Motiv8 is an app designed to motivate and celebrate users' achievements by capturing moments through photos. Users set personal goals and document their progress by taking a photo each time they accomplish a goal. This visual representation not only serves as a record of achievements but also creates a tangible, personalized timeline of success.
- Product Manager(s): Venkat Sundaram
- Designer(s): Navya Desai, Asrith Sreeram
- Engineer(s): Jayanth Pandit, Yash Kukrecha
- Mentor(s): Vincent Do, Ishita Sisodia
Many individuals struggle to stay motivated and on track with their personal goals, whether related to fitness, academics, or other areas of life. Traditional goal-tracking apps often lack an engaging and visually appealing way to document progress, leading to a lack of motivation and potential abandonment of the app.
The primary user groups affected by this problem are: college students: Motiv8 targets college students who seek a dynamic and visually appealing way to track and celebrate their achievements. This user group encompasses a wide range of individuals, including fitness enthusiasts, goal-oriented athletes, and students aiming to establish and maintain positive habits.
College students represent an ideal target user group for Motiv8 for several reasons:
- Technologically adept: College students are generally comfortable with using mobile apps and embracing new technologies.
- Goal-oriented: Many college students have a strong desire to achieve their goals, whether academic, fitness-related, or personal.
- Visual Appealing: The visual storytelling aspect of Motiv8 aligns well with the preferences and behaviors of younger generations who are accustomed to sharing and consuming visual content.
- Community/Socially-driven: College students often thrive in environments that foster a sense of community and social support, which can be a valuable aspect of the Motiv8 experience. By focusing on college students, Motiv8 can establish a strong foothold in a tech-savvy and goal-oriented user base, while also positioning itself for potential expansion to other demographics in the future.
- Goal Setting: Users will start by setting personal goals within the app. This process should be intuitive and allow for customization based on individual preferences and needs.
- Friction: Ensuring the goal-setting process is simple and straightforward, without overwhelming users with too many options or complex features.
- Emotions: Users may experience excitement and motivation as they define their goals, but also potential anxiety or doubt about their ability to achieve them.
- Elapsed Time: This step should be relatively quick, taking no more than a few minutes to set up initial goals.
- Ease: The goal-setting process should be user-friendly, with clear instructions and intuitive navigation.
- Photo Capture and Upload: As users achieve their goals, they will capture and upload photos to document their progress.
- Friction: Ensuring a seamless integration with the device's camera and photo library, as well as providing clear guidance on photo requirements (e.g., quality, content).
- Emotions: Users may feel a sense of accomplishment and pride as they capture and share their achievements visually.
- Elapsed Time: The photo capture and upload process should be near-instantaneous, requiring minimal effort from the user.
- Ease: The process should be straightforward, with minimal steps required to capture and upload photos.
- Visual Timeline and Celebration: Users will be able to view their progress through a visually engaging timeline, celebrating their achievements and milestones.
- Friction: Ensuring the timeline is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and provides a sense of accomplishment for users.
- Emotions: Users may experience a sense of pride, motivation, and satisfaction as they witness their progress and achievements over time.
- Elapsed Time: The timeline should load quickly and allow for easy navigation between different time periods or goal categories.
- Ease: The user interface should be intuitive, allowing users to easily understand and interact with their visual timeline.
- Users expressed a strong desire for a visually appealing and engaging way to track their progress towards personal goals.
- Capturing moments through photos was seen as a powerful motivator and a way to create a tangible record of achievements.
- Gamification elements, such as badges or rewards, were seen as potential motivators for sustained engagement. Social features, such as the ability to share progress with friends or join goal-oriented communities, were viewed positively by many users.
- Hypothesis 1: Users will find the visual documentation aspect of Motiv8 more engaging and motivating than traditional goal-tracking apps. Validated: User interviews confirmed a strong interest in the visual storytelling aspect of Motiv8, with many users expressing excitement about capturing and reminiscing on their progress through photos.
- Hypothesis 2: Gamification elements will be a key driver of sustained engagement. Validated: Users responded positively to the idea of gamification elements, such as badges or rewards, as a way to maintain motivation and engagement over time.
The validation of the visual documentation aspect reinforces the core value proposition of Motiv8 and the need to prioritize a visually appealing and intuitive user experience. The validation of gamification elements as a potential engagement driver suggests the need to explore and incorporate gamification features in future iterations of the app.
- Track and Celebrate Progress: Users want a way to visually document and celebrate their progress towards personal goals, creating a tangible record of their achievements.
- Stay Motivated: Users seek a tool that can help them stay motivated and on track with their goals over an extended period.
- Share and Connect: Some users may want to share their progress with friends or join goal-oriented communities for support and accountability.
- HabitBull: A habit-tracking app that allows users to set and monitor their daily habits and goals.
- Strides: A goal-tracking app that helps users create and maintain habits and routines.
- Streaks: An app that focuses on building and maintaining streaks for various habits and goals.
- Physical Journals or Planners: Some users may prefer to track their goals and progress using traditional physical journals or planners.
- Social Media Sharing: Users may share their progress and achievements on social media platforms, serving as a form of public accountability and motivation.
- Word-of-Mouth: Friends, family, or peers may provide encouragement and support, motivating users to achieve their goals.
- HabitBull, Strides, and Streaks: While these apps offer robust goal-tracking and habit-building features, they lack a strong visual component and the ability to create a visually engaging timeline of progress.
- Physical Journals or Planners: These traditional methods may provide a sense of tangibility and personal connection, but lack the convenience and engaging features of a mobile app.
- Social Media Sharing: While sharing progress on social media can provide accountability and motivation, it may also raise privacy concerns and lack the structured goal-tracking capabilities of a dedicated app.
- Word-of-Mouth: While social support can be motivating, it lacks the ability to visually document and track progress over time in a structured manner.
- Visual Timeline: A visually appealing and intuitive timeline that displays users' progress through uploaded photos, creating a tangible record of their achievements.
- Goal Setting and Tracking: A user-friendly interface for setting and tracking personal goals, with the ability to categorize and prioritize different goals.
- Photo Upload and Verification: A seamless process for capturing and uploading photos, with potential future integration of location-based verification or user community reporting to prevent fraudulent entries.
- Gamification Elements: Incorporate gamification features, such as badges, rewards, or achievement levels, to foster sustained engagement and motivation.
- Social Sharing and Community Features: Allow users to share their progress with friends or join goal-oriented communities for support and accountability.
- Privacy Controls: Robust privacy settings that give users granular control over what information and photos are shared with others, addressing potential privacy concerns.
- Personalization and Customization: Allow users to customize the app's appearance, goal categories, and other settings to create a personalized experience.
- Progress Analytics and Insights: Provide users with data-driven insights and analytics about their progress, potentially including visualizations or comparisons to past performance.
- Reminders and Notifications: Implement reminders and notifications to help users stay on track with their goals and maintain consistent engagement with the app.
- Integration with Other Platforms: Explore potential integrations with fitness trackers, calendars, or other relevant platforms to create a more seamless and comprehensive goal-tracking experience.
- Impact: The potential impact of the feature on user engagement, motivation, and overall value proposition.
- Engineering Effort: The estimated level of effort required to develop and implement the feature.
- Novelty: The degree to which the feature is novel and differentiates Motiv8 from competitors.
- User Demand: The level of demand and interest expressed by users during future interviews and testing.
- Visual Timeline
- Goal Setting and Tracking
- Photo Upload and Verification
- Privacy Controls
- Second Iteration (P1) Features
- Gamification Elements
- Personalization and Customization
- Reminders and Notifications
- Third Iteration (P2) Features
- Progress Analytics and Insights
- Integration with Other Platforms
- User Retention: Measuring the percentage of users who continue to engage with the app over time, indicating sustained motivation and value.
- Photo Upload Count: Tracking the number of photos uploaded by users, as a proxy for goal progress and engagement with the app's core functionality.
- Session Duration: Monitoring the average time users spend within the app during each session, as an indicator of engagement and perceived value.
- Goal Completion Rate: Measuring the percentage of goals that users successfully complete, reflecting the app's ability to foster motivation and goal achievement.
- Social Engagement: Tracking metrics related to social sharing and community participation, if those features are implemented.
The North Star metric for Motiv8 is User Retention. By focusing on retaining users over time, Motiv8 can ensure that it is providing a valuable and engaging experience that motivates users to consistently track and celebrate their progress. High user retention rates would indicate that Motiv8 is successfully addressing the core job of helping users stay motivated and achieve their goals.