of the addictiveness of nicotine in cigarettes, and nicotine dependence is the most consistent predictor of failure in quit attempts (Benowitz, 2010; Jarvis, 2004; US Surgeon General, 2010; Vangeli, Stapleton, Smit, Borland, & West, 2011).
To be sure, nicotine addiction and the social context, including cues to smoke, work together and affect smoking behavior in complex ways; research on nicotine addiction suggests that if people smoke around other smokers and smoking-related objects that these contextual features can become associated with the addiction, and act as cues for continued smoking (Benowitz, 2010). (NOTE: This could be used to reinforce social and accountability aspect as a way to juxtapose quitting and smoking in social settings)
Intro
Imagine you are trying to quit smoking. Nicotine replacements are expensive and seem like just another way fulfill your cravings. Mediation and holistic therapies haven’t helped, they are intangible and never seem to stick. Most apps you have tried only give you information on your health and track your savings.
This was my experience trying to quit. When I wanted to start an app myself to see how it this problem could be solved in a better way I searched and searched until I realized maybe this was something I didn’t have to do alone. I stepped outside of research on just smoking habits and started to look at the bigger picture. When I looked at the bigger picture I wasn’t trying to quit smoking, was trying to reach a goal.
This led me down a path I finally think will make a difference for people. Quit2Gether isn’t just about providing information on the health aspects of cigarettes, it’s about bringing people together - who know what it’s like to try and quit - and harnessing the psychology of accountability to get results.
Affinity Map Results
After finishing the introductory/secondary research, I wanted to move on to the primary research, the user interviews. I spoke with 8 smokers about the habit, how they started, and how it played a role in their lives. Taking my data I took 80 raw data points and began to map out what would be most important to include in this app to make it successful.
Major Themes
People are not happy using nicotine gum or alternatives. They felt like while it sometimes helped with the cravings ultimately it was just another way for them to get nicotine into their bodies. Most are looking for a way to kick the habit without relying on nicotine substitutes.
Social Smoking. Social smoking was a big part of the habit. Whether that meant smoking with coworkers to take a break. Smoking while out drinking or smoking more often than they normally would when at a party. This dynamic is something where we should focus on, and use the accountability within the app to give them a different social dynamic to start.
Quitting and failing. All participants except two have tried to quit, and all have failed. This proves a need for the product. Alternatives are not working, and bringing in a psychologically proven method to goal setting/completion with accountability will hopefully bring direct results in kicking the habit for good.
Accountability has proven useful in the past. When I asked the participants about times in their life where accountability was related to specific goals people spoke confidently around their results. Some related to sports, others being accountable in their studies made them work harder. Others how holding people accountable in the workplace lead to better results and one participant even was able to quit drinking with the help of a friend when they decided to quit together.
Minor Themes:
Cost of cigarettes is huge - having a way to tell people how much they are saving could prove useful in the app.
Distractions can be helpful - participants talked about how they need to have something going on to fill time they would normally be using for cigarettes. Could come in the form of health articles or games played together through the app.
Worries about long term health - this is a no brainer, and while people talked about this in the context of the conversation it felt like such a known entity that people didn’t focus on this part of the conversation. Also they felt like it was not the most necessary thing on the path to quitting as all participants knew that this was not a healthy activity.
Persona
Clark Thompson: Creating a Persona
After extensive research on other smoking apps, speaking with smokers and analyzing the psychology of goal setting, it was time to put this research into practice and create a persona for Quit2Gether.
Design
After compiling all the information, the needs and wants of the users, and all the results of our research it was time to start laying out the designs. After a few iterations I finally landed on an on boarding and pairing process that was central to signing up. Along with questions and goal setting information. The app allows you to send an invite to start the journey with a friend, or be paired with someone with similar goals. Other features included a cigarette tracker, money saved tracker, health benefit information and shared achievements to track progress.
