MyFitnessPal app
Optimizing Calorie Goal Setting
Background
MyFitnessPal, a health app used by over 200 million users, recently conducted research revealing that MyFitnessPal users were disproportionately setting minimum calorie goals.
The problem
There are two reasons minimum calorie goals are problematic:
Lower engagement & retention: Restrictive diets lead many users to discouragement and/or burnout. I, personally, don’t prefer being hungry all day!
Poor Nutrition: Not enough calories can mean missing essential nutrients, or unhealthy choices to "stay under budget."
Set for success
Our team, consisting of Sr. Product Manager, Sr. Product Designer (moi), Tech Lead, and Writer, kicked off discovery to tackle this challenge. We asked, “How might we set users up for success with the initial calorie goal recommendation we provide?”
After research and other exploration, we felt that framing the question around change was the clearest and most healthful route for the user. However, we conducted user testing to confirm our assumptions about the framing and design.
Testing our assumptions
We decided to test the hypothesis:
“If we default the weight loss pace to the recommended choice, users will be inclined to keep and be content with that option, versus changing it to the fastest, less healthy pace.”
We tested with users who were interested in weight loss and health apps but hadn’t previously used the app in order to avoid any bias.
Research shows…
Users want to know the effects on calories and weight loss per month on the weight-loss pace page to choose the best pace for them.
They prefered to be asked, “How much diet and lifestyle change are you ready to make?” vs. how quickly they would like to lose the weight.
We found that the structure remained the same throughout testing, but we continually adjusted the content according to new findings.
The exception
As we worked toward a solution, we considered three distinct BMI groups: over 35 BMI, 27-25 BMI, and under 27 BMI.
Our solution worked well for the first two groups because we could provide safe calorie recommendations, but we needed to adjust the approach for the under 27 BMI group, which could put users on a calorie limit that was against the NIH recommendations.
We recommend
Following the health guidelines rendered the selection slider useless, with only one recommended option. We tested concepts for this BMI group and came up with a similar but slightly different experience, simply showing a page with their recommendation, coupled with a bottom sheet informing the user that they can customize this weekly weight loss goal within the app.
Testing for success
The first version of our recommendations effort saw a 900% increase in users choosing a weekly weight loss goal appropriate for their BMI. The full designs are currently being developed and we will soon launch an A/B test to see how these changes impact user behavior. We'll measure:
Less Minimum Calorie Goals
Are users choosing healthier, more realistic goals?
Higher Weekly Engagement
Are users sticking with the app for longer?
Smooth Registration
Is the process user-friendly and registration rate at least as high as the control group?