Abandonment rate of fitness trackers

[Dominique]

I recently came across this article, which quotes Dan Kinsbourne of YOO Fitness (creator of the YOO Fitness Mini Wireless Activity Tracker) saying that "no matter how much it cost, the abandonment rate for wearable fitness trackers is 75% in the first three months".

Never heard of YOO before, but it's not what attracted my attention. It's rather the claim about the 75% abandonment rate. I do have a couple of acquaintances who bought a Fitbit after I raved about it and who seem to have mostly ceased to use it, but the figure sounds quite high to me. Do you really think it's that high?

Fitbit probably has a very good idea, since they can see those accounts that have stopped syncing on a regular basis.

[HelenaFitbit]

I think some people get discouraged easily. If you are coming off the couch, 10k a day is hard to reach. Yet it is the default goal. The daily goal can be changed but the weekly goal is 70,000. My daily goal is 7,000, it's an attainable goal that I still have to work hard for. No more killing myself to reach 10,000. Especially in the winter.

I agree with this, when I first received my Fitbit One, I attempted to hit 10,000 steps out of not moving at all. I ended up sore and discouraged. Baby steps is key! Get 7 days of 3,000 and push another 1,000 steps per week; you'll find plenty of ways to get the steps in! 

[ChaelAZ]

I was a personal trainer back in the day, and ANYTHING fitness related gets abandoned within the first few months. So those tracker stats do not surprise me.

The problem is in the personal value system people have. I run life coaching workshops and I will ask people to list out the most important things in their life. You always see family and health at the top. Then I ask them to list where they spend their time in decending order. Work is almost always number one, and family usually makes it towards the top, but health...that is pushed waaaaaaaaaay down, if at all on the list.

For success, more than just doing exercise or eating right, or buying some tracker to fain commitment, people need to change the priorities in life to put health up towards number one, or everything else can fall quickly.

My .02

[loveabull]

I've had a Flex for a year now and often amazed how many people drop off on the friend list. These devices are pretty pricey to get tossed in a drawer. But they aren't for everyone. I think ideally if you're motivated to begin with and just need an extra push then trackers are terrific.

[GarudaGirl]

You can see the sort of data that the various trackers provide if you look on their websites. They are just different products with different aims.

[GarudaGirl]

@loveabull

I have had friends stop using trackers because it is too hard to remember to keep them charged. That seems odd to me. I mean, it is really just a matter of putting it on the charger! But then again, I say that and I have had the Fitbits that stay charged for quite a while. The only device I let go of for that reason was a GPS running watch I had a while back. It never really caught the GPS easily, so the battery went down very quickly. I'm pretty amazed with how long a basic tracker will last on one charge, but I guess it is relative.

[Odyssey13]

@GarudaGirl  You're right. I don't see how people forget to charge them. If someone can keep a tablet or a cell phone charged, they ought to remember to charge their Fitbit!

[Dominique]

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@Odyssey13 wrote:

@GarudaGirl  You're right. I don't see how people forget to charge them. If someone can keep a tablet or a cell phone charged, they ought to remember to charge their Fitbit!

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Especially since Fitbit sends you an e-mail reminding you to recharge (I don't think phones/tablets do that, at least not by default). I didn't really need it when I was only wearing the One (which has phenomenal battery life), but it has been handy lately while wearing multiple trackers that have shorter (and varying) battery life.

[gerrymcd]

In my experience 75% abandon fitness after a few months, not just their trackers.

[yldthng]

I convinced a co-worker to get a Flex and she stopped using it after a week. She said it was too discouraging and it made her feel like she was failing if she didn't meet goals. 😞

[HelenaFitbit]

@yldthng oh bummer 

Knowing many people who are on the same path as you usually prevents this. Buddy up! 

[lonerchick]

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@yldthng wrote:

I convinced a co-worker to get a Flex and she stopped using it after a week. She said it was too discouraging and it made her feel like she was failing if she didn't meet goals. 😞

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Tell her she can change the goals. I lowered and ignore the goals for flights of steps when I first got my fitbit. I lived in an apartment on the first floor and there were no stair cases at my job. Once I had access to the ability to take stairs I re-added them.

I also lowered my overall step goal. It's at 7,000. I've been doing really well meeting it this month. I think I will increase the goal to 8,000 next month.

I also lowered the daily water intake. 8 glasses is way too much for me, especially on days I do not work out.

[acerda]

I think this is great advice. If you are not used to moving yet, a high goal can be overwhelming and unrealistic right from the get go. Set smaller achievable goals and step them up as you make walking a regular part of life. Going from sedatary to active right away can cause injury and that in itself can discourage and set you back as you stop walking to rest the injury.

[SunsetRunner]

I'd say the same about those exercising in general or gyms, they start off in the right mind, but then it changes and they slow down or stop exercising

kind of like a fad, they join in because it is the 'in' thing or everyone else is doing it, but because it isn't what they really want to do, they end up stopping

[lonerchick]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
kind of like a fad, they join in because it is the 'in' thing or everyone else is doing it, but because it isn't what they really want to do, they end up stopping

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I agree with the fad part. I think right now it is "cool" to have a wrist tracker.

[loveabull]

Something else to remember is not to be hard on yourself. Just like I tell people not to get in the perspective of "good" foods and "bad" foods, making your steps doesn't have to be a pass/fail thing either. Some days I get three or four dots for the day meaning I didn't make the daily goal...other days I'll make the daily goal by noon and still keep going. Either way I'm satisfied with what I did do.

[yldthng]

@lonerchick I did. She said she just doesn't have the time to commit to it now. She was really more interested in it for the sleep stats. I think the FB showing her how little she was moving lately, even though she doesn't really have weight to lose, was a bit more than she wanted to know right then. She says she will try it again when her life slows down some. 

On another note, I joined the gym in October. I got my Fitbit in November. I stopped going to the gym a week later. I have used my FitBit every day since I've had it.

I did pick back up at the gym this week - went Wednesday and heading out at 7:30 tonight. 

[smilerlisa]

Sounds about right. It's the same with the gym the first week in January there chocka, come March half of them have stopped going. ppl look for quick fixs there just aids it's you who have to put the hard work in .you have to sweat like a pig to look like a Fox

[HelenaFitbit]

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@smilerlisa wrote:
you have to sweat like a pig to look like a Fox

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I have to get that on a tshirt 

[ksiz1966]

I lost my fitbit one about 3 years ago & refused to pay money for something that would just flip off of me & be gone forever. I was very upset about losing it & last week my husband came home with the flex & informed me if I didn't want it I could take it back. I was so excited to have it back even better than ever. I LOVE it:)

Kathy

[Harmless]

I was just thinking about this!

I have about 20 friends on Fitbit, all personal friends.  About half of those are unused.  Even with the other half, it seems they're just tracking their daily steps, and that's it.  Of course, this is an assumption, but many of the 7 day total steps are in the 20-40k range.  It would seem to me that there is little purpose in having a fitness tracker if you're not using the information provided.  Again, that is an assumption, but I'm willing to bet for a good portion of them it's true.  At least for me, the Fitbit helps me to see how much of a lazy piece of **ahem** I am some days.  If I only have 4k steps in the evening one day, I'll go take an hour walk just to hit my 10k.  If I've had a busy week and am at say 85k steps in the last 6 days, I'll make sure I get 15k that day just so I could see myself get 100k steps.  

I suppose I'm just complaining because I miss having "competition" too 😞