746 - Do Push Notifications Work?

09.14.2021 - By Gregg Clunis Play

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In this episode, we ask a question: Do push notifications even work? Get excited, because this is Tiny Leaps, Big Changes.

Welcome to another episode of Tiny Leaps, Big Changes where I share research-backed strategies you can use, to get more out of your life. My name is Gregg Clunis.

The Research:

Tom St. Quinton, Ben Morris, Martin J. Barwood, and Mark Conner published a study titled “Promoting physical activity through text messages: the impact of attitude and goal priority messages”.

The purpose of this study was to understand why, “physical activity is an important health behavior for young adults to undertake and research has established participation in physical activity to be influenced by the attitude construct. Research has also identified a gap between intention and behavior and the goal priority strategy has demonstrated success in strengthening the intention-behavior relationship. Despite this, as far as we are aware, no study has targeted participation in physical activity using text messages manipulating attitude and goal priority. Thus, the purpose of the study was to test the effectiveness of attitude and goal priority text messages in promoting students’ participation in physical activity”.

What They Found:

“The study examined the effectiveness of attitude and goal priority SMS in changing key psychological mechanisms and physical activity. Attitude messages successfully influenced attitude, intention and behavior, and changes in behavior were mediated by changes in attitude and intention, with attitude influencing intention. The study therefore supports the TPB’s causal mechanisms through which interventions exert influence on behavior and suggests attitude to be a prominent driver of intention and subsequent physical activity behavior change. The study did not manage to manipulate goal priority”

Key Takeaways:

Push notifications are extremely effective in reminding you to complete something.

Day to day use of push notifications are valuable.

Attitude only push notifications had the greatest impact on participants compared to the other groups.

Goal priority push notifications had no impact on research participants.

This study indicates that attitudes impact behavior, so changing your attitude to be more positive can improve your behavior to help you reach your health goal.