Why no one uses fitness trackers after purchase

The other day company Fitbit - the manufacturer of the popular fitness trackers - published a report of the last fiscal quarter. The company sold 4.5 million units, increasing performance by 235% compared to last year. The only figure that is not reported, - the number of active users. Revision "MakRadara" sort out what is wrong with wearable fitness bracelets and they are doomed to extinction.

According to the founder James Park Fitbit, user data the company publish in its annual summary report. Is it encouraging? Rather, it makes the issue of long-term use of the gadgets even more relevant.

During the existence of a wearable fitness equipment information about their use of time to become an occasion for jokes. You buy a Fitbit, Jawbone and Samsung Gear, in use for some time, and then send to the eternal rest somewhere in a drawer. Joking aside, but according to According to the research agency EndeavourOne-third owners of smart handheld gadgets stops using these devices is already six months after purchase.

For more accurate data writing to the same Fitbit, which, together with the status of a full-fledged company had a duty to publish regular reports. The fact that the company has become one of the few profitable known startups in Silicon Valley, almost distracted from the fact that of the 19 million users around 9.5 million active system. Subsequent numbers once again confirmed speculation: 10.9 and 6.7 million respectively.

The company even invented a new term: Paid Active Users. This category includes both users who pay for Fitbit Premium or FitStar, and those who passed the 100 steps with a bracelet or once bound him with home bathroom scales. Quite imprecise definition of the active user, agree.

level of involvement - it's not what drives the business.

This quote James Park in an interview with The Verge. But, despite this statement, he hopes to improve performance over time. "Indicators fitness bracelets be compared in the context of similar statistics memberships in fitness clubs or sports equipment purchases home" - James said.

Well, bounce rates on gym membership which year are held at the level of 80%, the situation is really similar to the bracelets? In fairness, the matter concerns not only the Fitbit, but also the whole niche wearable technology. Jawbone, Polar, Misfit - these and other less popular manufacturers are coming up with their own definition of "active users" and "engagement" or just hide the data.

The Jawbone, with its small market share of fitness trackers, says that they were able to fix the rate of customer retention of 80%. These are users with a few friends in the service, which will send the data to the bracelet in third-party software and open an application three times a day, or 20 times a week. How many of these active users? Nobody knows.

To find a solution to this problem have not yet succeeded. Some lament the lack of precision gadgets other - fragmentation, in which, for example, smart Scales communicate only with a specific application and do not work with the server component another. Others do believe that the Apple Watch and similar smartwatch displace bracelets of this niche. In any case, if the number of active users has been great, the first manufacturers to have written about it in the pages of their products. While this does not happen, but the real figures are hidden or distorted stories about gadgets, to which you lose interest after a few months, remain bitter truth.