Push Notifications for User Retention in Personal Growth Apps: A Comparative Case Study of Headspace and 7Mind
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijmat.898Keywords:
mHealth, Personal Growth App, Push Notification, 7Mind, HeadspaceAbstract
Within the rapidly growing sector of mobile health (mHealth), and in the context of a rising number of mental health issues, Personal Growth Applications have emerged as vital tools for enhancing psychological well-being and personal development. Sustaining long-term user retention remains a persistent challenge. Push notifications are considered a key instrument for fostering user engagement and retention. Their effectiveness, however, depends on how they are implemented and can, if poorly managed, have negative effects on user acceptance. This study examines how push notifications should be used to foster user retention in personal growth apps and how this is actually implemented in practice. A qualitative comparative case study of the global market leader Headspace and the German provider 7Mind was conducted. Based on a structuring content analysis following Mayring’s framework, all incoming push notifications were systematically documented through personal use over a six-week period, resulting in a total dataset of 143 notifications. The evaluation was based on five quality factors derived from the literature: personalization, content relevance and quality, frequency, timing, and user control. The findings reveal two contrasting communication logics. Headspace pursues a hybrid approach with partial personalization, daily content variation, and two notifications per day. 7Mind follows a standardized strategy that largely lacks personalization, features repetitive content, and sends a daily notification. Both providers rely on static, time-based delivery rather than dynamic, context-sensitive triggering, although both offer user configuration options. The study concludes that push notifications in personal growth apps should be understood less as mass communication and more as individually tailored triggers, whose effectiveness depends on aligning with the user’s motivation, ability to act, and context. Since both providers rely on static time-based delivery, future research should examine dynamic, context-aware trigger mechanisms and their impact on long-term retention.
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